Allied Forces Racing eSports driver Ritchard Mead has taken his first win in the TCF TORA TASCAR championship in the TASCAR Thunder Special at Suzuka’s East circuit. The British driver dominated from pole position to win the race, only giving away the lead during the one and only pit-sequence of the race.
For this weekend, the TORA TCF TASCAR series would head to Suzuka for the only round of the season not held at a track in the United States. The site of several NASCAR exhibition races in the 1990’s, Suzuka’s East circuit is a challenge for the drivers, with not many overtaking opportunities to be had on the nine corners of the short circuit.
After setting a stunning lap in qualifying, Mead converted his pole position into the race lead on the drag race down to turn one. The top four would all maintain position for the first lap, with Mead edging away from the two Kaido HCR team-mates of Andrew Wisdom and Callum Hawkins throughout the first stint; with Jordan Groves being left behind by the leading trio.
Mead would hold the lead all the way up until the pit-stops, where he would relinquish first place to Wisdom and then to Groves whilst all the drivers made their one planned pit-stop. By the end of the cycle, Mead would once again hold a sizable advantage over the rest of the field, an advantage that he would go on to maintain for the rest of the race as he cruised to victory; his only problems being slight technical issues in the closing laps.
The win is Mead’s first in the TORA TCF TASCAR Series and it is also the fifth win for an Allied Forces Racing affiliate driver in the six races so far this season. The Kaido HCR duo of Wisdom and Hawkins could follow to complete the podium, with Hawkins yet again increasing his championship lead thanks to his third consecutive podium finish.
Jordan Groves would have a lonely race in the #1 Allied Forces Chevrolet. He started and finished in fourth place and ran alone for much of the race, as he did not have the pace to catch those ahead but at the same time was running much faster than the cars behind. The Suzuka race was Groves’ last full-time race in the TORA TCF TASCAR series, as he is scaling back his participation in the series. It was announced after the race that the race winner, Mead, would be taking Jordan’s seat for the remainder of the year.
Fifth place would go the way of Ted Tooker in the Swordfish Motorsport Chevrolet, closely followed by basically every other driver in A Lobby. Tooker spent much of the race fending off Allied Forces driver Adam Watson. Adam was unable to find a way by Tooker, with a train of cars soon developing behind the duo. In the end, Watson would fall back to seventh at the finish, with Tooker’s team-mate Liam McNinch being able to snatch sixth away in the closing stages.
After a turn one incident, Jason Iverson would fall from his grid spot of fifth to an eventual eighth place finish. Ryan Butler and Zechariah Craig would take ninth and tenth respectively, with Tabari Curry and Ben Williams rounding out the top twelve that made it into A Lobby. Thirteenth place would go to the winner in B Lobby, with Daniel Hawkins taking the honours for Remnant Racing.
From the undulating twist and turns of Suzuka, the TORA TCF TASCAR series will return to familiar ground for the next round of the championship. The Brickyard 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway will take place on May 12. If you’re interested in signing up for this championship, run on Forza Motorsport 7 for Xbox One, please visit The Online Racing Association for more information.
Credit: Jordan Groves / Forza Motorsport 7
TORA TCF TASCAR Season 7 – TASCAR Thunder Special – Top thirteen race results:
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