Going into the final race weekend of the year, Michael Levitas in the 35 TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour entry was sitting second overall in the Gold Class points standings and in Gold Masters, Levitas was in third. In the Platinum category, David Williams was in fourth place in the Masters Points standings, just two points out of third. Both Levitas and Williams knew that it would come down to the last lap of the last race to determine what happens in the championship, but they both needed to be smart during both races.

When Race one of the weekend started, David Williams took the green flag and secured third place in the Platinum Masters Championship. Williams did a fantastic job all season staying smooth and consistent while getting faster at each event. For Michael Levitas, things were tougher. IMSA started Levitas at the back of the field after qualifying. On lap three of Race One, Michael moved his 35 TPC Racing Porsche from last on the grid up to P3 in class. While having the leaders in sight, Levitas pushed his Porsche GT3 Cup car harder and harder which led to a spin in turn seven. Michael regrouped quickly and fought his way up to a fourth place finish which was a third place finish in the Gold Masters category. After race one, Levitas was just four points out of first in the Masters Championship.

For Race two of the weekend, the final round of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama for the 2014 season, it was a rain race. David Williams was starting P3 in Platinum Masters and Levitas was starting P2 in the Gold class. Williams knew all he had to do was finish the race, so he ran smart. At the start, cars went off leading into turn one and David Williams took the lead in the Platinum Masters category and Levitas took the lead in Gold. When the field went back to green flag racing, Michael Levitas pulled a 3 second lead and never looked back as he drove his Gold class TPC Racing Porsche up to 6^th place overall. As Levitas was leading in the Gold category, the car he needed to have finish in fourth in order to secure the championship was sitting in fourth place in the Gold category. With ten minutes remaining, the car running in third went off track entering turn one and the other car moved into the third position. When the checkered flag came out, Michael Levitas took the win in the Gold class while David Williams finished second in Platinum Masters. With Levitas taking the win and the other car finishing third, Levitas finished second in the Gold Masters championship just one point out of first.

“What a weekend,” Levitas said. “It had so much drama. During qualifying I only got in one lap because our transmission broke. We got the gearbox put back together. We got moved back, disqualified. So to come back yesterday and drive from the back of the field up to P3 and spin it, today I just had to put my head down and work and pull off a win. After a drama filled weekend, it was great to take the win and finish the season on a high note. I have to thank my TPC Racing team for all of the hard work this weekend and all season long. They work extremely hard to prepare the best possible car for me and it shows every time I get in it. I also have to say thank you to Damien Faulkner. This season, Damien has come on board for coaching and has helped me tremendously.”

“It was a great race weekend,” said David Williams. “It was a war of attrition. The start was crazy, so I survived that, and then from there it was about not making mistakes. Great facility. The rain tapered off there at the end, so the line got pretty dry, and it was a lot of fun. A huge thank you to the TPC Racing team for everything this season. They do a great job preparing the car for me and it has been great all year. Thank you to Damien Faulkner as well. Damien has helped a ton this season on the coaching side and helping get the car set up. This race was a great way to end the year and I look forward to doing more racing!”

The TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour team had a great year of racing and will being making 2015 announcements shortly.

About TPC Racing:

TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sports cars. This long time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled us to become experts in Porsche service, tuning and racing.

TPC Racing has its roots in the IMSA Supercar Series of the late 1980’s and early 1990s.

By combining a lifetime of automotive enthusiasm, business experience and technical skill with advanced aeronautical training and certifications, Michael Levitas has managed to extend the engineering of some for the most advanced and well-regarded machines in existence – Porsche race cars.

About Merkle:

Merkle is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. Employing data-driven strategies, Merkle combines a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines to offer complete integrated customer marketing solutions. With a strategically led, consultative approach, we work closely with clients to design, execute and continuously evaluate CRM programs throughout the buying cycle, across channels and media.

About Under Armour:

Founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel – gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. The technology behind Under Armour’s diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it’s hot, ColdGear® when it’s cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes.

