25 Hours of Thunderhill - Hour 6 report

 WILLOWS, Calif. (Dec. 6, 2014) - The 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Brakes and sanctioned by the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) is six hours in as darkness falls on Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, Calif.  

From the drop of the green the No. 17 Davidson Racing Norma driven by Brian Frisselle led the 54 car field. The Norma was followed closely by the No. 52 JFC Racing Wolf started by IndyCar star Al Unser Jr. In third was the second Davidson Racing entry the Eagle, which had to work its way through the field after starting from pit lane. Through a series of issues each of the early leaders over the first six hours faltered and fell back in the field.

The Davidson Racing team has been able to soldier through some yellow flag penalties to retain the lead at the six hour mark. In second overall is the No. 84 One Motorsport/Crowd Strike Radical and third is the ES Class Award Motorsport Porsche. 

ESR - overall leader

"The lead is going back and forth," Brian Frisselle, Davidson Racing driver, said. "We have had some penalties with issues under yellow flags, so we have to clean that up. That is what cost us the lead. Hopefully we can keep the lead. No issues with the Davidson Racing Norma. My opening stint was drama free. We just need to continue to be careful in traffic and pound out laps."

ES

No. 00 Award Motorsport/Ehret Family Winery Porsche leads the ES Class and is third overall. "The 00 Porsche is a great car so far," Tom Hacker said. "The car is set-up and is really fast. The paddle shifters are working great and it is fun to drive. We had a slight issue with a Mazda, I banged him in the rear, no real damage. The guys driving with me have the strategy, I just get in and drive."

E0

In the E0 Class the No. 31 BMW of Hankook Tires/El Diablo Motorsport led the class. "My stint went pretty well," Lance Boicelli, driver, said. "I had to start pretty far down the grid as we didn't qualify that great. I knew I had to make up a lot of ground. I just went out and put in some pretty fast laps. I was able to get to the lead within about 20 laps and opened up a little gap. We are working on the rest of our strategy now."

E1

The No. 14 BMW of Technic Motorsport is leading E1. "I started the race," Peter Hopelain, driver, said.  "This is my tenth 25 Hours. I've never started and I've never finished the race, so this is something new for me. We started sixth in class. For the first part of the stint it was back and forth with the Mazda guys and then I got into a battle with another BMW. We exchanged the lead four or five times. It was great."

E2

Team RDR and their Mazda RX-8 lead the E2 Class. "Car No. 34, the green Kermit car, is running great," Jim Holloway, driver, said. "The car is handling well. We are having some fuel starvation issues that we are handling by switching fuel pumps, so we are good. I had a few close calls during my stint, but everyone is being pretty courteous."

E3

The No. 23 RJ Racing Miata is heading the E3 Class. "I would like to say it was my best stint ever at Thunderhill, but we will have to see if the data backs that up," Roger Eagleton, driver, said. "I was able to pass a lot of cars out there during my run. The RJ Racing Miata is hooked up. The car is awesome. We need to keep our head down, keep the car clean and be there at the end."

Live timing for the 11 a.m. PT start can be viewed at http://www.nasa25hour.com/live-timing/  Commentary from Endurance Radio can be heard at http://www.endurance-radio.com/

NASA