The 2023 United States Touring Car Championship East Is Underway for Mezzanine Motorsports

Summit Point, W.V. -- In the most well attended opening Mid Atlantic Road Racing Series event since 2013 the USTCC East coast drivers filled in to historic Summit Point Motorsports Park.

The number 13 Mezzanine Motorsports Cayman S would have its maiden voyage around the 2 mile circuit in hopes of winning out against closest rivals in Super Touring; On Q Racing and Andrew Conner in his BMW 325.

This race would have Coyote Black, driver of the Mezzanine Motorsports car out for the first time in race trim, as well as first time racing in a rear wheel drive car after previously piloting his Integra Type R exclusively.


Qualifying

Qualifying sessions for the run group were cut short due to contact elsewhere in the field limiting the amount of clean laps able to be run. The session would have the Mezzanine car starting on the front row for the heat race later on Saturday by getting in a flying lap early in the session. The On Q BMW would see some mechanical issues with a coolant line that put the car out without setting any on pace times. More mechanical issues would have front runner in Sportsman class Roger Maeda sidelined with repairs on his Honda Prelude as well.


Saturday Heat Race

The story of Saturday's racing would be "When will the rain hit?" The group 3 session timing would put the cars right on the edge of the weather. Going out in the dry the Mezzanine Car was off to an early lead on lap 1 of the race. Around 4 laps into the session a red flag would see the action halted part way through.

On the restart the Cayman was off to another great lead, with Andrew Connor charging through the field behind. Rain started falling heavily around one lap in to the restart causing all sorts of trouble for the field on full slicks.

Through everything the Mezzanine Motorsports car was able to hang on for the checkered flag taking a 1st overall, 1st in class, and new track record for Super Touring at 1:23.147

Andrew Connor would finish 2nd place, but in a much more favorable starting position for the Sunday feature race.


Sunday Feature Race

The Sunday race would have much more favorable racing weather with lower temperatures and clear skies. Starting from P1 it appeared the Mezzanine Motorsports car would have fantastic conditions for a clear start. However an early spin saw the car into a tire wall, destroying a front radiator and denying the team a great race with an unfortunate DNF.

Andrew Connor would take 1st place in Super Touring ultimately with a clean race, and Roger Maeda would take 1st place in Sportsman with a new track record to his name as well at a 1:24.534.

The teams will now regroup, repair and reset for the next round of racing at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Lightning Circuit) on the May 26-28th. Mezzanine Motorsports and On Q Racing will fight to break the tie for the lead in Super Touring.

Mezzanine Motorsports would like to thank their crew and fans for all of the support throughout the race this past weekend. We can't do it without you!