Workman Dominates Race 1 in Barber

Westin Workman took a dominant Race 1 victory to kick off Toyota GR Cup North America action at Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday after leading every lap from pole and surviving an early restart.

After a chaotic opening lap saw the field fall under its only full-course caution, Workman managed his pace up front to steadily build a gap over the rest of the podium positions in his No. 13 BSI Racing Toyota GR86 Cup Car, ultimately taking the checkered flag 2.740 seconds clear of second-place finisher Jeremy Fletcher.

Race 1 marked Fletcher’s first-ever series podium finish and Workman’s fourth win of the season, which he celebrated with donuts in front of the Barber fans on his cool-down lap.

Fletcher made up ground at the start to bring his No. 22 Copeland Motorsports Toyota up from fourth to third before making the move on Ethan Goulart for second position with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Goulart secured the final spot on the podium for TechSport, having held off late pressure from Spike Kohlbecker, who finished fourth on the road in his No. 55 RVA Toyota.

Will Robusto rebounded from Lap 1 contact to finish fifth with Parker DeLong taking the checkered flag in sixth aboard the No. 47 TechSport machine.

Fellow TechSport driver Max Schweid was classified seventh, ahead of Copeland’s Jaxson Bell, who took an eighth-place finish in his No. 7 Copeland Toyota.

Copeland’s Jenson Sofronas took home a ninth-place finish after moving up five positions in what was his second points-scoring race of the season, just ahead of Ethan Tovo, who rounded out the top ten in the No. 113 Nitro Motorsports GR86.

The full course caution came out almost immediately after multiple bouts of contact on Lap 1. With Workman leading at the head of the field, Jackson Tovo and Lucas Weisenberg went door-to-door in the Turn 1 runoff area.

Corners later, Max Stallone, Beltre Curtis, and Massimo Sunseri made contact fighting for position. The yellow was shown for debris left on the track from the opening melee, though the race went green again with just over 38 minutes remaining.

Weisenberg was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, and later in the race, the No. 51 BSI machine of Sunseri was assessed a drive-through penalty for responsibility after early contact with Will Robusto.

Qualifying to set the grid for Race 2 will take place Sunday at 8:10 a.m. CST, ahead of racing action going green roughly two hours later at 10:05 a.m. CST.

RESULTS Race 1