- TPC Racing’s International Competition Debut Features Wesley Slimp and Tyler Hoffman in the No. 9 HNTB Companies Lamborghini Huracán and Billy Johnson in the No. 71 DSC Sport/Erin Levitas Foundation Lamborghini Huracán
- Packed Six-Day Schedule of Events at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimão, Portugal Includes Season-Ending Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Doubleheader on Friday and International Super Trofeo Grand Finals this Weekend
Portimão, Algarve, Portugal (October 31, 2022) – TPC Racing and two of its Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 contenders have arrived in Portugal for six full days of on-track action at the Algarve International Circuit, November 1 – 6. The nearly week-long schedule of events culminates with Friday’s season-ending IMSA Super Trofeo North America doubleheader and this weekend’s global Super Trofeo Grand Finals.
Both the No. 9 HNTB Companies Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2, co-driven by Wesley Slimp and Tyler Hoffman, and the Pro-class No. 71 DSC Sport/Erin Levitas Foundation Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 of Billy Johnson compete on the 2.891-mile circuit in Portimão in Southern Portugal.
The Super Trofeo dual event is the first time TPC Racing has competed outside of North America in the more than 20-year history of the race and championship-winning sports car racing team. Although TPC has been victorious in internationally-recognized major races in North America – including a GT-class victory in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona – the Super Trofeo extravaganza at the Portimão circuit marks TPC’s first competition foray overseas.
TPC’s path to Portimão began with its move to IMSA Super Trofeo North America competition late in the 2020 season. The team’s first full year in the series in 2021 set the stage for even more success this season.
Slimp and Hoffman gave TPC its first Super Trofeo victory in 2022’s season-opening event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in late April. That win in the LB Cup-class promptly saw race officials elevate the HNTB No. 9 to the Am-class in which Slimp and Hoffman have continued to be competitive. The duo has third-place finishes at Road America in August and New Orleans this past May. Similar results Friday in Portugal, or even the team’s first Am-class win, could elevate Slimp, Hoffman and the No. 9 team to a top-three season-championship finish.
Johnson and the No. 71 team have been pushing for their first race win in the top-tier Pro class all season. They arrive in Portugal after securing Johnson’s and the team’s first podium finish in the final Super Trofeo North America race of the year at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) in late August.
Johnson started from the outside front row in the VIR race, led the 50-minute sprint twice and overcame a late-race car issue to score the long overdue Pro-class and overall podium finish.
The unique and jammed format for the Portimão finale will see TPC contest six races over three days, with a pair of 50-minute sprints on the schedule each day this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The schedule begins Tuesday for three days of testing, practice and qualifying through Thursday. Friday’s Super Trofeo North America doubleheader kicks the racing off with the first 50-minute sprint race at 11 a.m. local time and the final race of the year slated to go green later that day at 3:50 p.m. Portugal time.
The Saturday and Sunday Grand Finals races are an all-out battle between the European Super Trofeo teams and their North American counterparts. The full format creates the need for split-group races, with the LB Cup and Am classes competing together and the Pro and Pro-Am teams sharing the track for their Grand Finals races.
Slimp, Hoffman and the No. 9 compete in the LB Cup/Am races that are scheduled for 2:45 p.m. Saturday and Noon local time on Sunday. Johnson and the No. 71 team close out their Super Trofeo season in the Pro/Pro-Am races at 4:05 p.m. on Saturday and 2:50 p.m. local time on Sunday.
All races will be livestreamed on YouTube on the Lamborghini Squadra Corse channel. Current Portimão local time is four hours ahead of U.S. Eastern time, but viewers are encouraged to double check livestream times considering early Sunday in the U.S. will see the annual one-hour “fall back” time change from daylight time to standard time.
Harris Levitas, TPC Racing Director of Race Operations: “It’s a very exciting event for the TPC Racing team. Everyone has worked so hard all year developing our Super Trofeo platforms in a great way and shown it by running further and further up the field in every event we have been to. We are really looking forward to taking the TPC Racing team overseas and running in an international format. We have never done that before and it is definitely an exciting venture for the team as a whole. It will be a bit tricky once everybody arrives because our drivers have not been to this circuit before, but with all of the testing time that Lamborghini is allowing everybody should adapt pretty well. Our cars are in really good shape to fight at the front of the field. Wesley Slimp and Tyler Hoffman have worked really well all year, getting better and better at each round, and they had a race win and a couple of podium finishes. They have had a great season so far and can carry that momentum in the USA rounds and in the international Grand Finals. We also bring some momentum forward from the last U.S. race with Billy Johnson finishing third in Virginia. He will be really strong.in Friday’s USA rounds. Then in the Lamborghini Grand Finals, Billy will be competing in the Pro/Pro-Am class against other competitors in those classes from both the U.S. and Europe. It will be great seeing him perform in that and hopefully get the TPC No. 71 Lamborghini to the front of that field.”
Tyler Hoffman, Driver – No. 9 HNTB Companies Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2: “It’s been a great season so far for us in IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo with TPC Racing. We’ve won every trophy along the podium and plan to add to our collection in Portugal. We would like to run up front and finish on the podium in hopes of finishing top three in the Super Trofeo North America championship. Racing in Europe will be a new experience for myself and my first trip to Portugal. The track looks incredible. I’ve been watching video and talking with friends, particularly Geoff May, who raced World Superbike back in the day over there. It sounds like a mix of Barber Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta, two of my favorite tracks, so I should feel right at home within a session or two. I’ve only heard great things about the country, so I am very much looking forward to it. Europe has been good to my fiancée Shannon and I with our engagement last month in Ireland, so we hope that good luck keeps rolling on!”
Billy Johnson, Driver – No. 71 DSC Sport/Erin Levitas Foundation Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2: “It’s super cool to be going to the Super Trofeo Grand Finals in Portugal for the last race of the year in a different country, at a really awesome race track and having all of the other championships there at the same time. They guys have been working really hard to get our car in top shape and competitive for Portugal, and we are really looking forward to being with the competition out there and giving it our all. Both final rounds of the U.S championship will be run Friday, so it’s really important to survive the first race and not go into race two with any damage that can’t be repaired or repaired fully from race one. The Super Trofeo races are always super crazy and pretty busy, especially on starts and restarts, so you never know when you are going to get caught up in an incident. So it’s really important to keep the car clean to not only have a strong car to finish race one but also the final race. The weekend’s Grand Finals races will help a little bit with split class races but we have seen several times in the course of this season that their have been incidents within the first three or four rows with the top-class cars. Having races separate from Am and LB Cup will play a factor but doesn’t eliminate all of the potential opportunities for contact. That’s just the nature of sprint racing. Everybody is going for it, 11/10ths from the drop of the green flag. All of us at the TPC Racing team make our debut at Portimão and I have been doing a lot of practice on the simulator and the track looks beautiful. A lot of elevation changes and looks like a lot of fun. Super excited to be going.”
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 www.TPCRacing.com.
