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Thread: 2017 Trans Am Championship

  1. #11
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    Results listed below:

    Spoiler:


    HOMESTEAD, Fla. [April 9, 2017] – As the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli visited Homestead-Miami for Round 2 of the 2017 Trans Am Championship, Ernie Francis, Jr., and Gar Robinson secured victories in their respective 102.15-mile races. Likewise, Randy Kinsland would secure a win in TA3, while Brian Kleeman grabbed his second consecutive victory in TA4.

    The win marked the first in the TA class for Ernie Francis, Jr., in the No. 98 Buoniconti Fund/ Beta Tools Ford Mustang, after stepping up from the TA4 class where he won three consecutive championships. Francis had seemed destined to secure his first win last round at Sebring after leading much of the race before having his hopes dashed by a simple oil filter O-ring. Today, at his home track of Homestead-Miami, Francis was able to put together the complete performance in front of friends and family—shooting out into the lead on the first turn of the race and never looking back.

    “This couldn’t be more special,” said Francis. “Winning our first TA race, on our home track, in the brand new car—I can’t even explain it. The car ran perfectly every lap out there; we were able to pull a gap out front over everyone else. When the restarts came, we still had plenty of car underneath us. The Pirelli tires were good the entire race; we had the pace in the car the entire time. When we needed it, we had the speed; and that helped us win the race.”

    Over the first half of the race, Francis built nearly an 8-second lead on second position, turning a new track record 1:17.496 lap in doing so. However, Francis would also have to manage traffic, two full-course yellows and a last gasp charge by fellow Miami-area local RJ Lopez, in the No. 06 Republica Brewing/ ACP Chevrolet Corvette.

    “It took some extra work to manage the traffic,” said Francis. “There were plenty of lapped cars, and some weren’t giving as much room as I would have liked around the track. You just had to be safe with it; it’s not worth risking the car— you make decisive passes and those are the ones that help you build up a lead out there. But we had the power and consistency from start to finish; these Pirelli tires let you turn in qualifying-like times early on and still help you over the last few laps.”

    The win is 24th in Trans Am, across all classes, for Francis, who is still only 19-years old. While Francis held the lead for the entirety of the race, minus the start, the top five behind him was in constant flux with Lopez, Stanton Barrett, in the No. 33 Ojai Energetics Ford Mustang, Amy Ruman, in the No. 23 McNichols Company Chevrolet Corvette, Cliff Ebben, in the No. 36 Stumpf Ford/ McMahon Group Ford Mustang, and Daniel Urrutia, Jr., in the No. 13 Ferrea Racing Components Chevrolet Corvette, all featuring.

    RJ Lopez would comfortably finish second, while Urrutia would outlast Cliff Ebben for the final spot on the podium, completing a Miami-area sweep of the podium. Ebben would finish fourth, while Amy Ruman would complete the top five.


    Photos of Homestead 2017.
    Last edited by novicius; April 11th, 2017 at 04:44 AM.

  2. #12
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    I'm not crazy about the new Camaro body but I gotta say I like them in solid colors over most racing liveries I've seen so far (YMMV obviously).

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  3. #13
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    Date - Venue - Partner
    May 6 - Road Atlanta - Formula Drift
    Road Atlanta bumped to May 13th along with Formula Drift.

    The number of entries per class:

    TA - 18
    TA3 - 12
    TA4 - 7
    Total: 37

    Obviously when this series folds I'll post the news here.

  4. #14
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    Should be at least 37 TA2 cars.

  5. #15
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    Heh yeah, they finally updated the count on their website -- TA2 is 22.

  6. #16
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    I guess I don't quite understand. 59 cars is a pretty impressive number of cars.

  7. #17
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    I record a ton of racing through the year and watch it all summer. I'm finishing up Blainpain GT soon and then will get to watch Trans Am, looking forward to it.

    I've been working from home a bit more this week because of the weather so I have Youtube running in the background, currently watching the '97 Watkins Glen race. Wish I could've seen these in person.



    Awwww yisssss.
    Last edited by dodint; February 8th, 2018 at 06:16 AM.

  8. #18
    Junior Potato
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    ‘Murica does have some unique and exceedingly well supported racing categories.

  9. #19
    Director Freude am Fahren's Avatar
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    Trans-Am used to support ALMS at some races, so I watched them at a few races. Seeing them in Downtown Miami was interesting.

    ALMS and Grand-Am were always fun weekends, with great supporting series: Trans-Am, World Challenge, Grand-Am Cup (Now Continental Tires Challenge), Star-Mazda, etc.

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