• Tomy Drissi scored his eighth straight Trans Am top five finish in Sunday’s race at VIRginia International Raceway
  • Drissi crossed the line third after a final lap pass on Adam Andretti and celebrated on the podium, but was officially scored fourth after post-race review
  • Drissi remains third in the TA standings with two rounds left in the season

2009 Trans Am champion Tomy Drissi took fourth place in Sunday’s Trans Am action from VIRginia International Raceway in the #8 Trench Shoring Company/Motul/Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro. Drissi persevered through every manner of adversity to fight for a podium at the same track where he drove from last to second last year.

Drissi started fourth, but he made an outside pass on Brandon Jones in the first corner to jump into third in the early stages. Drissi would soon take over second from a pitting Adam Andretti, but when Jones raced back past, Amy Ruman put her nose in to try and pass as well. Knowing that he had a better long-run car, Drissi made the strategic choice to let Ruman past as well and wait to take the fight to both of them until later in the race.

PHOTO: Tomy Drissi and the #8 Trench Shoring Company/Motul/Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro finished fourth in Trans Am action at VIRginia International Raceway.

A mid-race caution would regroup the field, putting Drissi in a three-way battle for the final podium spot with Andretti and Ruman. With 13 laps to go, Ruman made a mistake and almost went off at Hog Pen, the high-speed last corner, and came back onto the racing line while Drissi and Andretti were making the pass. Ruman made contact with Drissi, pushing him off the track, but he was able to maintain position and the battle continued.

A faster Drissi and Andretti had to get by Ruman quickly to catch the top two cars. On the next lap, Ruman went wide into Turn 3 and Drissi dove to the inside, only for the two to make contact and go off track. However, Drissi would recover from the incident to track Andretti back down in the closing laps. On the final lap, Drissi made his move to the inside of the first corner; Andretti would make contact twice with Drissi before Drissi and Andretti made contact a third time. Drissi would finally grab the spot and celebrate from the podium.

PHOTO: Tomy Drissi leads a group of TA cars battling for the podium at VIRginia International Raceway.

Unfortunately, post-race penalties for avoidable contact would relegate Drissi to fourth in the official results. However, his top five streak remains alive at eight races, tied for the longest active streak in Trans Am.

“Trench Shoring, Motul, Drissi Motorsports—those kids at the shop, they give me a car to go battle,” Drissi said from the podium before post-race review was complete. “We were a little low on tire pressures at the beginning, but when we restarted it was like another car.

PHOTO: Thanks to eight consecutive top five finishes, Tomy Drissi sits third in the TA championship with two races remaining in the 2025 Trans Am season.

“I wish Amy and I could have had a more clean battle. She had a little trouble coming out of the Hog Pen, and just came right back on and I had to go off the track… (Later) I saw Andretti, he was a little bit ahead, and it looked like he was loosey goosey. I think our brakes were a little bit better, he made a couple of mistakes but he just came right back on so I didn’t know if I should stay so close to him because he was driving his (butt) off.

“We got into (Turn) 1, it was one lap to go, I had good brakes, got side by side, and we were pretty clean—a little banging, but I thought that was pretty clean. Thank you to everybody at VIR, Trans Am, these are the best cars on earth. Congratulations to Chris on tying Mark Donohue’s record for TA wins as well. Jagger, Elin, Lacy, I’m coming home!”

Despite the post-race penalty, Drissi remains 10 points ahead of Dyson and 30 clear of Ruman for third in the championship with two races remaining. Next on the schedule is Barber Motorsports Park, which hosts Trans Am for the first time on October 17-19. Click here to buy tickets to watch Tomy race!

To keep up with Tomy Drissi, follow @tomydrissi on Instagram and Facebook, and visit www.tomydrissi.com.