Ryan Eversley Claims TCR Title with Two Wins at Watkins Glen
• Ryan Eversley sweeps doubleheader race weekend to secure TCR class championship
• Mason Filippi completes 1-2 Sunday race result for Honda, RealTime Racing
• Tom O’Gorman concludes Honda championship weekend with TCA class title

WATKINS GLEN, New York – (Sept. 2, 2018) – RealTime Racing driver Ryan Eversley took all of the drama out of the World Challenge Touring Car R (TCR) class championship at Watkins Glen International Raceway, claiming victory in both rounds of the doubleheader race weekend to secure his first-ever series crown.

Eversley won both Saturday and Sunday races by less than three-tenths of a second each to clinch the first-ever World Challenge TCR title. Eversley bested Michael Lewis in Saturday’s opener, and edged his RealTime Racing teammate Mason Filippi in Sunday’s finale to score his fourth and fifth victories of the season. His pair of wins earned him the 2018 championship by 17 points over Lewis.

Meanwhile, Tom O’Gorman doubled the Honda trophy take in his Civic Si, sealing the 2018 Touring Car A [TCA] Drivers’ Championship by coming from the back of the grid in Sunday’s season finale to finish fourth.

TCR
Eversley started his championship chase by winning the pole for Saturday’s race, and used it to beat championship rival Michael Lewis to the line by a scant 0.221 seconds, putting himself in prime position to clinch the title on Sunday.

Lewis still had an outside chance to wrest the title away from Eversley, after winning the pole for Sunday’s race, but Eversley took advantage of apparent mechanical issues for both the Hyundai of Lewis, and a similar issue for teammate Mark Wilkins, to take an early lead. From there it was a battle between RealTime teammates Eversley and Filippi for the checkered flag, with Eversley earning a .290-second victory to lead the team’s first 1-2 finish of the season.

TCA
In the TCA class, O’Gorman had his championship celebration muted a bit when a technical violation negated a victory on Saturday, but the Ohioan fought back strongly in the finale with a fourth-place finish, allowing him to claim the TCA crown by 40 points over Spencer Patterson.

Unlike the TCR Honda Civic Type R, where many racing components are incorporated with the production engine and chassis, World Challenge TC technical regulations require the car to be very close to the production version, with only minor safety and suspension changes allowed.

Quote
Ryan Eversley (#43 RealTime Racing Honda Civic Type R) 1st in both races, claims TCR Drivers’ Championship: “We had the most podium finishes [this season], which means we had the best reliability. That’s what Honda is known for doing best. When you’re talking about Honda race cars, and [Honda Racing partner] JAS Motorsports building cars for Honda since the 1990’s, I knew right away [before the start of the season] that it was going to be a successful and consistent program. My goal coming into this weekend was to try to get a pole, and try to maximize points. It’s probably the best way we could have won [the championship] – with a double win.”