Star Spangled Racing’s Tiger Tari earned his first career podium as a professional driver, scoring a third-place finish in Lamborghini Super Trofeo’s LB Cup on Sunday at VIRginia International Raceway (VIR).
Tari scored a sixth-place finish in his NTE Sport-supported Lamborghini in race one on Saturday, followed by the historic podium during Sunday’s race.
“I am above the clouds and have to give credit to many people who have something to do with such a strong run this weekend,” Tari said. “From my team to my friend Todd, who helped me at the last race, the IMSA family starting at John Doonan, the Lamborghini with Chris Ward, the whole NTE team and Star Spangled Racing. Everybody had a little hand in it, it’s not just the race – it’s everything before the race. The race is just the show part and so much goes into the before the show. The racing community is very supportive, and people are very kind to each other, but on the track we all want the same thing.”
Tari held on to pick up a position and finished sixth despite contact during Saturday’s 40-minute race, but gained valuable experience for Sunday’s run.
The No. 18 Star Spangled Racing Lamborghini Huracan was in sixth-place following the mandatory pit stop. Within a few laps, Tari chipped his way through positions and was running fourth on track. Tari was aware of a time penalty for the car running third on track for a pit stop violation, and followed that car across the line in fourth – but was elevated to third and was swept off to the podium to claim his first trophy in Super Trofeo.