INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (September 1, 2022) – TPC Racing heads to the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) this Labor Day weekend with a season-high five entries for the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama doubleheader that is part of the Porsche Sports Car Together Fest at “The Brickyard,” September 1 – 4. The Saturday and Sunday 40-minute sprint races on the 2.439-mile IMS road course are the next-to-last rounds of the season, and two of TPC’s three full-time entries arrive at Indy in top-three title contention in their respective championships.
David Williams carries the TPC Racing flag in the top-tier Porsche Sprint Challenge 992 class and is in the top three in that division’s season championship standings. Williams has returned to TPC Racing this year for the first time since 2015 and moved into the championship picture in the Porsche 992 class after a string of consistent finishes this season in the No. 37 Mission BBQ Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
Despite a challenging weekend in the most recent Porsche Sprint Challenge doubleheader at Road America, a no-quit effort by Williams and the No. 37 team kept them alive in the 992 title race. Coming into this weekend’s IMS rounds, Williams is third in the 992 championship rankings with 421 points, 28 points out of second place and 54 points behind the class leader.
TPC also has a championship contender in the Porsche Sprint Challenge 991 class for slightly older GT3 Cup models. Michael Levitas has been a regular visitor to the 991 division victory lane this season in his No. 36 Erin Levitas Foundation/TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.
The most recent Road America weekend marked the second time this year Levitas has gone two-for-two in podium finishes in a Porsche Sprint Challenge doubleheader, scoring a pair of second-place finishes. In addition to a second and third-place finish in the season-opening races at Sebring International Raceway in March, Levitas also earned podium showings of second at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) and third at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Levitas came into the Road America weekend fifth in the 991 GT championship but arrives in Indy now third in the standings with 407 points. Levitas trails the second-place competitor by just three points and is 52 points out of first place.
The final full-season TPC Racing entry comes from Rob Lorndale in his No. 6 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in the 991 class. Lorndale is the only TPC competitor that participated in last year’s inaugural Porsche Sports Car Together event at IMS and will call on his experience on the 14-turn road course as he looks for a pair of season-best results.
Canadian driver Shaun McKaigue debuted with TPC Racing in the No. 34 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on 4th of July weekend. He returns to TPC for his IMS debut and the season-ending doubleheader at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Texas in two weeks.
TPC also makes its return to the Porsche Sprint Challenge Cayman class this weekend for the first time since last year’s Porsche Fest race at Indy. Rhamses Carazo competes with TPC for the fist time in the No. 711 TPC Racing Porsche Cayman at IMS and at the COTA finale.
Although he is an experienced driver, Carazo makes his first multiple race starts in more than five years after stepping away from competition to assist his son and top Porsche GT3 Cup driver, Sebastian Carazo, launch his racing career. The younger Carazo is the 2019 IMSA Porsche GT3 Gold Cup Champion and competes this weekend at Indy as the Porsche Sprint Challenge 992 class points leader
Williams, Levitas, Lorndale and McKaigue all compete in this weekend’s pair of 40-minute GT3 Cup races at IMS, which start at 1:35 p.m. EDT on Saturday and wrap up with Sunday’s final race at 10 a.m. EDT.
Carazo runs the twin 40-minute Cayman sprints at 11:55 a.m. EDT Saturday and Sunday’s race at 11:40 a.m. EDT.
All four races can be viewed live on the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama YouTube Channel.
Harris Levitas, TPC Racing Director of Race Operations: “Five cars is the most that we have ever run in the past and it is really cool that we are doing it again. We have some really strong contenders in the Porsche Sprint Challenge series right now. We are currently P3 in the 991 class championship with David Williams sitting P3 as well in the 992 championship. So, we do have a lot to build on in Porsche Sprint Challenge. It’s been a great year so far. The team has just worked so hard to get us to where we are, and the drivers have been doing such a good job. David Williams, Rob Lorndale, Michael Levitas, Shaun McKaigue, and new to the team for the final two races of the year is Rhamses Carazo. It’s really great to have Rhamses onboard in the GT4 class.”
Rob Lorndale, Driver – No. 6 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3: “I’m really looking forward to the Porsche Sports Car Together weekend. We raced at the event last year and it was a lot of fun! Working with our coach Billy Johnson this season has been terrific. As a result of all the testing and racing, I have gotten faster and my race craft has improved. I hope to put in two solid races at Indy and then two more at COTA. If can do that, I’ll be very happy with the season.”
Rhamses Carazo, Driver – No. 711 TPC Racing Porsche Cayman: “I haven’t done any race yet in 2022 or much in the last four or five years. I have been dedicated to my son, Sebastian, who is running in both the Lamborghini and Porsche series this year. I made a decision at the end of last year to do at least two weekends of races – or four races – this season and that will be Indianapolis and COTA with TPC Racing. I know it is a great team, a good family team and I know just about everybody on that team for about two years now and I think they deserve an opportunity to run with them, and we will see what comes in the future for me or my son. I have not run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but I have run Circuit of The Americas in Texas. I have been racing for many, may years. I started in the 1990s in karts, have won a few championships in FARA but haven’t really touched a race car much since my son started in IMSA in 2018. We are going to try it again and see if we still have it. I think I can be very happy if I am competitive in the middle of the pack. Everybody has been racing for the whole year, they know the cars pretty well, but this will be my first time in the car ever. So, if I run in the middle of the pack, I will be happy. If I go up to the top-10, I am going to be even happier!”
Shaun McKaigue, Driver – No. 34 TPC Racing Porsche 911 GT3: “I am very excited to be part of the Porsche Sports Car Together weekend. That I get to soak in the aura of Indianapolis speedway, spend time with the spectacular TPC family and race in the Porsche Sprint Challenge is a dream come true! This my first time to ‘the Brickyard,’ so loving the opportunity to learn a new track and race with all the great competitors that the Porsche family attracts. Working well with the TPC team at Mid-Ohio created a strong result. I look forward to building on that momentum this weekend and carrying that forward to COTA, which is another great venue to look forward to.”
Michael Levitas, Driver – No. 36 TPC Racing Erin Levitas Foundation Porsche 911 GT3: “It’s really incredible to go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It is one of the most iconic race tracks in the whole world, and to go there with a five-car team that my son, Harris, has put together has just got to be an amazing experience. I am just so proud of him for what he has done with our Porsche team and our Lamborghini team. Last year I watched our team perform amazingly well in both the 911 GT3 and Cayman GT4 categories and I am super excited to be a part of that this year. I am just so excited to be a part of our team and just to be able to drive. My real focus isn’t on the championship. It’s where it has always been for me, which is the love of the sport, just having fun, and enjoying the relationship with my son at the tracks, and with my teammates and our other competitors. To me, if I am having fun I am racing well. My first priority is to really enjoy the weekend, have a great time at it, and once that helmet is on, I can assure you I will be very competitive. I will absolutely be looking to knock the championship leader off the top right there. All he has to do is cough and I will be right there. I have experience on the Indy road course in my Optima Batteries Ultimate Street Car Porsche 911, which is a variant of a GT2 car with all-wheel drive that I put together to really kind of represent Porsche in the Optima search for the ultimate street car. I really like the Indianapolis infield. I like courses that are very challenging, like large Autocross tracks, that require a lot of skill and patience, a lot of really just working with the car, sliding it, and looking for kind of the opening of the exit all the time. Then the lead on to the straightaway there is pretty amazing.”
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 Brings Season-High Five Entries to Porsche Sprint Challenge North America Doubleheader this Labor Day Weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
