Going toe-to-toe with a challenges all weekend, Tomy Drissi, driving the No. 8 Tony Ave prepped Ghost In The Shell Corvette, kept his eye on the 2017 Championship at the TransAm Series Presented by Pirelli weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Losing a motor in practice, the team quickly had the bad bullet out and a new bullet in… just in time for qualifying. Tomy was able to get just enough out of the car to put on the grid and start the race 7th. But there was still work to do. With the crew sorting through some clutch issues overnight, Tomy did some early morning hardship laps on race day, hoping the car would settle in.
“This was a tough weekend,” smiled Drissi. “You have these. And, even though you shrug it off with ‘that’s racing…,’ you still need to get back out there and keep it in the mix. We’re not just racing… our goal is a championship. We’re championship racing. So you can’t let a day like today beat you. We’re only a couple of races into the season and we’re after all the points we can get.”
“The guys worked really hard… again,” Tomy added. “I can’t say enough about their commitment. They had the car pretty close by Sunday. I thought we had enough car to put ourselves in the hunt… and really, we did. Unfortunately early in the race… I think around lap four, I got sandwiched in and wound up locking up my brakes. We picked up some flat spots on the tires and the vibration was pretty significant.”
“With so much race remaining, we decided to come in on lap 10 and take on two tires,” Tomy added. “It’s tough knowing you’ve got to go back out there and drive hard without a real shot at the winner’s circle… but we want all the points available to us, and so, it was the right call. And, we managed to drive it back up to 7th… exactly where we qualified, so I’m pretty proud of my team! We’ll get ‘em next time. I’m going to go hang out with my wife and babies.”
This was Tomy’s final weekend running the livery of Ghost In The Shell, now showing in theaters. The car carried a fantastic color scheme that is very faithful to movie’s promotional platform in other forms of media. It comes off great on track and fans love it.
Ghost In The Shell is an American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Sanders and written by Jamie Moss and Ehren Kruger, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow. Sanders dedicated the film to Buried director Rodrigo Cortés. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han and Juliette Binoche. The film is in theaters now in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D.
Fans of the Trans Am Series by Pirelli can follow along throughout the weekend at www.gotransam.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam and on Twitter at @gotransam. Live Timing and Scoring can be found throughout all sessions on gotransam.com and on RaceMonitor.
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.