Copeland Motorsport’s new TC America champion Tyler Maxson was victorious once again in race two at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, beating KMW Motorsport’s Roy Block.
At the start, Maxson was unable to assume his pole position due to a mechanical issue requiring a late fix by his team, forcing the youngster to start from seventh behind the TCR field.
That gave DXDT Racing’s Scott Smithson the pole, and he duly led for the first few corners of the race, as Maxson fought to recover lost ground.
However, Smithson spun off of his own accord at turn 6 on the lap, handing the lead to the Alfa Romeo of Roy Block, who was already being chased by Maxson in second.
Argentine Block then held his own at the front for six laps, but on lap seven he dropped back behind Maxson and Olivia Askey on lap seven when he came up to lap the TCA-class car of Caleb Bacon.
Maxson then settled into a comfortable lead, although Block closed in on the leading Hyundai driver in the final laps of the race.
Victor Gonzalez claimed third in his Honda, passing Taylor Hagler for the final podium position on the last lap of the race.
Halger herself was fourth, ahead of fellow female racer Askew in fifth, who had dropped behind Block a lap after she overtook him and then Gonzalez and Hagler later in the race.
“We went to fire the car to get to pre-grid and it wouldn’t fire and the team and I thrashed to fix a distribution switch,” explained new champion Maxson of his failure to assume pole at the start.
“We were able to get the car out to pit lane but we had to start from the back of the grid.”
Race three takes place on Sunday at 10:55 local time (16:55 BST).