Sally McNulty completes TC America season with Top-5 at IMS, secures third in championship

Sally McNulty wrapped up the TC America season with a strong performance at Indianapolis, securing third place in the TC class championship after a year of consistent podium finishes and impressive pace, narrowly missing out on second by just one point.

Photo credits: Halston Pitman

Sally McNulty concluded the TC America season with her eleventh top-five finish at the Indianapolis season finale, securing third in the TC class championship standings after a year that saw the driver of the Ricca Autosport #780 Hyundai Elantra TC climb the podium on six occasions.

Despite an unlucky round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where she was pushed off track in the early stages of the race, McNulty still managed to recover with superb pace, finishing in the class top five and adding crucial points to her tally to secure third in the championship, just one point shy of second place after a remarkable campaign.

In her second year in the TC class, McNulty established herself as a consistent frontrunner, regularly battling for podiums after previously progressing through the ranks of the TCA class. In 2023, Sally made the step up to TC and claimed her first podiums of her professional racing career.

One year later, she made impressive strides with the support of Ricca Autosport, earning two runner-up finishes and six podiums overall.

At the season finale, run in conjunction with the Intercontinental GT Challenge 8 Hours of Indianapolis, Sally aimed to cement her top-three position in the drivers' standings. She showed great pace in practice, with two promising sessions featuring really close gaps, and finished third fastest in the second session, less than half a second from the class leader.

In qualifying, Sally achieved another notable result, securing the second row with a 1:37.464 lap time, which placed her fourth fastest in TC and eighth overall, setting high hopes for a strong conclusion to the season.

Photo credits: Halston Pitman

Jeff Ricca, the new TC class champion, started from pole, ahead of Connor Attrell and Cristian Perocarpi, with McNulty lining up right behind on the second row.

Sally had a great start, moving up to third at Turn 1 as Attrell dropped to fourth. She quickly closed in on Perocarpi, passing him before the end of the first lap to move into second with a remarkable pace, half a second faster than her competitor.

Unfortunately, she was penalized for jumping the start, having completed the pass on Attrell a bit too early. Sally and Christopher DeFreitas were both handed drive-through penalties. After serving her penalty, Sally fell to the back of the field, losing almost a minute, while Perocarpi retired due to technical issues.

Ricca opened up a four-second lead over Attrell, who moved into second, while McNulty, now seventh in class, needed a caution to get back into contention. Nevertheless, she continued to show competitive lap times, steadily picking up positions on the TCA class cars.

Despite her impressive pace, Sally was unable to climb higher than sixth in class before the race ended, bringing home a solid result despite the setback from the penalty.

Photo credits: Halston Pitman

McNulty's second-fastest time in Race 1 however earned her a front-row start for Race 2 on Sunday morning, lining up alongside her teammate, newly crowned champion Jeff Ricca.

The TC field had a clean start, with Ricca holding onto the lead and Sally following closely. Behind them, Ron Zaras and Connor Attrell battled with Cristian Perocarpi, who was looking to recover after his issues in Race 1.

Perocarpi eventually passed Zaras and Attrell to take third, putting pressure on Sally for second place. The two drivers went side by side into Turn 7, but contact sent Sally into the barriers on lap 2. Although she rejoined the race with some damage, she dropped to the back of the field. Perocarpi was handed a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.

Undeterred, Sally once again pushed to recover, setting competitive lap times that allowed her to close the gap to the TCA class cars. She steadily picked off her competitors, climbing back to seventh in class after Perocarpi served his penalty.

McNulty continued her charge, cutting the gap to Kris Valdez in front and eventually passing him. When race leader Ricca encountered issues and had to pit, Attrell took over the lead ahead of Zaras and Anatra, while Sally worked her way up to finish the race in fifth place in class.

Despite the unlucky incidents that prevented her from fully capitalizing on her speed, Sally McNulty secured valuable points to solidify third in the championship standings, narrowly missing out on second place to Cristian Perocarpi by just one point.

The 2024 season was an impressive step forward for McNulty as a racing driver, as she looks to build on this momentum going into the next season.