- Shehan Chandrasoma and Nikko Reger Co-Drive the No. 120 TPC Racing Lamborghini Austin Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 to Pro-Am Victory Friday
- Alan Grossberg Improves Throughout World Finals Week in Italy in the No. 102 TPC Racing/Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 in the LB Cup Class
ROME, Italy (November 19, 2023) – Stepping into the winner’s spotlight on the grandest stage in international Lamborghini Super Trofeo competition, TPC Racing, co-drivers Shehan Chandrasoma and Nikko Reger, and the No. 120 Lamborghini Austin Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 team secured their first Super Trofeo Pro-Am class victory in the season-ending IMSA Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race at the Lamborghini World Finals at Autodromo Vallelunga in Italy on Friday.
The win was the first for TPC Racing in international sports car racing competition and the initial victory for the team with Chandrasoma and Reger after pairing up with the duo at mid-season. The convincing victory followed a similarly competitive second-place Pro-Am finish by the No. 120 team in Thursday’s opening Super Trofeo North America race and completed a season-ending run of four-consecutive podium finishes to close out the year.
Including a pair of third-place showings one race prior to Vallelunga at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), the late-season surge enabled Chandrasoma to secure the final Pro-Am season championship podium spot in third place, just one point behind the second-place competitor.
Chandrasoma started Thursday’s first 50-minute Super Trofeo North America race and immediately stepped up to battle in the Pro-Am top three. He pitted from third just past the 27-minute mark to hand off to Reger as the TPC Racing team performed a well executed and perfectly timed pit stop, as they did throughout the nearly week-long World Finals event.
Reger continued the fight at the front of the field and advanced to second in the closing stages. He masterfully held off Johannes van Overbeek, an overall Rolex 24 and two-time 12 Hours of Sebring race winner, for several laps to skillfully defend the runner-up position to the checkered flag.
The second-place result matched Chandrasoma’s best finish of the year, but those season-high marks would soon be surpassed in the Friday finale. Reger took the start and immediately challenged in the Pro-Am top three. Chandrasoma took over near the race’s halfway point and, after another top pit stop by the TPC Racing crew, returned to the track in fourth.
From there, Chandrasoma went to work as the competition cycled through their pit stops and he passed for two positions. He was in second with less than 20 minutes to go and, after steadily reeling in the leader, pulled off what proved to be race-winning pass with 13 minutes remaining. Chandrasoma took the checkered flag for the convincing win in Pro-Am and a solid top-five overall behind four top-tier Pro-class competitors.
With the Super Trofeo North America season in the books, Chandrasoma and Reger focused on the weekend’s World Finals doubleheader where they and their American competitor peers would race head-to-head with the best Super Trofeo teams and drivers from Europe and Asia.
Chandrasoma started Saturday’s opening race but was caught up at the start in the type of close-quarters contact incident that is not uncommon in the 40-plus car World Finals fields. The No. 120 was soon retired with radiator and minor bodywork damage but the TPC Racing team quickly repaired the Lamborghini for Sunday’s final race.
Chandrasoma and Reger raced in Sunday’s finale with a rebound on their minds and steadily progressed through the field for a strong top-five finish. The fifth-place result was not the end of the story, however, as two Pro-Am competitors that took the checkered flag ahead of the No. 120 were assessed post-race penalties. That moved the No. 120 up to third where TPC Racing and its drivers proudly represented the U.S. behind the class-winning team from Asia and the second-place European series finishers.
The TPC Racing lineup at the World Finals included LB Cup-class solo driver Alan Grossberg who was competing with the team for just the second time after debuting at Indianapolis in the No. 102 TPC Racing/Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2.
Improving from the beginning of a full week of on-track action that began with unofficial testing on Monday, Grossberg hit his stride in the Saturday and Sunday World Finals doubleheader. Starting near the back in both races behind an international field of the best LB Cup and Am-class competitors in the world, Grossberg improved 12 positions in Saturday’s race and nine spots on Sunday. He crossed the finish line 12th in both rounds.
Although the established TPC Racing team has been victorious in internationally-recognized major races in North America – including a GT-class victory in the 2006 Rolex 24 At Daytona – Friday’s victory was the team’s first outside of North America. TPC competed overseas for the first time in the team’s 20-year history in last year’s World Finals in Portugal where they scored an Am-class second place finish in the Super Trofeo North America finale to secure third in the Am season championship.
Harris Levitas, Director of Race Operations: “It was really incredible. The TPC Racing team did an absolutely amazing job preparing the cars and our engineering staff – and everybody on the team in whatever job they had – executed and that’s all we needed to do. The drivers did a fantastic job, and getting our first Super Trofeo Pro-Am race win together was a perfect way to cap off the year. I can’t thank Shehan Chandrasoma, his family, and Nikko Reger enough for trusting us to do this for them. To end the season with our first Pro-Am victory and first international win in our team’s history is just amazing. We are also proud of Alan Grossberg who continued to make incredible progress in just his second race with us in LB Cup. The week-long schedule in Italy was perfect for Alan as he got an incredible amount of track time and it showed. His best came at the very end in the competitive World Finals races where he pulled off several passes and took advantage of attrition to move up. He kept it clean when many others didn’t and it is great to see his ongoing development, particularly against the best Super Trofeo drivers in the world.”
Shehan Chandrasoma, Driver, No. 120 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2: “What an end to the season with a first place finish. It definitely feels good to win fair and square, a clean race, no spins no wrecks with good competition. The TPC Racing team has been fantastic and nailed every single pit stop. Nikko put the car in an amazing position. I got in the car, had a really good stint, made the pass for first and got our first win of the season. We had great pace in both race one and race two in the North American championship finale in Italy and I think I am ready in Super Trofeo to do Pro-Am next year, maybe even Pro, and from then on plan to do GT3.”
Nikko Reger, Driver, No. 120 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2: “You have the best competition in the world, some of the coolest cars in the world, and just overall one of the best racing series. We are having fun driving Lamborghinis, but we get to do it against some of the best and put our talent to the test. That’s a favorite part of driving here in Lamborghini Super Trofeo. So, I am absolutely loving it. I never dreamed of racing Lamborghinis in Italy, but we were here, showed very well, and it is great stuff. We should’ve had more wins this season but this is quite the way to wrap up the year.”
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.
