TC America: Double top-10 for Alana Carter at IMS
- LIAM REDFORD
- a few seconds ago
- 5 min read
Returning to the series for the second time this campaign, Alana Carter closed out her 2025 season by securing a pair of top-10 finishes in TC America at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where she made good progress over the course of the event on her way to a best result of ninth.
Alana Carter closed out her 2025 season by securing a pair of top-10 finishes in TC America at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Returning to the series for the second time this campaign, Carter made good progress over the course of the event on her way to a best result of ninth.
After qualifying in tenth position, Carter enjoyed a number of close battles on her way to a ninth-place finish in race one. Racing in wet conditions in the season finale, the Ricca Autosport driver produced a spirited defensive drive as she again took the chequered flag in ninth position overall.
Following a successful debut outing in TC America at Barber Motorsports Park, Carter returned to the series for the season finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Despite limited front-wheel-drive experience prior to her debut, Carter adapted superbly and stood on the overall podium in a competitive TC America grid. The Canadian driver raced confidently against her more experienced rivals and now she was aiming to once again fight at the head of the field.
Similarly to in Alabama, Carter’s main aim in the early stages of the weekend was to further gain familiarity with the car and slowly improve her lap times. In the first free practice session held on Thursday morning, Carter completed 12 laps on her way to a fastest time of a 1:40.596. This lap placed the Ricca Autosport driver in tenth position as she continued to build up her speed.
The second free practice session took place early on Thursday evening, however due to a technical issue Carter was unable to complete any flying laps. Heading into qualifying with limited running under her belt, Alana faced a significant challenge as she continued to learn both the car and the circuit as the first competitive running got underway.
Qualifying was held early on Friday morning with low track temperatures at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The fifteen-minute session ran uninterrupted and Carter did a superb job to improve upon her lap times in spite of her limited running. Setting a fastest lap of a 1:38.650, almost two seconds than she managed the previous day, Carter qualified in tenth position. The Canadian racer was just three-quarters of a second behind the leading Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO machine of PJ Groenke to underline her improvement across the short session.
The first race of the weekend took place early on Saturday morning with Carter starting from tenth on the grid. It was a clean start throughout the field and Carter challenged Connor Attrell into turn one. Although she was unable to complete the pass, she was showing good intent to move forward in the early stages. Carter remained in tenth position at the conclusion of lap one, before resuming her challenge on those ahead.
On lap two, Alana was quicker than the next four drivers ahead and this allowed her to cut the margin to Attrell to just a quarter of a second. On lap three, Attrell was forced to defend from his teammate into turn one with Carter continuing to show good speed. The Hyundai Elantra N1 TC EVO drivers were all fighting just outside the top-5 and one mistake could see a driver fall to the rear of the train.
On lap six, PJ Groenke lost some momentum and as a result, he fell down the order with Carter almost drawing level with the series veteran. Groenke was able to re-pass Attrell and therefore Carter resumed her battle with her fellow Ricca Autosport racer. After getting a superb run down the main straight to begin lap seven, Carter attempted to go around the outside of Attrell, however he was able to claim the apex of the corner and maintain his position.
Carter continued to apply significant pressure to her nearest rival as she consistent ran just a quarter of a second behind Attrell. The racing among the Hyundai drivers continued to be hard-fought as the race entered the closing stages as Eric Kunz, PJ Groenke, Connor Attrell and Alana Carter ran nose-to-tail.
On lap 14, Carter had a solo spin as she touched the grass upon braking for turn seven.
Alana remained in tenth position and with no damage to the car, she was able to rejoin the race with the loss of around seven seconds. Now in clean air, Carter’s pace was strong as she was the third fastest Hyundai driver on her first lap following the spin.
With just a couple of minutes of the race remaining, James Klimas pulled over with a technical issue and this elevated Carter into ninth. The Ricca Autosport driver kept pushing to the chequered flag as Carter finished in ninth position, while her final lap was second fastest among the Hyundai drivers to underline both her pace and progress.
The TC America season finale took place on Sunday morning with extremely wet conditions at the Brickyard. This was another new experience for Carter as she looked to end her partial-campaign on a high. Following her fastest lap time set in race one, Alana lined up from the fourth row of the grid in eighth position. As the drivers warmed their tyres and acclimatised to the the track surface, PJ Groenke lost control and hit the barrier on the back straight.
As a result, Carter was immediately into seventh prior to the green flag being displayed. The drivers continued to circulate behind the safety car for an extended period due to the recovery of Groenke’s car with the green flag displayed with just fifteen-minutes remaining. It was a good initial start from Carter who used the outside line to her advantage as she initially moved into sixth position, while teammate Eric Kunz spun at turn one.
As Carter continued to get up to speed on the first racing lap, she was overtaken by CJ Sepulveda who was showing excellent speed in the challenging conditions. On lap six, Chris Taylor also began to close in and the FTG Racing driver briefly passed Carter, before the Ricca Autosport racer fought back. After clearing Taylor, Carter’s lap times improved and this coincided with Taylor being challenged by a recovering Kunz.
On lap nine, Kunz overtook Taylor and now Carter was required to defend her position as Kunz’s pace in the middle portion of the race was especially strong. The following lap saw Kunz attempt a move around the outside of turn seven, before then looking to the inside of turn 10. Carter held on following a moment for Kunz and this let Taylor gain momentum. Taylor overtook Kunz which gave Carter some brief respite as she held seventh position.
Kunz was keen to fight back and after overtaking Taylor into turn one, he then shaped to the inside of Carter at turn seven. This time, Kunz successfully completed the pass with Carter falling to eighth. Taylor was also able to get a run on the Ricca Autosport driver with Alana now back in ninth spot.
In the closing stages of the race, Carter came under attack from Connor Attrell, however a personal best time on lap 12 highlighted Alana’s improvements in the tricky conditions. Carter did a nice job to repel the challenge from her teammate on the final lap as Alana took the chequered flag in ninth position overall, fourth among the Hyundai drivers.
Despite battling changeable conditions across the weekend, Carter drove consistently to score two top-10 finishes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Alana’s pace was extremely competitive against her fellow Ricca Autosport drivers as the Canadian racer once again displayed her adaptability in front-wheel-drive touring cars.