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Gleason Win TCR International Race
At Singapore Grand Prix

SINGAPORE, Sept. 20 - There was only one American entered in the TCR International Series race Saturday night at the Singapore Grand Prix, but when it was over rookie Kevin Gleason of Johnstown, Pa., was on the top step of the podium with his second victory in this high-profile, international touring car series that supports Formula 1 events, and "The Star-Spangled Banner" was playing in America's honor.

Gleason started third in the 22-car field in this race at the 3.147-mile Marina Bay street circuit, which was the series' first street race and also its first race at night. It supported the Singapore Grand Prix Formula 1 race, which is one of Asia's largest sporting events. It is held along a harbor similar to the Monaco Grand Prix.

Driving the #24 Honda Civic TCR fielded by WestCoast Racing, Gleason moved into second at the start, but then had to fight off the advances of Pepe Oriola of Spain and Gianni Morbidelli of Italy on lap two. Their battle allowed the polesitter, Stefano Comini of Switzerland, to get a healthy lead in the 10-lap/25-minute race.

When Comini's SEAT Leon faltered just an instant on lap eight due to an electrical problem with the gearbox, Gleason seized his opportunity and passed Comini, the point leader, on the frontstretch. Comini's car was up to full power before the pair entered Turn 1 but Gleason held him off there, and then didn't let him by on any of the other 22 turns in the remaining two laps either to earn the hard-fought victory.

Gleason's margin of victory over Comini was 0.819 seconds. Morbidelli, who is an ex-Formula 1 driver and one of Gleason's teammates, finished third and set the fastest lap of the race with a 2:26.693 on lap four, although Gleason ran a 2:26.749 on lap six.

“It was a tough race and a nice second win for me," Gleason said. "I had a good start, but I had a lot of pressure from Oriola and Gianni in the early laps. Then my pace improved in the middle portion of the race, and when Stefano lifted because of a problem, I took the lead. In the closing laps though, when his car was OK, I was under great pressure again. It was definitely a tough race, not only because of the competition but also due to the heat and night conditions, but there my experience in long-distance races helped.”

Gleason started eighth and finished fifth in a similar race on Sunday. Gleason had a big battle with Lorenzo Veglia of Italy in that event, but Gleason surged ahead on the next-to-last lap to secure another top-five finish.

Gleason, who also won at Austria in May, is fifth in the point standings out of 37 drivers with two events remaining. The next one is Oct. 24-25 at Buriram, Thailand, while the season finale is Nov. 20-22 in Macau, China.

Video highlights of Gleason's victory are available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTch0ACqDR4.

For more information on Gleason, follow "Kevin Gleason Motorsports" on Facebook and "@KevinGleason60" on Twitter. The team's Web site is at westcoast-racing.com and the series' Web site is at tcr-series.com.