Thomas Annunziata Wins at VIR While Jackson Tovo Impresses in Indy as Nitro Motorsports Continues to Turn Heads

October 7, 2024

Annunziata Gets Second-Career Win

October 7, 2024 – Winning races is what Nitro Motorsports does, and they continued to do that again this weekend. Competing at the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli at the VIRginia International Raceway (VIR), the Toyota GR Cup North America finale at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the SCCA Runoffs at Road America, Nitro Motorsports continued to turn heads.

The team’s best results came from VIR, where Thomas Annunziata converted his pole position into a race win, his first Trans Am Series win of the season, and the second of his career. After officials scrapped qualifying and the grid was set based on practice twice, Annunziata earned the pole position with TA2 point leader Rafa Matos back in fifth. A trio of Nitro Motorsports rolled off the grid in the top-ten, with Ben Maier in seventh while Cale Phillips and Jared Odrick started fourth and fifth in the TA2 Pro/Am class. Looking to move forward from their P12 and P14 starting positions, John Weisberg and Mauri Zaccarelli were looking forward to the wheel-to-wheel racing on Saturday afternoon. 

In a race that featured several caution periods, Annunziata mastered restart after restart and kept his competitors at bay. Working hard and being defensive when needed, Annunziata led flag-to-flag to score the win along with the Omologato Watches Fastest Lap of the Race Award. Cale Phillips put a pair of Nitro Motorsports drivers on the podium with a second-place result in Pro/Am. Rafa Matos finished fifth to take another step towards back-to-back TA2 championships for Nitro Motorsports as Ben Maier put three Nitro Motorsports drivers in the top-ten. With Phillips crossing the line second in Pro/Am, Mauri Zaccarelli and Jared Odrick finished eighth and tenth in class while John Weisberg finished down the running order after on-track issues.

“A huge shoutout to all of Nitro Motorsports Trans Am program and congrats on Thomas for his TA2 win, and Cale for his Pro/Am podium,” explained Nick Tucker. “It was a challenging weekend, but we took another step forward, put another driver on the top of the podium, and continued adding to our results resume.”

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jackson Tovo and Jade Avedisian would fly the Nitro Motorsports flag with Tovo earning the duo’s best results. After a 23rd place qualifying effort for Saturday’s race one, Tovo had a veteran drive forward to finish tenth, despite it being only his third-ever GR Cup series event. Following suit on Sunday, Tovo turned his P16 starting position into a 12th place finish, running the pace with drivers that have competed in the series all year long. Avedisian, who qualified 11th for race one, was looking forward to fighting for a top-ten result before an issue sent her down the running order and classified her in the 27th position before being unable to race on Sunday.

Tucker continued, “Jackson has come from our Nitro Kart program, and though he ventured into open-wheel racing this year successfully, he is quickly becoming an all-around racer. He did a great job this year, and with some testing and focus on the complete championship program, Jackson could be one to watch in 2025.”

With more 2025 driver announcements on the horizon, Nitro Motorsports’ next event will be at the end of the month, October 31st to November 3rd, for the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli season finale at the famed Circuit of the Americas.

For more information on Nitro Motorsports, please visit them online or contact Nick Tucker via email HERE or visit them online at www.RaceNitro.com.