John Atwell Finishes Clean Sweep of Inaugural TA Sprint Campaign at COTA

John Atwell is the inaugural champion of the Trans Am Series by Pirelli’s TA Sprint Class.

The Azle, Texas-native continued his impeccable record of dominance in the first-year class, finishing the season undefeated by winning the championship-decider at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) on Sunday in extremely damp conditions, and doing so in commanding fashion.

With precipitation hassling the 3.41-mile road course in Austin, Texas all morning on Sunday, track conditions were extremely damp when the green flag dropped for the TA Sprint Class, with lap times clocking in more than twenty seconds slower than what was turned during qualifying on Saturday. So, the Trans Am Series by Pirelli was forced to resort to the race’s 35-minute time limit, instead of its 15-lap scheduled distance.

Those damp track conditions, though, made way for some action.

On the opening lap of what would end up being a 13-lap race, John Atwell, the race-leader (and by far the fastest car in-class all weekend long), tried to apply the power too quickly in the Stadium Section and looped his No. 07 XRC / DFW Concrete / A&J Lab Portal Ford Mustang around, dropping him to last, more than 30 seconds behind the leaders.

Though, with such a speed advantage over his competitors – at times upwards of seven seconds per lap – it didn’t take very long for Atwell to return to the top spot, going on to collect his fourth TA Sprint victory of the season in four starts.

Rob Kacprowicz, one of the full-time drivers in the TA Sprint Class, had a career-best result on Sunday, finishing in the second position – his first podium in the class. Brad Gross came home in the third position, with Lonnie Hochstetler, Paul Ruth, and Salvador Santolucito rounding out the six-driver field.

After testing, practice, and qualifying, there were supposed to be 10 entrants in the TA Sprint Class season-finale at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), but with the wet-weather conditions, four drivers elected not to participate – Frank Widmoser, Dave Keister, Naz Olkhovskyi, and Alan Davison.

Lonnie Hochstetler (No. 31 Mr. Honey / CuraGreen Chevrolet Camaro) turned the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap of the race, laying down a time of 2:40.857, a half-second faster than anybody else in the TA Sprint field.

TA SPRINT CLASS RACE RESULTS:

1. #07 John Atwell
2. #27 Rob Kacprowicz (-11.045s)
3. #13 Brad Gross (-15.211s)
4. #31 Lonnie Hochstetler (-20.159)
5. #11 Paul Ruth (-52.208s)
6. #17 Salvador Santolucito (-1 Lap)