(October 6, 2014) Jessup, MD – The TPC Racing team has been working hard all season to prepare both the 35 and 37 TPC Racing / Merkle / Under Armour GT3 Cup cars of Michael Levitas and David Williams. For Levitas, it has been a season of catching up. For Williams, it has been about consistency. All season, both Levitas and Williams have been fast, but the TPC Racing team has prepared the cars to give both drivers a chance to fight for championships.

 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