ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (August 2, 2022) –TPC Racing’s four-strong entry of Porsche 992 and 991 entries were a competitive part of the biggest event to date in the history of the Porsche Sprint Challenge by Yokohama this weekend at Road America where team driver Michael Levitas scored a pair of 991-class podium finishes in the No. 36 Erin Levitas Foundation TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
The Saturday and Sunday second-place finishes for Levitas were the highlight of a competitive and no-quit weekend for the TPC Racing team and drivers on the legendary 4.048-mile Road America road course. With 40 Porsche GT3 Cup competitors across both the 992 and 991 classes entered, the Road America weekend was the largest race yet in the two seasons the Porsche Sprint Challenge season has been in competition.
Levitas has been a regular visitor to victory lane this season, and Road America marked the second time this year he has gone two-for-two in podium finishes in a Porsche Sprint Challenge race weekend. In addition to a second and third-place finish in the season-opening doubleheader at Sebring International Raceway in March, Levitas has also earned podium showings of second at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) and third at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The solid weekend for Levitas included not just the pair of 991 runner-up showings but a competitive performance overall in both 40-minute races. Starting 11th overall in Saturday’s opener, Levitas improved five spots to take the checkered flag sixth overall both Saturday and Sunday.
Levitas came into the Road America weekend fifth in the 991 GT Championship standings but has provisionally jumped to third in the rankings following Road America. With 407 points, Levitas trails the second-place competitor by just three points and is 52 points out of first place.
David Williams also provisionally maintained third place in the 992 championship standings after persevering through a quick but challenging weekend in the No. 37 Mission BBQ Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Williams was battling among the 992 class leaders in Saturday’s race when a 991-class competitor abruptly slowed in front of him. Resulting contact left Williams uninjured, but his No. 37 Porsche sustained its worst race damage of the season.
Undaunted, the TPC Racing crew repaired the Mission BBQ machine overnight Saturday and Williams rebounded for a seventh-place finish Sunday. The focused performance kept Williams third in the 992 championship rankings with 421 points leaving Road America, 28 points out of second place and 54 points behind the class leader.
Another stout showing for TPC Racing in the 992 division came from Scott Schmidt in the No. 138 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. Still learning the 992 in just his third doubleheader weekend competing in the Porsche, Schmidt improved a combined seven positions over the two days for 11th place 992 finishes both Saturday and Sunday. Schmidt will be back in action with TPC Racing at Road America this weekend in IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo competition.
Rob Lorndale, driving his 991-class No. 6 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, was on pace early Sunday to improve on a 17th place finish in Saturday’s opener but instead was assessed a drive-through penalty for what race officials ruled was responsibility for an incident in Turn 8. Lorndale took the penalty and still managed to finish 18th but is shaking off the frustrations of the day with a quick shift of focus to the next Porsche Sprint Challenge race weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS).
Harris Levitas, TPC Racing Director of Race Operations: “The TPC Racing team did an amazing job getting the cars prepared and in a very competitive race trim. Road America is not an easy track, and all four drivers really did a great job. In Saturday’s race, it was looking like David Williams would have one of his best finishes, but sometimes incidents happen in racing, and unfortunately David was not able to finish the race. The team worked hard and had his car repaired and ready to go for Race 2 of the weekend. David drove extremely well and in the end scored solid points which keeps him in the top three in the championship as we head into the final two events of the season. In the No. 36 car, Michael Levitas had two strong races and finished the weekend with two podium finishes. Rob worked extremely hard all week and turned his fastest laps at Road America during the shortened qualifying session. Unfortunately, the races did not go his way, and on Sunday a penalty assessed by race control made it so that he did not have the finish that he could have had, but we will shake that off and move on to Indy. Scott Schmidt drove very well, made some great passes, and is getting much more comfortable in the 992 car. The team will be hard at work to prepare for Indianapolis and we look forward to a great event during the Porsche Sports Car Together weekend on the ‘Brickyard’ road course.”
Michael Levitas, Driver – No. 36 Erin Levitas Foundation TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “I am having a ball. Just big thanks to TPC Racing, all the competitors, USAC and Porsche. This is great racing. I am just so proud of everybody on the TPC Racing team, they gave me a great car, and it is an honor to race for the Erin Levitas Foundation for prevention of sexual assault. We had two great races, and on Saturday I was even closing ground on the leader. I was gaining a few tenths of a second every lap, but then with 10 minutes to go I made a mistake and then just had to defend second-place to finish. We have second and third place finishes this year and really think before the year is over we can get one.”
David Williams, Driver – No. 37 Mission BBQ Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “I am really proud of everybody on the TPC Racing team. Saturday was just one of those things, you learn from it and move on, but it felt great to get in the full race Sunday. We have had better results, and I was expecting more, but after what happened the guys did a great job getting the car repaired and ready Saturday night. I am really like the depth of the field in Porsche Sprint Challenge. The series has some nice competition and it’s good to be a part of it.”
Scott Schmidt, Driver – No. 138 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup: “This race was an accumulation of the testing we did a few weeks ago at Road America in both the Porsche 992 and the Lamborghini. All of that time and coaching is starting to pay off as the 992 is a car that I have to learn and I am starting to. We are making great advancement. Saturday’s first race was all about getting more time in the car. We started 34th on the grid and finished 11th in class and overall made some good progress. That race was about getting acclimated, and I woke up Sunday morning and wanted to really charge, race and attack, and that’s what we went after. I passed an actual driver we compete with in class in the Lamborghini series in the second to last lap in Sunday’s race to finish 11th. I left more comfortable in entry speeds and learning racecraft.”
The Porsche Sprint Challenge North America doubleheader on the road course at the famous IMS “Brickyard” takes place Labor Day Weekend, September 2 – 4.
Next up for TPC Racing is an immediate return engagement at Road America where Schmidt’s Lamborghini and two other Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 entries will compete in the IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo doubleheader next weekend, August 5 – 7.
About TPC Racing: TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sportscars. TPC Racing specializes in R&D and sales of high-performance modifications for Porsche sports cars and race cars, offering a wide range of vehicle upgrades. Best known for a line of forced induction solutions for the Porsche 911, Cayman and Boxster, a long-time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled TPC Racing to become experts in Porsche service, tuning, and racing. In 2000, TPC Racing began entering races under its own banner, scoring an SGS-class Championship in 2004 in the Grand-American Rolex Series and was a class winner in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona, and captured the 2013 and 2016 IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA Gold Cup Championships. More information can be found at http://www.TPCRacing.com.
TPC Racing Concludes Competitive Porsche Sprint Challenge Weekend at Road America with Dual Podium Finishes for Michael Levitas in No. 36 Erin Levitas Foundation TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
