The July 18-19, 2026, Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge at Pocono Raceway tested driver versatility. The battleground at the Long Pond, PA, circuit was the fast and flowing North/South Option 2 on Saturday, and the technical North/South Option 3 on Sunday, which normally would offer enough challenge for all participants. Mother Nature, however, had something to add into the mix, with rain upping the ante.
With an entry list 73 drivers strong, everyone had to run hard both days in varying conditions if they wanted to stand atop the Time Attack Challenge podium. And run hard they did, with a nearly ridiculous number of track records being set in the process.
Record Breakers
With drivers spanning 18 classes, it’s remarkable that 44% of those saw new track records on the North/South Option 2 configuration. What’s even more breathtaking is that those drivers managed the feat on a drying course following Saturday morning’s showers.
From mild to wild, drivers set records in everything from Club Spec MX-5 with a 1:48.9 to the blazingly fast 1:34.6 in Max 2. Notably, Sport 2 wasn’t far behind the fastest of the brand-new track records, with that driver logging a time that was less than half a second off the new Max 2 record.
Those new track records were:
Class Competition
You might expect that all drivers who set a new track record also won their class. And you’d be right! You’d also be right in knowing that those new track record holders were consistent in their speed, also being fastest in their respective classes during Sunday’s Option 3 sessions.
While lap records were not set in all the classes, that doesn’t mean the competition was lacking.
In Sport 4, the five-car class saw entrants in front-, rear-, and all-wheel drive. Nikhil Kovelamudi in a 2024 VW Golf and Hiroshi Witt in a 2013 Subaru Impreza battled all weekend, with Kovelamudi pulling out the win with a cumulative time of 4:00.515 to Witt’s 4:03.6.
It was a similar story in Tuner 4, but this fight was all rear-wheel drive. Justin Farmer was quick to put his 2015 Subaru BRZ up front, but not by much, with the 2019 Mazda MX-5 of Oleksandr Vladykin and the 2013 Scion FR-S of Jared Kreft in hot pursuit. Come Sunday’s podium celebration, it was Farmer on the top step, but his cumulative time of 3.52.282 was only 1.729sec ahead of Vladykin, with Kreft another 0.778sec back.
Max 5 saw an incredible scrap that extended beyond the podium. Come Sunday, the cumulative time differential between first and fourth was a scant 2.567sec. This battle could have gone either way, as eventual winner Bryan McCrea had his 2013 Scion FR-S up front early with a Saturday time of 1:40.005, exactly 0.4sec ahead of Andrew Lunsford in a 2023 Toyota GR86, with Carlos Pratt and his 2015 Scion FR-S third fastest with a time of 1:40.748. The Sunday sessions saw a similar situation, with Prat and Craig Krzywicki in a 2013 Subaru BRZ separated by 0.026sec. When the times were added, it was Crea, Lunsford, and Prat on the podium, with Krzywicki barely missing out.
Yet none of those battles can compare to what happened in Unlimited 2. That fight was a small displacement shootout, with Adam DeLong in a 2012 Honda Fit, Brandon Anderson also in a 2012 Honda Fit, and Alan Lani in a 2005 Mini Cooper. DeLong set the fastest time on both days, but his cumulative score was only 0.087sec quicker than Lani’s time. Anderson’s cumulative time of 4:17.533 was 0.435sec off Lani’s winning time. That means barely half a second separated first from third after two days of competition.
That’s not all the action. For that, check out the class results:
Celebrating More
No Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge weekend is complete without superlative awards, with the Pocono weekend celebrating not only the fastest of certain drive types, but also the weekend’s most outstanding Time Attack novice, as well as someone who exuded the spirit of what the sport is all about.
Next Stops
The Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack Challenge is rolling along, with the next stop coming on Aug. 1-2, 2026, at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, IL. That event marks the final stop for the East Series prior to the National Championship, with the West Series still having two more events before the end of the calendar year, one on Aug. 22-23 at Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, WA, and the other on Nov. 14-15 at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in southern California.
Speaking of the inaugural Tire Rack SCCA Time Attack National Championship, that event takes place Oct. 22-25 at Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, TX. Here’s how you sign up for that one.
Check out the entire Time Attack Challenge calendar of events here:
Photo by Patrick Torbik
