The battle for the 2010 SCCA Pro Racing Trans-Am Series championship will conclude at Road Atlanta when Tony Ave, of Maiden, N.C., and RJ Lopez, of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, race each other and the rest of the Trans-Am field in the 2010 season finale.
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Image: SCCA / Mark Weber
Driving the #4 Chevrolet Corvette, Ave heads into the finale leading Lopez by 135 points and will clinch the title if he scores just four championship points. He could wrap up the title as early as qualifying, which is worth eight points for the pole-winner, six points for second and four points for third. The 36-lap (91.44-mile) race takes the green flag at 4:35 p.m. ET on Friday, October 1.
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Photo: SCCA / Willa Stein
Switching to a different car than the one he’s been driving throughout the 2010 season didn’t slow points leader Tony Ave down any as he took his familiar place atop the time charts in this morning’s opening practice session.
Though a long shot for the title, RJ Lopez has already had an outstanding Trans-Am season in the #6 Corvette. Lopez owns two victories this season, including the thrilling, last-lap win at VIR that kept his championship hopes alive. Lopez has finished on the podium in seven of nine races this season.
This weekend will also see the debut of the new Trans-Am 2 (TA2) and Trans-Am 3 (TA3) classes, which will run on an exhibition basis this week in preparation for the 2011 season. There are eight TA2 entries and one TA3 entry, bringing the total number of cars entered to 23.