With the last few events of 2018 taking place, the inaugural national season of Teen Mazda Challenge is drawing to a close.
In the Mid-Atlantic Region, as reported last month, Peter Ensor earned the championship. Ensor also finished first in the TMC race within the Toyo Tires Classic at Circuit of The Americas. Zach Rubin was able to claim second in Teen Mazda Challenge Mid-Atlantic, and Andrew Balgoyen came in third of three in the region.
In the Rocky Mountain Region, which had six TMC competitors, Matthew Dirks came out on top, edging out Loni Unser, who is in her last year of eligibility in TMC. Dirks also had a good showing at the NASA Championships at Circuit of The Americas, earning pole position for the Toyo Tires Classic race. He finished seventh overall and second in the TMC race that ran within the Toyo Tires Classic.
In Northern California, the points championship came down to the last event of the season at Sonoma Raceway. Roy Fulmer IV, Cole Ciraulo and Tomas Mejia had been slugging it out all year, and at Sonoma, Mejia came out on top.
Other regions such as SoCal, Texas, Southeast and Utah, had less than three TMC competitors, so there wasn’t a points chase in those regions. However, in SoCal, Hannah Grisham came in second overall behind Ryan Pond.
Now that the season is over, regional champions will be eligible for an invitation to the Mazda Road to 24 Shootout. Mazda has yet to release details about the Shootout’s date and location. — Brett Becker
For information on Teen Mazda Challenge, visit: https://tmc.drivenasa.com/
