Shehan Chandrasoma and Nikko Reger Take Hardware Home From Both Races on the Road Course at the “Racing Capital of the World”
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (September 18, 2023) – TPC Racing made a pair of visits to the podium on the hallowed ground of Indianapolis Motor Speedway during IMSA’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo doubleheader this weekend, taking home a pair of trophies in the Pro-Am class with drivers Shehan Chandrasoma and Nikko Reger.
Chandrasoma and Reger drove the No. 20 Lamborghini Austin Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 to a third-place finish in Saturday’s 50-minute race and had an opportunity to compete for the win. Despite qualifying in eighth place and deeper in the field, Reger weaved his way forward before passing the car to Chandrasoma early in the mandatory pit stop window. Behind the wheel, Chandrasoma completed the run to second place with 11 minutes remaining and was aimed for the class lead.
Thoughts of the win ended when Chandrasoma was hit and spun by an out of class car. Though the offending car was forced to serve a drive through penalty for the incident, Chandrasoma had fallen one position while recovering. Fortunately he was able to resume quickly enough to hold onto the podium showing.
Chandrasoma started Saturday’s race eighth overall and second in class, but by lap two had driven to the class lead and fourth overall. A long caution erased any deficit he had built, but the No. 20 remained in the class lead and third overall at the time of the mandatory pit stop. As Reger left the box, he was held up by an LB Cup car driving slower than the pit lane speed limit. That lost time relegated him to third at the completion of the pit cycle, a position Reger held until the checkered flag.
The Indianapolis weekend was the first of 2023 that featured a trio of cars in the TPC Racing paddock, joining the No. 20 Huracan. But strong runs by Sebastian Carazo and Marco Cirone in the Am class and Alan Grossberg in LB Cup were unfortunately thwarted by incidents in their respective debuts with the team.
Though Cirone qualified third in class for Saturday’s race and Carazo nearly matched him with a fourth-place start in race two, the No. 82 Lamborghini Austin/TPC Racing Lamborghini Huracan met bad luck in each race despite the strong pace. Cirone, who was making his Lamborghini Super Trofeo debut, spun while racing hard in his stint during the opening race and the duo fought for a seventh place finish.
Carazo drove Sunday’s race solo, but was hit on the pace lap which knocked the left front fender lining loose on the Huracan. The team tried to pull it away from the Hankook tire during the pit stop, but it eventually punctured and forced Carazo to pit lane for a second time and an eighth place finish.
Grossberg stepped back into Lamborghini Super Trofeo after nearly a year away from the championship in a partnership with TPC Racing and Dream Racing. Grossberg’s best finish was ninth in No. 2 TPC Racing/Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan with focus now on the upcoming Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America finale and World Finals during the same outing at Vallelunga near Rome, Italy in November.
The pair of podium finishes moves Chandrasoma to third in the Pro-Am point standings with just two races in Italy remaining.
Before the World Finals, however, TPC Racing is back in action again at Indianapolis for the Porsche Sprint Challenge North America presented by Yokohama, October 6 – 8.
Harris Levitas, Director of Race Operations: “Racing is a sport of ups and downs, but we had some really great highlights from this weekend. Shehan and Nikko drove their butts off this weekend, and I’m so proud of those two drivers. They did such a fantastic job. The TPC Racing team worked so hard every day to give them the cars they could compete with. In race two, Shehan took the lead early. Unfortunately we got a little screwed coming out of pit lane and we weren’t able to maintain that lead, but Nikko did a great job in his stint, made a pass, and kept it on the podium. Shehan is third in the driver’s standings, and now that’s a big thing as the team begins to prep for Vallelunga. In the No. 82 car, Marco Cirone and Sebastian Carazo did a great job all weekend. With Marco jumping between another single make series and this car all weekend, he did an amazing job. Unfortunately, he was involved in an incident in another series and wasn’t able to participate in race two with us, but Sebastian did a heck of a job doing the race as a single driver. He got hit on the pace lap, and when the tire blew shortly after the pit stop it ended any hope of finishing on the podium. Alan Grossberg was progressing all weekend, and unfortunately he had an incident in race two that took him out. But he’s feeling good, he’s ready to go, and all three cars will be prepped back at the TPC facility and ready for Italy.”
Shehan Chandrasoma, Driver, No. 20 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2: “Overall it was a great weekend. We got back to back podiums, which is always a plus. On Saturday, we finished P3 on the podium and I think we had a shot at first or second but I got punted off by an LB Cup driver. That put us back significantly, but we had such a big gap on the rest of the field and stayed on the podium. In today’s race I put the car in the lead and did a really good job up with the pro cars and holding the car in first place up until the pit stop. Nikko got caught behind a slow LB Cup guy on pit lane and that cost us a few seconds.”
Nikko Reger, Driver, No. 20 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2: “It was great. We’re racing Lamborghinis at Indianapolis, and there’s nothing to complain about. We come out here and raced to win and ended up with a pair of podiums, so it wasn’t too bad. We rolled the dice on an overcut there at the end, and ended up coming right out into traffic. It’s a little frustrating, but we take our blessings when we can and we brought the car back on four wheels. It’s a great day at Indianapolis, and I think we’re ready for the World Finals.”
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.
