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Flying Lizard Audi Wins NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill
presented by Hawk Performance
Audi R8 races to 35 lap win
WILLOWS, Calif. (Dec. 6, 2015) - The 13th running
of the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance was
won by the Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS in dominant fashion. When the
checkered flag dropped on the twice around the clock plus one hour race
at Thunderhill Raceway the Audi had won by 35 laps.
 The dominant Flying Lizard team took the overall lead seven hours in to the race Saturday
evening and never looked back. When the defending race champions from
Davidson Racing had issues with their Norma, the Lizards took over the
lead and were never challenged for the remaining 18 hours. Soldering
through on and off mist and rain through the night and a more serious
weather front in the morning, the Audi R8 LMS with its traction control,
ABS brakes and choice of two different Toyo tire rain compounds won the
13th running
of the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk performance by 35
laps over the second place car of Quick Racing and their No. 3
SuperLIte SLC. The winning entry was driven by Darren Law, Johannes van
Overbeek, Guy Cosmo, Tomonobu Fujii and Thomas Sadler.
"Excellent
run by the team," Darren Law said. "The team is so good with this car
and these long races. The Toyo tires were just phenomenal. We went from
dry tires to wets, to intermediates and they performed great across the
spectrum. We did what we set out to accomplish, winning in dominating
fashion. Almost half of the race was run in the rain. The Toyo rain tire
had us just hooked up. Their rain tire has a lot of grip which made it
really fun to drive in those conditions."
In ESR the No. 69 Gryphon Racing Praga took the victory with the all
carbon Renault engine powered car driven by Joseph Barone, Danny van
Dongen, Paul Blickman and Ari Straus.
"The
last 20 minutes of the race was our biggest drama, we lost a few
seconds to position number four," Dusan Maly, team manager said.
"Endurance racing is a full team effort with the crew and the drivers
all performing. Whenever I see the rain it makes me happy. The Gryphon
Praga is very good in the rain."
In E0 the No. 30 El Diablo BMW took the victory with drivers James
Clay, Lance Boicelli, Cameron Evans, Dale Sievwrig, James Colborn,
Charles Postins.
"Last
Sunday the El Diablo guys were ready to throw in the towel on this
effort," Cameron Evans said. "With the help of the team and everyone
they got a car together that hadn't run in over 10 years to come out to
the 25 hours and win. All of our guys at Red Line Oil and the rest of
our sponsors, crew and volunteers did a great job. We knew we could have
brought more power, but that wasn't the equation to win. We brought the
right amount of car combined with fuel mileage and six drivers who knew
what they were doing to win."
In the E1 Class it was the No. 0 BMW of Grip Racing that took the win
with drivers Tristan Littlehale, Joseph DePillo, Mark Mitchell, Harold
Petit and David DePillo.
"I
had my friends in the 0 car and it was fun to watch them win," Jason
Vein, team owner said. "We had some contact with the winning Flying
Lizard car in the by-pass that resulted in breaking a couple of wheels
and a tie rod. We made it back in and the crew did a great job to fix
the car and get it back in the race. We had to serve a penalty for
changing two wheels, but we were able to overcome that as well and get
the win."
In the E2 Class the RDR No. 34 Mazda RX-8 won the class with drivers
Joel Miller, Lee Pappageorge, Dennis Holloway and Jeremy Barnes.
"A
repeat for our lovely RX-8 Kermit for the win," Joel Miller said.
"Dennis Holloway put in the last stint and brought it to the checker. To
get another victory for this great effort is special. Also really cool
what the team did with getting the Mazda MX-5s all across the finish
line in their first ever on track competition. Great effort all the way
around by the RDR team with its all-volunteer crew."
In E3 the No. 40 Mazda Miata of RAmotorsports40 won the class from the
pole position with drivers Dion Johnson, Richard Lucquet, David Geringer
and Doug Clark.
"I
have to thank all of my crew," Ron Gayman, team owner said. "I provided
the car and along with the drivers they did the rest. I think the car
was all four wheels off one time in 12 hours of rain. We ran 10 hours on
one set of Hoosier wet tires. We did our best to run a consistent pace.
We knew if we kept to our plan we would slowly, but surely pull away.
We did not have any penalties between our two cars."
The No. 6 CLP Motorsports NP01 posted the first win in its competition
debut with the NASA developed NP01 Prototype. The driving team consisted
of Tyler McQuarie, Jeremy Croiset, Tom Dyer, Marc Miller and Pat
O'Keefe.
"This
is a dream come true," Jeremy Croiset said. "We survived the 25 with a
brand new car. I am in awe of the car and the team. It has surpassed
everyone's expectations. When we clicked off the 500th lap
the whole team celebrated. The NP01 was super predictable all race. The
CLP crew did a great job with set-up and keeping up with the car
mechanically all race. I am just elated."
