INDIANAPOLIS – Tristen Herbert took top honors overall and in the TCR class during a wild TC America race Friday morning on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Mat Pombo won in TC, while Kevin Boehm scored the victory in TCA and clinched the division driver’s championship.

C.J. Moses and Victor Gonzalez Jr. finished second and third respectively in TCR, while Toby Grahovec and Johan Schwartz completed the top three in TC. Mark Pombo and P.J. Groenke finished second and third, respectively, in TCA.

From the pole, Scott Smithson led the combined 34-car field to the line to start the 40-minute contest. Almost immediately Smithson received a challenge from Tim Lewis Jr., who swept around the outside of turn one and into the lead.

Behind them drama ensued as contact between a number of competitors resulted in spins through turn one for TCR driver Roy Block and TCA driver Eric Powell. When the dust had cleared, Mat Pombo had weaved his way through the carnage and into the TC lead with Schwartz slotting into second, leaving the two TC championship protagonists, polesitter James Clay and Grahovec to duke it out in third and fourth.

At the end of a hectic lap one, Lewis led Smithson and Herbert, while Mat Pombo led Schwartz, and Clay. TCA Pole sitter Boehm led his field, with Mat Pombo’s brother Mark slotted into second and Groenke slotting into third.

By lap three Herbert had moved around Smithson and up to second and looked to hunt down Lewis. However, Smithson fought back and re-passed Herbert for position at the end of the long front straightway at the beginning of lap four.

A multi-lap battle then began between Lewis and Smithson, with each holding the lead at various stages. Herbert closely pursued in third. By lap seven, Mat Pombo had built an 8.7 second lead over Schwartz in TC, who was holding off Clay. In TCA, Boehm built his lead to six seconds over Mark Pombo.

TCA championship implications came to bear on lap 10 as Tomas Mejia, who sat second in the championship to Boehm coming into the race, came into the pits with a mechanical issue. That meant Boehm simply had to keep  his nose clean to seal the class championship.

Up front huge drama soon ensued as Smithson looking for a late braking maneuver through turn one cut down on leader Lewis. Both cars sustained race-ending damage in the ensuing incident and officials issued a full-course yellow to clean up the carnage. Both drivers walked away from the incident. The incident promoted Herbert, who at the time was still racing in third, into the lead.

On the lap 16 restart with less than nine minutes left, Herbert led the field to green and successfully launched down the long front straight and through turn one. Behind him Moses and Gonzalez slotted into second and third, while in TC Mat Pombo led Clay and Grahovec, who both had moved around Schwartz just before the incident between Smithson and Lewis. Boehm brought the TCA field to green and launched successfully over Mark Pombo and Groenke.

Looking to keep his TC division championship aspirations alive, Grahovec passed Clay for second.

By lap 19, Herbert led over Moses, while Olivia Askew passed Gonzalez for third and the two began a late race battle for the final podium spot in TCR.

Herbert then fended off a late race surge from Moses and crossed the line .280 seconds ahead Moses. Gonzalez moved back up into third and finished 2.3 seconds behind Moses.

Mat Pombo finished 3.3 seconds ahead of Grahovec, who kept his slim TC driver’s championship hopes alive heading into Saturday’s finale. Clay finished eighth on the day and unofficially holds a 20-point advantage over Grahovec heading into Saturday.

“To be able to come out here and show how well my Audi DSG machine is still competitive in the TCR class, it just goes to show you anyone can get into this car and win,” said Herbert. “I am by no means a professional full-time driver. Anyone can get in this car and anyone can win.”

“It was wild today,” said TC winner Mat Pombo. “At the start there was a bunch of checking up and I happened to time it perfectly and I got around everyone on the front straight.”

“Just to be here was a dream season,” said Boehm. “To start pulling out some wins and then podiums made it even better. And then to be able to pull it together to clinch it one race early. Honestly, it’s unreal. I’m an engineer, I took a ton of math classes, and still I almost don’t believe the math right now. I’m absolutely thrilled.”