Under Armour’s mission is make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation.

About CrunchDaddy Popcorn:

CrunchDaddy Popcorn makes “Popcorn Unusual!™”, an array of sweet and savory inventions that take the sophisticated snacker beyond the common recipes for caramel, kettle and cheese popcorn. All CrunchDaddy Popcorn flavors are available on-line through their website, www.crunchdaddy.com

The Lime Rock Park race weekend will have a shortened schedule, only being on track Friday for two practice sessions and qualifying with both races being on Saturday. With the shortened time, the team has been working hard on chassis setup in order to have a strong car right off of the trailer.

Coming off of a successful race weekend at Laguna Seca, Michael Levitas is excited to get back to Lime Rock Park. 2011 was the last time that Levitas raced at LimeRockPark and he is looking forward to being back there again in the 35 TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour entry.

“I am very excited to go back to Lime Rock”, stated Michael Levitas. “We had a great race in the Gold Class a few weeks ago at Laguna Seca and I hope to be on the top step of the podium again. The TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour team has been working hard and I think we will have a strong car at Lime Rock. Lime Rock is a tight track and not a ton of room to pass, so with that and the limited track time that we will be getting, I believe we will have a strong car to fight with. I am happy to be back in the Gold Class, and after our race at Laguna, I cannot wait to see how competitive our class will be at Lime Rock.”

David Williams has been doing great this season in the 37 TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour GT3 Cup and has been reaching each personal goal that he has made. The TPC Racing team has been hard at work with the 991 chassis and Williams will have a strong car to be competitive at Lime Rock.

“I am looking forward to being back at Lime Roc kPark”, stated David Williams. “I have not been to Lime Rock in a long time, but when I was there last for a PCA Club Race I was on pole my first time out. The TPC Racing team has been doing a great job this season with the 991 GT3 Cup and I think that we will be very competitive at Lime Rock.”

Follow along with the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the weekend for the latest updates!

About TPC Racing:

TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sports cars. This long time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled us to become experts in Porsche service, tuning and racing. TPC Racing has its roots in the IMSA Supercar Series of the late 1980’s and early 1990s.

By combining a lifetime of automotive enthusiasm, business experience and technical skill with advanced aeronautical training and certifications, Michael Levitas has managed to extend the engineering of some for the most advanced and well-regarded machines in existence – Porsche race cars.

About Merkle:

Merkle is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. Employing data-driven strategies, Merkle combines a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines to offer complete integrated customer marketing solutions. With a strategically led, consultative approach, we work closely with clients to design, execute and continuously evaluate CRM programs throughout the buying cycle, across channels and media.

About Under Armour:

Founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel – gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. The technology behind Under Armour’s diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it’s hot, ColdGear® when it’s cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes.

Under Armour’s mission is make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation.

About CrunchDaddy Popcorn:

CrunchDaddy Popcorn makes “Popcorn Unusual!™”, an array of sweet and savory inventions that take the sophisticated snacker beyond the common recipes for caramel, kettle and cheese popcorn. All CrunchDaddy Popcorn flavors are available on-line through their website, www.crunchdaddy.com

Rounds three and four of the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama would make for Michael Levitas’ return to the Gold Class, piloting the teams number 35 997 model GT3 Cup. In 2013, Levitas won the Gold Class drivers and Masters drivers’ championships and looks to do the same in 2014.

“I have gotten some testing in with the TPC Racing number 35 car and felt very comfortable in it,” stated Michael Levitas. “Our TPC Racing team knows the chassis so well and I have always felt great in the 997. The 991 is fantastic, but the 997 is very satisfying for me to drive. I know that with the skill of our engineering staff, our coaches Damien Faulkner and Randy Pobst, the TPC Racing team will give me a car that I can be competitive with to fight for more wins. I came into the fight late, so in order to win the championship this year, I need to be on the podium each race weekend.”

