Overnight rain left the 10-turn, 2.459-mile road course wet and loaded with puddles, which led series officials to run the race on Pirelli rain tires.
Despite the wet conditions, pole sitter and Duluth, Georgia native, Mark Pombo didn't waste any time in setting the pace for the race and building a 12-second lead at the half-way point. However, he wouldn't be without challenge. Timmy Megenbier and Andrew Cordeiro cut the lead down to just a few seconds in the closing laps of the race, but today was Pombo's day. He held on to win his first Jetta TDI Cup race of the season and his second career series win. He is the fifth different driver to win this season, and the victory moves him into fourth place in the Championship standings.
"Wow, what a great weekend," Pombo said. "To be able to be fast in every session and lead every lap is the way that I would have dreamed up this weekend. My only regret is that this kind of performance wasn't earlier in the season. It feels good to get a win, though. During the race, I wanted to get out to a lead so that I could protect my tires. I knew that as the track dried, we would start to use up our Pirelli rain tires very quickly, and we don't have an option to change to slicks during the race. Everything went according to plan, and the guys behind me caught me a bit. Fortunately, I was able to hang on."
Megenbier and Cordeiro battled for the last half of the race with the two swapping positions several times. When the checkered flag fell, it was Megenbier coming in second and Cordeiro third, marking Megenbier's sixth podium appearance in seven races. It's also the first podium appearance of the season for local driver Andrew Cordeiro who hails from Woodbridge, Ontario.
The race results didn't have a major effect on the Championship standings, as Megenbier still maintains the lead with 266 points. He's trailed by Andy Lee (227), Joey Atterbury (223), Pombo (192) and Jake Thompson (191).
The Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup series' next race is at New Jersey Motorsports Park, where Rounds 8 & 9 will take place September 11-13.
