The Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour® (HST) series is in Lexington, OH, for a meetup hosted by SCCA’s Ohio Valley Region May 16-18, 2025, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The event opened Friday with practice sessions before each of the seven race groups had 25-minute qualifying runs in temperatures that reached the lower 80-degree mark.
Drivers were then met Saturday morning with cool, cloudy and breezy conditions for 15-minute qualifying sessions after overnight thunderstorms rolled across the area. To make things even more interesting, a passing shower dampened the circuit for the final two qualifying groups.
Thankfully, rain stayed away the rest of Saturday as competitors went out for 25-minute races around the 2.4-mile Club circuit with 15 turns.
Racing, School, Racing
It has been a busy couple days for 17-year-old Gian Buffomante as he has been tested in a couple different ways.
Starting on Thursday, the member of SCCA’s Chicago Region climbed into a Formula Enterprises 2 (FE2) car for a test session at Mid-Ohio. Gian is no stranger to motorsport, having recently won a professional TA2 race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. He also has previous SCCA experience in the Spec Racer Ford Gen3 class, and even won an HST race last year at Mid-Ohio driving a TA2 car in GT-2 competition. But this was his first-ever go in an FE2 car.
“The car took a little bit to get used to because it’s so much different,” Gian said. “The TA2 car is 2,800 pounds with 500 horsepower. I get into the FE2 car and it’s 1,200 pounds with 200 horsepower. It kind of drives like a go kart. It feels much faster than a TA2 car and it’s a lot of fun to drive.”
After climbing out of the racecar Thursday, Gian got into a road car with his father, Tony, and the duo drove overnight back to Chicago through thunderstorms. That was necessary because the high school student had an AP test to take Friday. Then Friday evening after the test, the Buffomantes drove back to Mid-Ohio through another set of storms so a qualifying time could be put down Saturday morning in FE2.
Gian has always wanted to get some experience in open-wheel cars, and why wouldn’t he? That’s where his championship winning father made his mark early on. Tony won the Star Mazda Championship in 1997, claimed a Formula Mazda SCCA Runoffs National Championship in 1998, but is perhaps best known for his involvement in the Trans-Am Series' TA2 class where he won the 2016 championship.
Saturday’s race saw Gian start last in the 13-car field. By the time the checkered flag flew 25 minutes later, he had climbed all the way up to fifth place in a race won by Eric Wisniewski in the No. 25 Hillenburg Motorsports/RE-MAX Commercial SCCA Enterprises FE2 Mazda.
Getting a Grip on the Learning Curve
The Spec MX-5 (SMX) field includes a lot of drivers fresh out of karting who are making their first foray into car racing, and Mitchell Lowry is one such competitor. At 27 years old, however, Lowry is a tad older than many other SMX rookies that are only in their late teens.
Mid-Ohio is Lowry’s fourth HST event of the year. Previous appearances were made at VIR, Road Atlanta and Sebring. His top finish coming into this weekend was tenth, but it’s all part of a learning curve as far as Lowry is concerned.
“The biggest thing has been getting used to the feel of the car; the suspension, the roll,” said Lowry, who drives the No. 2 TKG Motorsports/Paley Motorsport Mazda MX-5. “The car weighs a bunch more than a kart, and the weight is a big thing.”
Lowry, who is from SCCA’s Western Ohio Region, got accustomed to the SMX’s speed pretty quickly. Learning the heel-toe technique to work the H-pattern transmission, though, took some work.
“It was tough at first, for sure,” he noted. “It’s not that big of a learning curve coming from shifter karts, but it was definitely much different.”
The other thing rookie drivers get to learn about is how the SCCA and Road Racing community work. Like so many others, Lowry has found that to be a joy.
“Everyone has been really nice and really welcoming,” he said. “My teammates have been very helpful, and the team is awesome. Without them helping me, this season would’ve been a bit much.
“I’m very thankful that everyone I’ve met so far around the paddock has been very friendly and open to passing on the tips and tricks they have learned,” Lowry added. “Meeting and speaking with others has drastically improved my knowledge and ability behind the wheel.”
