After three silver medals in his first three starts, Charlie Peter earned a long-awaited Touring 2 victory on Friday at the 60th Anniversary SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Sunoco. Peter drove his No. 66 Phenix Label/Hoosier BMW M2CS Cup to a 10.504-second victory over 13 laps at America’s National Park of Speed.
The Kansas City Region member battled early with Tire Rack Polesitter and six-time champion Kurt Rezzetano. Peter marched his BMW around the No. 37 Phoenix Performance/Hoosier/Hawk Chevrolet Corvette of Rezettano on the opening lap, but the Corvette moved back to the lead on lap two.
Peter pounced again in Turn 5 on lap five, making the final pass for the lead and building a gap when Rezzetano slid wide in an attempt to keep up.
“I felt great about the first one,” Peter said. “I never thought I would be on the podium. The next year I thought I had a chance and I could do it. I was happy with second place, but the third year I wanted to win and got second again. I let a year go by and really focused, dialed everything in, and here I am now. Finally.”
The win makes Peter a second-generation National Champion, as his father, Hans Peter, earned three of his own.
“He’s still got three,” Peter said. “I’ve got a chance to get another [in GT-2 on Sunday] but he’s on the pole for a race tomorrow so we’ll see if I can catch up!”
Rezzetano’s second place finish was the ninth podium of his career and broke a streak of three consecutive victories in the class. Though the class had just eight entries, it was small but mighty; seven of the drivers combined had 77 podiums and 27 Runoffs wins.
“For where we were this year, and not racing that much – I didn’t run any T2 this year [during the regular season],” Rezzetano said after using his champion’s provisional to enter the race. “Taking a 20-year-old car against a new BMW, it was expected that we would run out of tire and brakes first. I ran it for all it had until I went off in Turn 6 trying to keep up with him. He put on a great drive. It was a clinic. He made no mistakes at all, so congrats to him.”
Mark Boden crossed the line third in his No. 46 Fall-Line Motorsports Porsche 911 to earn his 23rd podium and his second of the day after moving around Jason Ott’s Porsche 911 Carrera on lap five, then holding off Ott to the finish. That move made Boden the Sunoco Hard Charger as well after starting on row three of the grid.
“It was a great battle with Jason in a car I actually finished second in at VIR some years ago,” Boden said. “I know the car well, and he drove great. It was just good, clean hard racing. Once I got by Jason he was pressuring me, and finally I started inching away from him a little bit and got a comfort zone.”
John Heinricy crossed the line in his Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing behind Ott to finish fifth.
The 60th anniversary SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions this year at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, during Hagerty Race Days running Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races, presented by Mazda, is available throughout the three days of competition at SCCA.com/runoffs-live. Live timing and scoring for each race are also available at SCCA.com/pages/runoffs-live-timing.
Below are final results for Friday's Touring 2 race at the 2024 SCCA® National Championship Runoffs, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, and laps completed.
1, (2), Charlie Peter, Olathe, KS, BMW M2CS Cup, 13.
2, (1), Kurt Rezzetano, Phoenixville, PA, Chevrolet Corvette, 13.
3, (5), Mark Boden, Winnetka, IL, Porsche 911/997, 13.
4, (3), Jason Ott, Seminole, FL, Porsche 911 Carrera S 997.2, 13.
5, (4), John Heinricy, Clarkston, MI, Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing, 13.
6, (8), Michael Kamalian, Marietta, GA, Ford Mustang GT, 13.
7, (7), Robert Wellington, Tacoma, WA, BMW M235iR, 13.
DNF, (6), Scotty B White, Auburn, WA, Dodge Viper SRT-10, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 miles
Overall Time of Race: 31:23.751 (avg. 100.569 mph)
Margin of Victory: 10.504 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:23.261 (101.722 mph)
Lap Leaders: #66, Laps 1-2, 5 - 13; #37, Laps 3-4
Sunoco Hard Charger: #46 Mark Boden
Photo by: Jeff Loewe
