WILLOWS, Calif. – Turn 3 Motorsport drivers Peter Dempsey, Eric Wagner, Antoine Comeau and Neil Alberico captured the overall victory in the 25 Hours of Thunderhill Sunday at Thunderhill Raceway Park.
The foursome were dominant throughout the 25-hour endurance test. The only thing that slowed them down was a failed ECU early in the race. The team replaced the failed part and returned to the race, eventually finishing eight laps ahead of their closest pursuer.
The winning drivers drove the No. 10 Radical SR3 RSX to the overall victory and the ESR class triumph.
The race was soggy for most of the event, with drivers battling the rain and muddy conditions around the facility. The race was sanctioned by the National Auto Sport Ass’n.
Second overall and in the ESR class went to K2R Motorsports drivers Gerhard Watzinger, George Kurtz, Colin Braun, Naveen Rao and Matt Bell in a Ligier LMP3. Third overall was another entry from the ESR class, the Praga Cars/Fellner Motorsports Praga R1 shared by Paul Blickman, Steven Ferrario, Jesse Grose and Tim Barber.
The E0 class belonged to MPACT Racing, who fielded a stock Ford Mustang from the Ford Performance Racing School. Dale Sievwright, Dan McKeever, Brian Smith and Ryan Roberson co-drove the car to a 19-lap margin of victory in the class.
Team FLIR Vision Racing’s Mitjet LV 02 was the winner in the E1 class, with John Hill, Spencer Trenery, Jim Froula and Mark Jaremko sharing the driving duties.
Technik Competition’s BMW 330 stood tall in the E2 class, though they had to come from behind after an on-track incident bent the rear end of the car. The car, shared by Peter Hopelain, Sean Neel, Matt Kehoe, Matt Million and Will Rodgers, moved into the class lead for the final time during the 25th and final hour of the race.
With only two cars competing in the E3 class, the Tazio Ottis Racing Honda Civic Hatchback shared by team owner Tazio Ottis, Dan Erickson, Taz Harvey and Jesse Prather took the class victory.
The A+ Young and the Restless team, led by high school automotive tech teacher and team owner Al Angulo, were the winners in the competitive ERS class. Luke Pfeiffer, Ismael Basso, Sean Lovett and Peter McIntosh II, all students, shared driving duties in the race-winning car.
The ES class was won by Valkyrie Autosport. The team campaigned a pair of cars in the class, but it was the Nissan GT-R shared by Brad Kellett, Tom Roberts, Ross Bentley and Steven Thomas that ended up claiming the victory.
Finally, in the GT Challenge class, Frasun Racing collected a $10,000 prize from Toyo Tires en route to the class victory. Mark Sundberg, Chris Hart, Jason Fraser and Jessie Jensen shared driving duties of the BMW M4 GT-4.