Top Finishers by Class:
ES
No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi R8, 690 laps *overall winner
No. 3 Quick Racing Products, SuperLite SLC, 655 laps
No. 4 Prototype Development Group Factory Five GTM, 631 laps
ESR
No. 69 Gryphon Racing Praga, 626 laps
No. 10 CRE/Jackson Racing Wolf, 554 laps
No. 52 JFC Racing Wolf, 479 laps
E0
No. 30 El Diablo Motorsports BMW, 617 laps
No. 03 Edgle Last Minute Motorworks BMW, 607 laps
No. 61 RoadShagger BMW, 603 laps
E1
No. 0 Grip Racing 0 BMW, 615 laps
No. 95 Grip Racing 95, 607 laps
No. 42 THRW/Honda Racing 1, 601 laps
E2
No. 34 RDR Mazda RX-8, 570 laps
No. 32 Team Gone Racing, Mazda Miata, 535 laps
No. 12 HPD Honda Racing 1, Honda Fit, 157 laps
E3
No. 40 RAmotorsports40, Mazda Miata, 593 laps
No. 7 Augersmiles.com/New Rock Exchange, Acura Integra, 588 laps
No. 23 RJ Racing, Mazda Miata, 581 laps
NP01
No. 6 CLP Racing, NP01, 514 laps
No. 99 11/10ths, NP01, 30 laps
Race Notes:
- Winning Flying Lizard Audi covered 690 laps and 1,973 miles
- Fastest race lap was by the No. 67 One Motorsports Radical, 1:41.410 on lap 202
- Mazda had two overall winners in the E3 and E2 Class
- BMW had two class overall winners in E0 and E1
- All four of the all-new Mazda MX-5 Cup cars finished their first competitive race
- The all-new NASA developed NP01 Prototype finished its first competitive race
- The 14th running of NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill will run Dec. 3-4, 2016
Professional
drivers listed on the entry include: Al Unser Jr., Ryan Eversley, Kyle
Marcelli, Randy Pobst, Burt Frisselle, Brian Frisselle, Dion von Moltke,
Mike Skeen, Colin Braun, Kurt Busch, Johannes van Overbeek, Guy Cosmo,
Darren Law, Joel Miller, Tommy Sadler, Sean Rayhall, Darren Law, Tyler
McQuarie, Kelly Collins, Taz Harvey, Jeremy Croiset, Will Faules, etc.
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About NASA
The
National Auto Sport Association (NASA) was formed in 1991 with the
premise of delivering high-quality motorsports events to enthusiasts at
major racing venues throughout the nation. NASA has created programs
that allow owners of both racecars and high-performance street-driven
vehicles to enjoy the full performance capabilities of their cars in a
controlled professionally managed environment. NASA offers many
different programs that will allow you to enjoy motorsports on a number
of different levels, including our High Performance Driving Events
(HPDE), Rally Sport, Time Trial, NASA-X and Competition Racing programs.
NASA Membership
NASA
members are entitled to enter and participate in any NASA event across
the country, and membership includes an array of benefits, including
vendor discounts and a subscription to the organizations online
newsletter the NASA Speed News. Members will also receive a colorful
membership hard card that will identify them as part of the organization
and a welcome packet that includes more information on the many
benefits and programs available to NASA members. While participating at
events, all NASA members are covered by an extensive insurance policy,
which includes General Liability, Accidental Death and Dismemberment,
and Excess Medical coverage. Best of all, membership is only $45. Refer
to www.nasaproracing.com for member information.
NASA Thanks Our Partners
NASA
would like to thank its National sponsors for their continued support:
Toyo Tires, Mazda, Hawk Performance, Winding Road Racing, and GoPro.
We also want to thank MAZDASPEED, Honda Performance Development (HPD),
Nissan, and Ford Motor Company for supporting our members. We greatly
appreciate those companies that offer our racers contingency support,
including Toyo Tires, AIM Sports, AST Suspension, BFGoodrich, Ford
Racing, Maxxis Tires, Traqmate, Hawk Performance, Honda Performance
Development (HPD), Hoosier Racing Tire, MAZDASPEED, Nissan, Jongbloed
Racing Wheels, Bimmerworld, Frozen Rotors, Optic Armor, Neo Motorsports,
Spec Clutches, Driven Racing Oil, Altronics Inc., ANZE Suspension, GT
Radial Tire, Tilton, Racefab Inc., Sampson Racing Communications and
Yokohama. NASA competitors can also get discounts from Mazda, Maxxis
Tires, Racing Fire Systems, Ford Performance Racing School,Fuel Safe,
Vehiport, APR Performance, Avis, Cruise America, Eibach Springs, Exedy,
Fastbrakes, Konig, The Mid-Ohio School, Konig, Molecule, Red Line Oil,
Winding Road Racing, Torco, TPIS, Porterfield and Monster Clutch.
NASA at a Glance
*
NASA was founded in 1991 on the premise of providing motorsport
competition programs that allow owners of both racecars and
high-performance street-driven vehicles to enjoy the full-performance
capabilities of their cars in a safe and controlled environment.
* NASA has over 14,000 members in 16 regions.
* Key events include the NASA Western Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, July 31 - Aug. 2; the Eastern Championships at Virginia International Raceway Sept. 4-6 and the season culminating NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill, Dec. 5-6.
* The NASA National Championships will run 36 race classes and nine Time-Trial classes during the event.
*
NASA runs over 150 events each year encompassing over 250 races,
including the association's Rally Sport and Time-Trial program.
* Manufacturer partners include MAZDASPEED, Honda Performance Development (HPD), Nissan and Ford Racing.
*
NASA Management: Jerry Kunzman, Executive Director; Ryan Flaherty,
National Chairman; Jeremy Croiset, Director of Business Development;
Dave Ho, Business Operations Manager, Will Faules, National Event
Manager.
Follow NASA
Facebook: National Auto Sport Association
Twitter: nasaproracing
Instagram: nasaproracing
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