NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance at 20 Hours
NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance at 20 HoursRyno Ginettaleads with five to go
NAPA
VALLEY, Calif., (Dec. 3, 2016) - The 14th edition of the NASA 25 Hours
of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance has five hours remaining
and the pole sitting No. 57 Ryno Racing Ginetta still heads the field.
As
the sun begins to rise over the 2.8-mile, 15-turn Thunderhill Raceway
circuit the field is still full with 58 of 62 starters still running.
The No. 57 Ryno Racing Ginetta remains the overall leader. In hot
pursuit is the No. 45 Audi R8 of the 2015 overall winning Flying Lizard
team. IndyCar team owner Bryan Herta likes the way the Ginetta is
running and the way the team is working. The 57 has covered 625 laps so
far in the race.
"I
am knocking the rust off after being out of a race car for a few
years," Herta said. "The car is running great. We have cycled all of the
drivers through from both cars. My son Colton has driven both cars a
lot and he looks fresh, oh to be 16 again. We are waiting for the sun to
come up and see what the last five hours brings to the finish.
Hopefully we can keep it together to the checker."
The No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 remains just seven laps down to the faster 
Ginetta and leads the ES Class. Faster competition at the 25 is no
stranger to the team. They rely on consistency from the drivers and
excellent pit work and strategy to stay at the front.
Ginetta and leads the ES Class. Faster competition at the 25 is no
stranger to the team. They rely on consistency from the drivers and
excellent pit work and strategy to stay at the front. "The
Toyo Audi is running great," driver, Darren Law said. "We are just
focusing on clean pit stops and keeping the car on the track. The 57 car
is fast and so far has held up. We don't have the pace to go and race
them, we just have to hope they have a problem. We are running our
program and the car is great on the Toyo tires."
The E0 pole sitter No. 11 Nissan 350Z leads the class.
"We
have a few issues with the Nissan 350Z right now," driver, Andy Lee
said. "My last stint was about maintaining. I couldn't push as hard as I
wanted to. We are having some power steering problems, so not on the
pace we would like. I had some contact with one of the Radicals coming
inside of me into Turn 14 and we made contact. It didn't seem major,
other than I had a flat tire."
In E1 the No. 95 BMW of Grip Racing leads.
"The
drivers have been keeping themselves out of trouble," crew chief, Brian
Marsteller said. "We just want to keep it out of the pits and doing
laps. That is kind of our motto, it has worked for us in the past. We
are just going to keep on truckin' along. The drivers are keeping the
car out of trouble. There have been a few scary moments, but all of the
drivers talked and agreed to keep themselves out of trouble. You can't
win it in the first 24 hours, but you certainly can lose it."
The No. 29 BMW of KD Motorsports leads the E2 Class.
"The
race is going pretty smooth so far," crew chief, Andrew Wymore said.
"We are maintaining our strategy of staying out the pits and keeping
everyone calm and focused. We are a pit stop ahead of second place, so
we are about a lap and half up on them. We really haven't had any big
drama, just some light contact. The suns up and we are all happy and
ready to go."
The No. 38 Mazda Miata of RAM Motorsports leads the E3 Class.
"The
race is going pretty good and I am having a good time," driver, Ward
Rose said. "We are anxious for sun rise as our headlights have dimmed a
little. I had some side-to-side contact with one guy during my stint,
he deserved it. The 38 Miata is running great. We are not the fastest in
our class, I got passed by a few cars in our category, but they are
probably having more problems than we are at the moment."
In the ENP Class the No. 71 Diamond Level Motorsports NASA elan NP01 
Prototype powered by Mazda continues to lead the class and running in the top six overall.
Prototype powered by Mazda continues to lead the class and running in the top six overall."We
are looking forward to the sun coming here in a few minutes," driver,
Jeremy Croiset said. "The team put me out in the NASA elan Prototype
NP01 powered by Mazda for a double stint during the night. I was able to
turn some quick laps and show the pace of this great car. This is
really a proving ground for this great little platform. I was able to
turn the fastest lap of our race in that stint at like 4 a.m. We are plugging away in hopes of an overall podium."
Professional
drivers listed on the entry include: Bryan Herta, Colton Herta, Ryan
Eversley, Al Unser Jr., Sean Rayhall, Dion von Moltke, Colin Braun,
Johannes van Overbeek, Darren Law, Tommy Sadler, Darren Law, Tyler
McQuarrie, Kelly Collins and Taz Harvey with more expected.
Live race timing, https://racehero.io/orgs/nasa-norcal
Media guide can be found at https://nasa25hour.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Thunderhill-Media-Guide-2016.pdf
Teams, cars and classes, https://nasa25hour.com/2016-teams-cars-and-classes/
Driver line-up, https://nasa25hour.com/2016-driver-line-up/
For additional information, please contact NASA Championships Media Director, Kyle Chura at kyle@kcapr.com or (248) 821-0468. More detail can be found at nasaproracing.com or nasachampionships.com.
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