Perhaps most important, Lowry admitted he’s having an absolute blast racing with SCCA. He claims it has been the best experience of his life, and he’s confident that improvements are being made each and every race.
The learning continued Saturday at Mid-Ohio with Lowry finishing seventh for his best result of the year. The SMX victory went to Camden Gruber in the No. 24 Planet Miata/RP Performance/CGR Mazda MX-5 machine.
Bangin’ B-Spec Party
The No. 89 MisFIT Racing Honda Fit had a tough Friday in B-Spec. An off-course excursion with Tom Hopson at the wheel resulted in substantial damage to the car’s frontend. In fact, the impact was enough to shift the front-left frame rail into the radiator, as well as folding a substantial amount of other cosmetic and structural components.
Using a truck and chain, the frame was pulled back into place. Then the front clip and crash bar were reattached. However, the alignment was way off-kilter. Needing a flat surface to correct the problem, MisFIT Racing headed over to Goodyear Racing Tire and asked if they could use their covered garage space to work on the vehicle.
Of course, Goodyear was happy to help. And by chance, the B-Spec community was having a party and beverage exchange in the exact same garage Friday evening. The result? Lots of hands to help bang things back in place, plus food and drink. It may have been the best time anyone could hope for when putting a racecar back together.
In less than three hours, Hopson’s car had its lower control arm replaced, and the alignment was where it should be. It all came together just perfectly, and Hopson was able to qualify and race on Saturday.
Saturday Race Winners
Below are provisional race winners from Saturday’s Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour conducted at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Each entry includes Car Class: Driver Name, SCCA Region, and Car.
American Sedan®: Daniel Richardson, Washington DC Region, Chevrolet Camaro
B-Spec: Rob Piekarczyk, Neohio Region, Honda Fit
E Production: Nathan Nicholson, Indianapolis Region, Mazda MX-5
F Production: Mason Workman, Ohio Valley Region, Mazda Miata
H Production: Matt Brannon, Ohio Valley Region, Fiat X-1/9
Formula Atlantic®: Nicho Vardis, Detroit Region, JDR F1000
Formula Continental®: Jeremy Swank, Ohio Valley Region, Van Diemen RF-05
Formula Enterprises® 2: Eric Wisniewski, Western Michigan Region, SCCA Enterprises FE2 Mazda
GT-1: Michael McAleenan, Northwest Region, Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo
GT-2: Austin Jurs, Chicago Region, Chevrolet Camaro TA2
GT3U: Paul Young, Detroit Region, Ford Probe
Spec Miata: Max Stallone, Texas Region, Mazda Miata
Spec MX-5: Camden Gruber, Washington DC Region, Mazda MX-5
Spec Racer® Ford Gen3: Bobby Sak, Detroit Region, SCCA Enterprises SRF3
Prototype: Perry Richardson, San Francisco Region, Stohr WF1
Super Touring® Lite: Nick Leverone, New England Region, Mazda Miata
Super Touring® Under: David Fiorelli, Texas Region, Ford Mustang
Touring 2: Aaron Kaplan, Chicago Region, BMW M2 CS
Touring 3: Nic Hammann, Kansas City Region, Nissan 370Z
Touring 4: Ayden Rose, Florida Region, Mazda Miata
More from Mid-Ohio on Sunday
There is still one more day of HST racing to come. Sunday will feature 35-minute or 20-lap races to see who collects prized trophies and commemorative bottles of Mazza Vineyards sparkling wine. The first race group is scheduled to leave the grid at 8 a.m. Eastern Time.
Spectators are invited to enjoy this Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing event trackside and in person, with admission only being $10 per person. If you can’t be at Mid-Ohio, then certainly tune into HST’s live video broadcast found at SCCA’s YouTube page and produced by DriversEye Live. Commentary on the action will again be provided by Brian Bielanski and long-time Mid-Ohio announcer Tom Michaels.
As always, live HST Timing & Scoring is found throughout the weekend at scca.com/live, and Sunday victory podium celebrations can be viewed at the SCCA Road Racing Facebook page.
Photo: Eric Wisniewski drove his Formula Enterprises 2 car to victory Saturday at Mid-Ohio during the Hoosier Super Tour.
Photo by Jeff Loewe
