When the German Touring Series arrived at Road Atlanta for NASA Southeast’s June Jam over Father’s Day weekend, the action on track was fierce and it had championship implications.
In the Lightning run group, Rafael Torres came into the weekend having been perfect up to that point for the year, having won every race in GTS2, but he faced a strong seven-car field in June. Torres put his BMW 325is on the GTS2 pole, but by lap three found himself chasing the Porsche 944 S2 of Jonathan Foulds with Robert Lutz and Thomas Logan close behind in their 325i BMWs. Foulds managed to hold off Torres throughout the race, but Foulds was DQ’d for a pass under yellow giving another win to Torres. Lutz came in second while Logan was able to hold off Jim Kessler’s Porsche Boxster for third. On Sunday Torres’ hopes for a perfect season came to an end on lap four when he was forced to retire with mechanical problems, handing the win to Foulds. Logan was able to hold off a hard-charging Kessler for second.
In GTS1, Thomas Crookston came into the weekend second to John Moch in the championship and was set to pick up easy points when Moch withdrew from the weekend with mechanical problems. However, when Crookston’s Volkswagen GTi caught fire during Friday’s enduro, many thought he too would be out for the weekend, but Crookston and his team showed the form that had made them the most consistent GTS car in 2012 by getting the car ready in time to race. They came in second to the BMW 2002 of Jeff Coffey on Saturday and took the win in GTS1 on Sunday, giving Crookston the championship lead over Moch by the end of the weekend.
In the Thunder Race, Drew Ewing took the lead in GTS3 in his M3 and didn’t look back on both days, leaving Derek Oxford and Steven Laderman to battle for second. Oxford held off Laderman in a close battle on Saturday, but on Sunday Oxford suffered a brake failure that left him deep in the gravel at Turn 10a, which meant second place went to Laderman. In GTS4 David Richardson took the top honors on both days in his Porsche C2.
