MEXICO: Loose hood begins long night for past NASCAR XFINITY Series polesitter Jorge Goeters

ALL PHOTOS: Luis Torres, @TheLTFiles

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Jorge Goeters finished last in Saturday’s King Taco La Batalla en El Coliseo at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum when his #31 Z-Motors / AutoForum / Monzani Motorsports Ford fell out after 100 of 150 laps.

Second only to race winner Daniel Suarez, Goeters was the only driver in Saturday’s race to have started a NASCAR Cup Series race. The year was 2005, and he finished 35th with Arnold Motorsports’ #50 Dodge at Watkins Glen. Goeters earned the ride on the heels of his impressive NASCAR XFINITY Series debut that spring, when he won the pole for the series’ inaugural 80-lap race on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City. Driving for Brewco Motorsports, Goeters led the opening 24 laps and finished 38th with engine trouble.

Goeters also boasts a diverse racing background including motorcycle racing in Europe, seven starts running sports cars for Ford, and won a pole at Gateway in his lone season in Indy Lights back in 1998. But he’s been most prolific in NASCAR’s Peak Mexico Series, earning seven career wins and the 2012 series championship. He then made the cut for the invitation-only event in Los Angeles, the series’ first venture into the United States, where he’d pilot one of six Fords in the field of 22.

Salvador De Alba’s #48 after his weekend was cut short by a stuck throttle.

According to statistics compiled by Joseph Srigley, Saturday’s opening practice saw Goeters’ #31 rank 8th of the 22 entrants, where trouble found a couple of his fellow competitors. Salvador De Alba, the defending series champion, suffered a stuck throttle going into Turn 1 and seriously damaged his #48 Red Cola Ford, forcing him to withdraw. Rodrigo Rejón suffered left-rear damage to his #19 NucleoSepec / Coversa Chevrolet after a wreck in Turn 1, but his crew was able to complete repairs by race time – which due to the threat of serious weather was moved up to after the Cup Series’ Busch Light Clash that night. Goeters ran 13th-fastest of the 21 in final practice, then slipped to 15th in qualifying with a lap of 14.457 seconds.

Securing the 21st and final starting spot was Regina Sirvent, the lone female driver in the field, whose team debuted a new look to her #10 Here4All / Dynamic Motorsports Chevrolet in the lead-up to the race. At the start and through the first three laps, Sirvent remained in last place, but still within sight of the next car in line. But by Lap 7, she’d fallen a full ten seconds back of the leader, already in danger of losing a lap. Goeters entered the battle on Lap 10, when the hood on his Ford suddenly flapped up entering Turn 1, forcing him into the infield and costing him at least three laps. This dropped him to last behind Sirvent, who soon after lost her first lap. On Lap 14, Goeters re-entered the race, but just four laps later spun in Turn 2, drawing the caution flag as the field stacked up behind him. By the restart, Goeters was now four laps down, and lost a fifth as the leaders rushed past in Turns 3 and 4.

On Lap 118, Goeters was out of his car and being interviewed by FS2’s Josh Sims in the infield. The team was done for the day, though his car was able to re-fire after the finish and drive itself back out of the stadium. At the time of his retirement, Goeters was already joined by two other drivers with issues. Jorge “Koko” De La Parra took home 20th as the night’s only other retiree for issues on his #29 MetaXChange Ford. Also parked for a time was Andrik Dimayuga in his brightly-colored #67 Compaq / JEMZ Chevrolet, which soon returned to the race 17 laps down. Sirvent climbed to 18th by the finish, one lap behind Abraham Calderón. Calderón’s #2 Commscope / Telcel Chevrolet, the outside-polesitter, was among those battling for the lead until a cut tire dropped him back in the order.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This was Goeters’ first last-place finish in a NASCAR Mexico Series race since October 3, 2020, when his #31 MM / Vitadeyun / Mecano Toyota completed 29 of 71 laps of the Gran Premio Queretaro at the 1.491-mile road course, the Nuevo Autodromo de Queretaro.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

21) #31-Jorge Goeters / 100 laps / out

20) #29-Jorge De La Parra / 115 laps / out

19) #67-Andrik Dimayuga / 133 laps / running

18) #10-Regina Sirvent / 145 laps / running

17) #2-Abraham Calderon / 146 laps / running