DANVILLE, Virginia (May 31, 2023) – Fast off of a career weekend one race ago at Barber Motorsports Park, TPC Racing heads to a “home game” at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) with a four-entry effort for this weekend’s USAC Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama event on the 3.27-mile Southern Virginia road course.
In late April at Barber, TPC Racing and its four drivers secured three race wins, four poles and a string of additional podium and top-four finishes in the team’s most successful weekend of competition to date in the third-year Porsche Sprint Challenge series. Next up is this weekend’s doubleheader schedule of Porsche GT3 Cup and Cayman GT4 Clubsport races on a VIR track that is well familiar to TPC Racing and located just 275 miles from team’s headquarters in Jessup, Maryland.
Following up on his breakout win in the season-opening weekend of competition at Barber Motorsports Park in March, David Williams scored a second-consecutive 992 Am class victory in his TPC Racing No. 237 Mission BBQ Porsche 992 GT3 Cup in Saturday’s first race at Barber. Williams backed Saturday’s top performance up with a runner-up showing in Sunday’s finale to retain his early-season 992 Am class championship points lead after the first four rounds of the 2023 season.
Heading into VIR, Williams has a two-point lead in first place in the 992 Am-class championship standings, 197 – 195. TPC Racing also leads the 992 Am team championship battle by two points, 196 – 194.
The team’s other top performer at Barber was debuting Porsche Junior Driver Chloe Chambers who dominated the Sprint Challenge Cayman class in the No. 70 Monoflo International Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Chambers swept both weekend Cayman sprints from the pole and led every lap in both races to leave Barber with a perfect performance in her first Porsche Sprint Challenge race weekend. Nothing short of a repeat result is the goal this weekend at VIR.
Chambers’ victories were the first overall wins for TPC Racing in Porsche Sprint Challenge. The Sebring 992 Am win for Williams was the first in TPC’s three years of competition in Sprint Challenge, and the team’s career-win total in the all-Porsche series has quickly grown to four after the three race wins at Barber.
This weekend’s VIR race marks the return to the team of longtime TPC Racing driver Tom Kerr who makes his Porsche Sprint Challenge debut in the No. 73 The Vein & Vascular Institute of Tampa Bay Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport. Kerr has previously raced with the team in IMSA Porsche GT3 Cup and Lamborghini Super Trofeo competition and is now set to close out the remainder of the 2023 Cayman GT4 season with his familiar TPC Racing teammates.
Chambers and Kerr are part of another three-strong Cayman effort from TPC Racing at VIR. Tillman Schmid drove the No. 77 Monoflo International Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the year’s opening events at Sebring and Barber – topped by a third-place finish in his first race at Sebring – but hands off to teammate Evan Hinkle this weekend. Schmid and Hinkle share the Monoflo No. 77 this year but this weekend at VIR marks Hinkle’s Sprint Challenge series debut.
Following Friday practice sessions and qualifying Saturday morning, the VIR weekend’s first races run Saturday afternoon. The Caymans get things started Saturday at 1:25 p.m. EDT while the Porsche GT3 Cup competitors race for the first time that day at 3:10 p.m. EDT. Sunday’s second and final rounds see the Caymans race at 10:10 a.m. EDT with the GT3 Cup finale scheduled to go green at 11:55 a.m. EDT. All weekend races are 40 minutes sprints on the 3.27-mile VIR road course.
Harris Levitas, TPC Racing Director of Race Operations: “Our TPC Racing team has been working very hard to prepare for the upcoming VIR race. We had a few curveballs thrown at us during recent testing there, but the team has worked steadily throughout the week and we will be going back with four strong and race ready cars to a VIR circuit that is familiar and not far from the TPC Racing shop in Maryland. For this event, we are absolutely thrilled to welcome Tom Kerr back to the TPC Racing team. Tom and his family are like family to us, and it is great to have him behind the wheel of the No. 73 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. I think that he will learn a lot and have a ton of fun in the GT4 platform. As well, Evan Hinkle will be making his Porsche Sprint Challenge debut behind the wheel of the No. 77 Monoflo International Cayman GT4 entry. David Williams was able to get in a lot of seat time during the recent test in his No. 237 Mission BBQ 992 GT3 Cup, which will be very important in getting him comfortable and up to speed quickly during the race weekend. Chloe Chambers set some very quick times in testing, and we hope to have her and the No. 70 Monoflo International entry fast right off of the trailer. This is the home race for Monoflo International, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in business. Monoflo will be bringing out a lot of their employees from its Virginia headquarters and will even have a hospitality tent with catering courtesy of Mission BBQ. It will be a fun experience for all, and we hope to be able to put on a good show with competitive racing for everyone attending.”
Chloe Chambers, Driver – No. 70 Monoflo International Cayman GT4 Clubsport: “After a successful Barber debut weekend, I am super excited to be back in VIR. It’s the track where I first asked my parents if I could race, so it’s very cool to be back racing there. I am looking forward to more success with the team, and since it’s Monoflo’s home race and a track close to TPC Racing’s headquarters, it would be great to get two more wins! From testing a couple weeks ago at VIR, I learned a lot. This track is very different from Barber and quite the challenge. All the more reason to love driving here! Being able to get more seat time in general is helpful at this stage since I don’t have too much experience in this car and tire package. Being involved in the Porsche Deluxe Female Driver Development Program is a huge help in my career. Having been named a Porsche Junior Driver and now a part of their female initiative has opened so many new doors. The financial support is phenomenal as well as the general support from the brand that really got me into racing at seven years old. It also helps me get that much closer to being an Official Porsche Factory Driver racing in Le Mans!”
Tom Kerr, Driver – No. 73 The Vein & Vascular Institute of Tampa Bay Cayman GT4 Clubsport: “I am a little bit more excited than usual. I have raced with TPC Racing, and I have raced Porsches for a long time, but this is a new platform for me. I went from Porsche to Lamborghini, and the Lamborghini was a mid-engine car, and they now came out with this Cayman GT4, which is new to me. I have only done GT3-style racing, but I wanted to go to something else with a mid-engine platform. We tested the GT4 for the first time a little over a week ago at VIR and it just handles like a dream. The car is powerful and fast and pretty much combines everything I love in a race car in one thing. The car is new to me, but it felt like I have been driving it forever. And being back with TPC Racing just ices the cake because Mike and Harris Levitas, 99% of this just being around them and their family with their level of passion and enthusiasm. They have become family friends now, more than just racing, and it’s a combined deal now. I take my son, we get to hang out with the Levitas family and get to a race a cool car. You look forward to seeing them every weekend, all of the guys on the team are great, and they have really put together a quality and established organization. I am really looking forward to the season, especially Indianapolis after watching the 500 on Sunday, but VIR is my favorite track. Most of my wins, podiums and best accomplishments have been at VIR. I have won more races there than anywhere. I love the track and know the track, so it is a good circuit for me to get back on and get started again with TPC.”
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.