We are in Southern California for another round of Honda Challenge.  This time we’re at Willow Springs.  This is a really fast track  where some people describe it as what separates the Men from the Boys.  Not very technical, but requires a lot of confidence and bravery.

This weekend, Andrie Hartanto has the full driving duty.  The first practice is used by Andrie to get familiar with the track.  The last time Andrie drove this track was in 2003. This is definitely one of the tracks that Andrie drives at the least (2011 being the 3rd time ever).

Andrie was able to grab the pole position, despite not yet being fully comfortable.  He was still building his confidence gradually.

The race was pretty uneventful as Andrie lead from flag to flag to capture the first win of the season for Andrie, and a second win for the Prima Racing team.

Sunday is much more exciting.  As he grew more confident, Andrie is able to cut his time by one second under his personal best the previous day.  Things are looking up and we’re optimistic that we will be going faster on Qualifying since Andrie felt he still left a lot of time on the table.

Qualifying came, but immediately Andrie reported he couldn’t find 6^th gear most of the time.  It really ruined the rhythm and this resulted in slow lap times.  After a few laps, Andrie tried his best.  But being a very fast track, Andrie is in distinct disadvantage by not running 6^th gear.  Still, Andrie was able to narrowly grab the pole position.

The race is much more exciting.  As first we were told the grid was inverted, and the H1 class will be starting behind H2.  This means we will have to work through traffic.  The start was pretty chaotic as it involves faster cars starting behind slower cars.  Two laps in, we were greeted by a surprised on turn 8.  Someone had dropped oil and most of us didn’t see it.  Andrie reported he saw Benny who was right in front of Andrie lost it, followed by Andrie and couple more cars behind.  In total, we saw 6 cars go off because of the oil.  It was a really scary off, as it happened at the fastest section of the track and cars were travelling in excess of 120 mph.  Andrie was slow getting back to the track since his engine died.  He rejoined dead last, but was able to work himself up and capture another win.

Next up we will be back in Northern California, at the beautiful Infineon Raceway.

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