Kevin Gleason took his second victory in the TCR International Series under the lights of the Singapore Marina Bay Street Circuit and in front of a huge and appreciative Formula 1 audience today (Saturday 19th September).
The emerging American driver, in his first season of international touring car racing, battled his WestCoast Racing Honda Civic TCR to win ahead of championship leader, Stefano Comini, and teammate and ex F1 driver, Gianni Morbidelli, after starting third on the grid.
Gleason made a great start, getting the better of Morbidelli and holding on to Comini while defending with great prowess from his Italian stablemate and Spaniard Pepe Oriola.
The Pennsylvanian racer made the most of a momentary loss of power for Comini to take the lead on lap eight of the ten-lap contest, which he was able to defend to the flag to take a stunning and well deserved victory.
The Star Spangled Banner played into the night sky as Gleason sprayed the champagne and, following his victory celebrations, a very satisfied Gleason said: “It was a hard fought victory for me – I really had to battle for this one, firstly with Gianni (Morbidelli) and Pepe (Oriola) and then hold Stefano (Comini) back at the end, but I got stronger as the race progressed and I’m very happy to have won, of course! I think my experience in long distance races helped me today.”
Focus now turns to race two, which acts as a precursor to the F1 Singapore Grand Prix at 16.35 (Sunday 20 Septemer).