Apex Racing League Touring Car Championship Round 4 Race Report

Two wonderfully contrasting drivers have emerged as the main contenders for the Apex Racing League Touring Car Championship (ARLTC). Formula one fans will relate to the Senna versus Prost analogy. Enthusiasts of rallying could reference Colin McRae versus Richard Burns. Defending champion, Kieran Harrison, plays the calm and calculating Alain Prost or Richard Burns. Carl Jansson, on the other hand, emulates the hard charging Senna or McRae. Arriving at Road Atlanta for round four of the championship, Kieran Harrison held a slender lead in the points.

5 Star Motorsport’s Jason Cooper was the star of qualifying and started on the front row of the grid alongside Norbert Leitner. Jansson landed first blow amongst the championship front runners by qualifying fourth, three spots ahead of Harrison. Ben Gregory paced the AM class field and qualified 17^th overall.

Jason Cooper enjoyed the relative serenity of the lead for the first half of the opening encounter, but it wouldn’t last. Carl Jansson was on a mission. A well set up move into turn one gave the Swede the lead on lap eight. Once into the lead, Jansson’s pace never relented and the #192 Audi man held the lead to the chequered flag. HM Engineering stablemates, Corentin Guinez and Kieran Harrison, rounded out the podium.

Ben Gregory converted AM class pole into a class win at the wheel of his Three Spires Boosted Audi.

A reverse grid re-shuffle placed Bruno Belny on pole position for race two. PRO class driver, Oeystein Herfjord, joined Belny on the front row of the grid. Race one podium finishers, Jansson, Guinez and Harrison, started from the wrong end of the top thirty. At a track as narrow as Road Atlanta, the championship protagonists would need to tread carefully on their ascent through the field.

Hungarian touring car star, Attila Tassi, looked set to claim victory with seven minutes on the clock. However, a determined Romain Boeckler, had other plans. With two minutes remaining, Boeckler pounced on Tassi at turn 10 A and B. Despite some contact, Boeckler made it through and sped off to the win. Meanwhile, Sergey Glazkov emerged from an AM class melee with Adam Bath and Ben Gregory to claim seventh overall and the class win.

Three laps later, a sublime move up the inside at turn one, dispatched with Terje Flaten and Nathan Davies simultaneously. Guinez then set off in hot pursuit of the leader, Damien Harris.

Once into his rhythm, Corentin Guinez can be unbeatable. Promptly reeling in Harris, Guinez moved into the lead and never relinquished the advantage. Despite some valiant efforts to counterattack, Harris had to follow Guinez home for the runner’s up spot.

Further back, championship rivals Harrison and Jansson tangled on the final lap in a dispute over third place. On this occasion, it would be Jansson who emerged ahead, stealing the championship lead in the process.

Following the race, several ARLTC aces joined the Apex Racing TV commentary team to volunteer their thoughts on a day’s racing at Road Atlanta:

Adam Bath: “Even though it ended that way (with an incident) and I finished p14, it was the highlight of the evening really.”

Ben Gregory: “That was an amazing fight with Adam bath. Some of the best door to door action I’ve had.”

Carl Jansson: “Finally, it’s turned around after two bad weeks. It was a good meeting. I’m happy with that.”

Toby Ward: “In race two, that’s the best result I’ve had in ARLTC. I think I got two podiums in the AM class across the meeting, which is my best result in class.”

Next week, the Apex Racing League Touring Car Championship stays in the deep south and visits Virginia International Raceway. This classic American sports car circuit is a hidden gem and relatively unknown outside of North America. Tune in to Apex Racing TV at 8pm on Thursday the 18^th of February to see how the drivers fare at the circuit they call V.I.R.

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