Levitas worked hard and had a great race weekend. The team got the car sorted in practice and Michael took the 35 TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour GT3 Cup and put it on the top of the timing charts in qualifying. On the last lap, Levitas was knocked off of pole position, and only a few hundredths separated the top three qualifiers in Gold.

Michael Levitas took the green flag starting second in race one. Going into turn two, Levitas made the pass for the lead and held onto his position until the end. Toward the end of the race, there was a caution which bunched up the field. The finished ended up being a green-white-checker shootout to the finish. Michael did a fantastic job and held his position while everyone battled behind the 35 TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour machine. Levitas was able to take the checkered flag and win both the Gold and Gold Masters.

“Great race, absolutely fantastic,” stated Levitas. “The TPC Racing Porsche was outstanding. The guys did an amazing job on the setup. It was great through 3 and 4 and just killer through 9 and 10. The competition was off the charts! I had to run every lap with no mistakes. We were within a second the entire race. It was just absolute mayhem. I would work so hard to make up that one-second and boom, we’d have to restart and I would have to do it over again. I really have to thank our coach Damien Faulkner for the racing advice and calming myself down to drive such a great race. Also, a huge thanks to IMSA and all of the competitors for such an amazing race.”

David Williams was doing a fantastic job in the 37 Merkle / TPC Racing / Under Armour entry. David worked hard on his driving and was working hard for a solid finish in the Platinum class running his 2014 991 GT3 Cup. The TPC Racing team worked hard as well and delivered a great chassis that Williams was confident in to run a strong race.

“The TPC Racing team gave me a fantastic car,” stated David Williams. “The car was great and working with Damien Faulkner helped me tremendously. I was able to drive extremely well and felt great in the car.

David Williams started the race in the mix of the Gold competitors and got through the group right away. Qualifying did not go how Williams expected, so it was important to get a clean start. David did a fantastic job and had a great race, picking through the field one car after the next. It was clean racing with no mistakes. David Williams drove a fantastic race, winning the Yokohama Hard Charger award after starting 22^nd and finishing 16^th.

“I had a great start,” stated David Williams. “Right on the outside was wide open, and I probably made up five spots there on the start. I was running consistent after that and it was a great race. My TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour car was just fantastic. A huge thank you to the entire TPC Racing team.”

The TPC Racing team looks forward to the next rounds on Memorial Day weekend at LimeRockPark.

About TPC Racing:

TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sports cars. This long time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled us to become experts in Porsche service, tuning and racing. TPC Racing has its roots in the IMSA Supercar Series of the late 1980’s and early 1990s. By combining a lifetime of automotive enthusiasm, business experience and technical skill with advanced aeronautical training and certifications, Michael Levitas has managed to extend the engineering of some for the most advanced and well-regarded machines in existence – Porsche race cars.

About Merkle:

Merkle is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. Employing data-driven strategies, Merkle combines a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines to offer complete integrated customer marketing solutions. With a strategically led, consultative approach, we work closely with clients to design, execute and continuously evaluate CRM programs throughout the buying cycle, across channels and media.

About Under Armour:

Founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland football player Kevin Plank, Under Armour is the originator of performance apparel – gear engineered to keep athletes cool, dry and light throughout the course of a game, practice or workout. The technology behind Under Armour’s diverse product assortment for men, women and youth is complex, but the program for reaping the benefits is simple: wear HeatGear® when it’s hot, ColdGear® when it’s cold, and AllSeasonGear® between the extremes.

Under Armour’s mission is make all athletes better through passion, design and the relentless pursuit of innovation.

About CrunchDaddy Popcorn:

CrunchDaddy Popcorn makes “Popcorn Unusual!™”, an array of sweet and savory inventions that take the sophisticated snacker beyond the common recipes for caramel, kettle and cheese popcorn. All CrunchDaddy Popcorn flavors are available on-line through their website, www.crunchdaddy.com