Chris Haldeman Earns Season’s First TCA Victory For Honda

• Victor Gonzalez claims TCR win in the rain on Sunday
• Haldeman comes from eighth to win with last-lap pass
• Taylor Hagler and Stephen Jeu take pair of top-five finishes

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Honda had its best outing of the 2019 SRO Motorsports season in Wisconsin this weekend, earning trips to Victory Lane in Touring Car America competition with both its Honda Civic Type R and the Honda Civic Si in challenging weather conditions at Road America.

Chris Haldeman bounced back from a tough weekend at Watkins Glen to win his first TCA race of 2019 in his X-Factor Racing Civic Si, while Victor Gonzalez built a large early lead in his Civic Type R and cruised home with a five-second advantage to score his second win of the 2019 campaign.

Haldeman started Saturday's opener from the pole, but fell back to eighth after a brief off-track excursion while defending his lead. Undaunted, the Texan fought his way back through the field, climbing into third with 10 minutes left in the race and then out pacing Nick Wittmer on the last lap to score the first TCA victory of the season for the Civic Si.

"I started from pole and pretty much immediately put myself in last," Haldeman grinned. "So I had to charge back through the field. Luckily it ended with me still taking the win!" 

After a third-place finish on Saturday, Gonzalez assumed the lead on the second lap of Sunday's rainy finale and roared out to an 11-second advantage, then managed his gap from there to secure his second win and fifth podium of the season.

"I'm so happy, and I know everybody back home is watching the race and are happy too," said Gonzalez. "I have to thank the team and HPD Honda for giving us such a great car, I'm looking forward to one more in Las Vegas!" 

Haldeman was involved in another last-lap drag race in Sunday's event as he dueled with Mat Pombo and Nick Wittmer through the final corners. The trio went side-by-side through the long uphill straight to the finish line with Pombo taking the win while Haldeman finished less than a quarter of a second behind in third.

Stephen Jeu continued his late-season surge with a pair of fifth-place results, which were his best of the season. Taylor Hagler did that one better as she placed fourth in both TCA races while Cole Ciraulo earned two top-10 finishes on the weekend. 

The battle for the 2019 SRO Blancpain GT World Challenge America TCR and TCA series championships will come down to the last weekend of the year, as Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosts Rounds 13 and 14 of the campaign on October 19-20.

Social media content and video links from this weekend's Acura Motorsports activity at Road America are available on HPD's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD). 

SRO Motorsports TC America

Circuit: Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Weather: Partly cloudy, breezy 75 degrees F Saturday
Rain, windy 71 degrees F Sunday

Saturday Race Top Five TCA Results:

Sunday Race Top Five TCA Results:

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