As the cars headed to track, the tension built. The cars formed for the start and came rolling down the straight awaiting the green flag. It was a split start which meant there were separate flags for H1, and H4.
As the green flag dropped for H1, Hartanto was able to get a good start and hold off Higashi.
He then remained in 1st where he finished. Robert Davis was able to come up through the field from a 7th starting position and pass Higashi for the second position. Official results were Hartanto, Davis, and Higashi.
When H4 took the green, the battle began. The 23 car field was an impressive sight to see. Gilio was able to hold off Stepanyan on the start, and Jeremy Croiset was able to get by on the outside of Hohwart in the first turn to take the 3rd position. Gilio, Stepanyan, and Croiset were then locked in a three way battle that started to pull away from the rest of the H4 field. Croiset was able to get by Stepanyan and attack Gilio for a lap until he and Stepanyan swapped positions again the following lap.
Gilio made a small error and Stepanyan was able to make a clean pass on her inside for the lead. Contact between Stepanyan and Gillio forced Stepanyan off the track. He then rejoined in 3rd a few seconds behind the Gillio / Croiset battle. Croiset, stalking Gilio followed very close behind just waiting for an opportunity to pass.
He was presented the opportunity a few laps later with a small error by Gilio that allowed him to go up the inside of the next corner. Croiset then pulled out a small lead which he was able to maintain for the rest of the race taking his first victory. Official results were Croiset, Stepanyan, and Sam Rothchild. Gilio was DQ’ed for the contact between herself and Stepanyan.
Sunday was another beautiful sunny southern California day. Qualifying went similar to Saturday. H1’s top 3 were Hartanto, Davis, and Higashi while H4 saw Stepanyan take pole followed by Gilio and Croiset.
The start for Sunday’s race was unusual because it was a standing start. Socal normally does flying starts, while Norcal uses standing start. So, advantage was given to Norcal for the start of this race.
The cars formed up on the straight for the start, and awaited the drop of the green flag. The rpm’s started to climb and the anticipation built.
The green flag dropped, and the cars went screaming away like a pack of angry killer bees.
In H1, Hartanto and Higashi both got great starts. Higashi was able to hold onto the outside of T1, and make the pass into the next corner. Hartanto then stayed glued to his bumper and made a pass on the front stretch the following lap to retake the lead. He was then able to hold off Higashi for the win. Official results were Hartanto, Higashi, and Kenji Morishige holding on for the final podium position.
H4 was again a 3 way battle between the top 3 qualifiers. Croiset was able to get a terrific start from the left side of the track and go by Stepanyan and Gilio for the lead into T1.
He then proceeded to lead for the next lap until he was passed by Stepanyan into the sweeper. When Stepanyan took the lead, he never looked back. He steadily pulled away to take the victory. Croiset and Gilio went 2 wide into the sweeper, and had contact while running through the esses side by side (racing incident). Gilio was able to take the 2nd position and hold on till the end. Official results were Stepanyan, Gilio, and Croiset.
If this weekends racing action was a preview of what’s in store for us at the NASA Nationals this year, it’s going to be an event that no one will want to miss.
A special thanks to all the Honda Challenge competitors that made it to this historic event. It was one for the record books.
