The penultimate round of the FRL's TCR Cup series took place at a track notorious for having danger as its prevailing theme and has been known to leave even the best drivers broken and bloodied by the side of the road. To say that Rio is a tough track in any of it's permutations is an understatement. To take on the longest version of the track in reverse at such a late hour on a Sunday night is to practically beg for disaster to strike.
For some, the "danca com a morte" would be a short one. Ghabe Stouffer was, perhaps mercifully, kicked out of both heats early on. Though in the first heat he was able to outlast Seth Jensen. Seth, in the first heat, suffered from an acute charley horse and exited quickly to nurse his hammy and fix his coif. He would bounce back well in the second heat, outlasting most of the field and netting himself P3 for that heat. Nicholas Hargrove had a great start to the night, surviving the fray around him and eventually crossing the line P3. Heat 2 would treat the #5 driver like a red-headed step-child and he would finish P7. It could be argued that Paul Maestri and Tony Tyree were the most consistent drivers of the night. Each would take turns bouncing off walls and curbs and even making trips to the pits in some cases. But in the end, Tony's finishing average on the night would be the same as Seth Jensen's and Ethan Maestri's. Only fastest posted lap times would know the difference. Paul posted P4 in both heats, giving him his first podium finish in some time.
Ethan Maestri's performance started well, as he would pass Andrew Steppat early in the first heat and the two drivers would fight mightily for seven of the eight laps in the heat. Andrew would make a pass late that forced Ethan to "go for broke" in Andrew's Corner on the last lap. He cleared the corner but carried far too much speed to correct for the run up the hill. Instead of pulling alongside Steppat's #1 Audi, he would instead pile into the 100 Meter sign (and the concrete barriers) heavily. Ending his race altogether. Round 2 didn't go much better for the #3 driver and he wound up in P5.
Travis Billingsley, by contrast, endured a poor start to heat one and climbed steadily into P2 for the heat. The second heat saw things go mostly his way and he engaged in a battle with Andrew Steppat for P1. Andrew would prevail however, taking wins for both heats. The final round of the TCR series will take place May 2nd at Sonoma Raceway.
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