Driving the No. 8 Tony Ave Corvette, for Murder on the Orient Express (in theaters November 10), Tomy Drissi finished 5th in the rain soaked 101.2-mile Trans Am Road America Classic, featuring the TA, TA3 and TA4 classes. The weekend also featured the TA2 cars in the Road America Muscle Car Challenge. Joining the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at Road America this weekend was NASCAR Xfinity, holding its Johnsonville 180, and the ACRA Racing Series.
Both Trans Am races, the TA, TA3 and TA4 Road America Classic, and the TA2 Road America Muscle Car Challenge, took place under wet conditions—varying in intensity throughout the iconic 4-mile course at Elkhart Lake.
“It was a whirlwind weekend, to say the least,” said Drissi following Sunday’s slip n’ slide adventure. “We started out with some challenges early in the week during testing. It’s probably fair to say we had a driver failure and some engine gremlins. This put our guys under a ton of pressure to get the car ready for Saturday’s early round of practice, and as usual, they rose to the occasion. Tony Ave’s crew do a great job for us!”
“We worked hard on our qualifying set up,” added Tomy, “but we never really able to find that extra power to get us into the top three… but we had a good car, and given the prediction of rain for Sunday’s race, we felt we were in pretty good shape.”
“We started the race 6th on the grid,” noted Tomy. “I was clear in my mind of what I needed to do; keep out of trouble, keep the leaders in sight and wait for the last 20 minutes of the race. Unfortunately, when you’re caught in the middle, there’s a lot of moving around and jockeying for position. Given we were on a wet track, drivers were also looking for a dryer line. Sure enough, people started slipping and sliding and getting in each other’s way. This allowed the front runners to open up their lead. We finally caught a caution around lap 15 and that brought the field back together.”
“On the restart,” Tomy continued, “though I could see the front of the pack, I was separated by lapped traffic. Rain was starting to come down again and you couldn’t always get on the power where you could make the most of it. I could see David [Pintaric] in the #57 car… but we had traffic between us… so we both had to exercise a lot of patience, be smooth and make smart choices. I got back up to 5th, but time ran out on me.”
“We’ll take the 5th place finish,” said Tomy. “The crew did a great job. I think I put in a great effort under the conditions we were faced with… we’ll head on over to Watkins Glen and find our way to victory circle. We’ll keep digging!”
The Trans Am Series will now head east to Watkins Glen International for Round 9 of the Trans Am Championship on September 10.
Murder on the Orient Express [In theaters November 10] Starring Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfeiffer, a lavish train ride unfolds into a stylish & suspenseful mystery. From the novel by Agatha Christie and directed by Kenneth Branagh, Murder on the Orient Express tells of thirteen stranded strangers & one man’s race to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.
Keep up with Tomy at http://www.tomydrissi.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tomydrissi/ – Catch Tomy’s Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/tomydrissi
Tomy Drissi is an American driver and Trans Am Champion.
His driver experience includes ALMS, Trans-Am, NASCAR and Speed World Challengea
Born December 9 in Hollywood, California, Tomy owns an advertising firm that produces upcoming film displays for cinemas.
Drissi’s first racing experience in motorsports was street racing on Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills.
Tomy’s professional racing career highlights include:
• 1999 Trans-Am Rookie of the Year,
• 2000 Trans-Am BBS Most Improved Driver,
• 2000 Trans-Am Crew of the Year
• 2000 Trans-Am Long Beach Champion
• 2009 Trans-Am Champion.
• 2010 ALMS (one off race) Prototype LMP1 3rd. at Mid Ohio
• 2011 saw Tomy’s return to the American Le Mans LMPC division. He scored a 2nd at Long Beach, 3rd at Lime Rock, 1st at Mid Ohio,1st at Inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix and second at Road Atlanta -Petit Le Mans.
• 2012, Drissi teamed with Bruno Junqiera for finishing 2nd at Laguna Seca, a win at Mosport (Canadian Tire Motorsports Park), 2nd at Baltimore and second at the season finale, Petit Lemans.
• 2013 NASCAR CUP/Nationwide. Best result at Mid Ohio starting 38th and finishing 19th.
• 2014 IMSA LMPC at Daytona 3rd.
• 2014 NASCAR CUP/Nationwide. Finished 19th at The Glen
• 2015 TUDOR Series. 2nd Place Rolex 24 at Daytona
• 2016 WeatherTech Series. 2nd Place Rolex 24 at Daytona
About TransAm
The Trans Am Series is America’s Road Racing Series and dates back to 1966. Throughout the years, some of the greatest names in motorsports have participated in the Trans Am Series. Names like Tommy Kendall, Mark Donohue, Peter Gregg, Bob Tullius and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. have all won multiple championships under the Trans Am name.
While Trans Am will always be dedicated to honoring its history and legacy, it is far from simply living in the past. Since the addition of the Trans Am Race Company, LLC in late 2011, Trans Am has experienced unprecedented growth as a new class based model has been implemented. Now, three distinct classes take center stage; TA, TA2 and TA3, Trans Am is positioned to power into the future, not live in the past.
The iconic Trans Am Series – America’s Road Racing Series – is operated by the Trans Am Race Company, LLC. Through a five-year agreement, the Trans Am Race Company manages the marketing rights to the series and is responsible for Trans Am Series public relations and promotions. SCCA Pro Racing sanctions Trans Am events and provides event operations services to the series.
For more on the Series visit www.gotransam.com, “like” Trans Am on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam, or follow Trans Am on Twitter at @gotransam.