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Prima Racing Claims its First SCCA National Championship!

At last year’s season-end party, Prima Racing team principal and driver, Andrie Hartanto announced a bold target for the team’s 2014 season; the STU Class SCCA National Championship. While the team had competed with SCCA Pro Racing at a few local World Challenge races in previous years, this was a new series, new class and a new level of competition for a dedicated, season-long campaign. Hartanto was confident that the team could do well, despite the fact that the team would have a long road ahead in order to qualify for the Runoffs.

The team made the necessary changes to their Honda S2000 to comply and take full advantage of the STU Class rules and it appeared that the team might a serious contender on their hands. The first weekend at Thunderhill spelled disaster however, as Hartanto and Prima Racing suffered a serious wreck in the weekend’s second race.

Undeterred, the team worked furiously in order to suffer minimal impact from downtime. The long hours and hard work paid off, as the car was rebuilt in less than three weeks. From there, Hartanto and the Prima Racing team went on a relentless winning streak as they did everything possible to make up for lost time and points. After the single second place finish at Thunderhill, prior to his wreck, Hartanto and the Prima Racing team then went on to win all of their other SCCA races, sweeping the two races at their return to Thunderhill, sweeping again at Laguna Seca and closing out their Runoffs qualifying by sweeping again at Sonoma.

Leading into the Runoffs however, the team encountered yet another series of setbacks. First, a front-left knuckle failure resulted in a crash during testing at Sonoma. After quickly rebuilding the front left suspension assembly and replacing the fender, Hartanto noticed a serious level of understeer during another testing day, which resulted in a rebuild of the car’s differential. By the time the Runoffs had arrived, the team was faced with a few uncertainties, despite benefitting from a considerable amount of track time at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Qualifying for the National Championship race would take place over three days, with one twenty minute session each day. The team elected to equip their Honda S2000 with Hoosier’s new tire, the R7 for qualifying. Hartanto and the team started off qualifying on Tuesday with resounding confidence.

The first day of a qualifying did not go as well as anticipated. Hartanto found himself behind Rylan Hazelton, in Driving Ambition’s Honda S2000 by 0.302 seconds. Worse yet, the right rear of Hartanto’s made contact with an out-of-class car, fueling more concerns for the team as to whether their Honda S2000’s balance had been affected.

On Wednesday’s qualifying, things only got worse. The gap between Hazelton and Hartanto grew to nearly a full second at 0.817 seconds. Hazelton had put in a 1:38.134 lap time, while Hartanto could only manage a 1:38.951. For a driver who typically prefers a setup on the loose side, it was unusual for Hartanto to lament the loose nature of his S2000. The challenge that awaited the team was finding a way to diagnose the culprit behind the noticeable gap in qualifying times. After all, the team had rebuilt the differential, switched to new tires and suffered an impact to the rear. Determining what had remained constant was just as important as determining if anything had changed.

Hartanto made a call to team member Michael Ostby on Wednesday afternoon to drive to Prima Racing’s headquarters in order to pick up the necessary alignment equipment and deliver them to the track a few hours away. Later that evening Ostby arrived to the track along with crew member James Tam to join Hartanto and Wayne Sausa. Unfortunately due to the record number of entries for the Runoffs, Prima Racing was set up on a dirt patch, in between the outside of  Turn Two and outside of Turn 5. This required the team to seek out firmer ground in order to check the S2000’s alignment.

After leveling the equipment and multiple rounds of checking, it was confirmed that the car’s alignment needed only minor adjustments. The next variable to examine was the tires. The team had used the Hoosier R7 compound during both Tuesday and Wednesday’s qualifying sessions. It was also confirmed that Hazelton’s Driving Ambition S2000 was running on the Hoosier A7 compound, which Prima Racing had run previously and Hartanto had a substantial amount of track time with.

The final qualifying session came early in the morning on Thursday. With the alignment now set, the only variable available to test before the race were the tires. The team examined the car prior to the last session, hoping that the changes would bring a more balanced level of competition.

Early on in qualifying Driving Ambition’s Hazelton clocked the quickest time of STU qualifying overall with a 1:37.979. There was a brief moment of despair among the team, however Hartanto remarked over the radio that the car already felt much better. Two laps later, Hartanto shattered all expectations by running a 1:36.843. The astounding time was 1.136 seconds faster than Hazelton and Driving Ambition’s fastest lap. The stunning surprise performance vaulted Prima Racing and Hartanto decisively up to the Tire Rack Pole Position for the championship race.

“Oh man, that was such a relief!” Hartanto belted out after climbing out of the car. “We have more time in the car, a 1:36.3 is totally possible and if I had one more day to test, I know I could get it down to 1:35 with a few minor changes.”

When asked about whether the team would elect to make any further changes to the car following qualifying, Hartanto responded, “No. I don’t think so. At this point I think we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. If I had one more qualifying session then yes, but I don’t want to risk anything with somuch on the line.”

For the rest of the day, Hartanto and the rest of the team were all smiles. However they knew that while their prospects had taken a pivotal turn for the better, the S2000 of Driving Ambition was noticeably lighter and potentially boasted more power as well. Such a combination would make Rylan Hazelton a serious threat at the start of the race and if he were to assume the lead, it would be extremely difficult to pass.

The next day, the team had to wait out nearly the entire day, as the STU class race was the last race of the day and was the only split race which combined both the STU class and the T3 class. Hartanto woke up in the morning, already speaking of nerves and butterflies due to the momentous race at hand. Outwardly though, he showed no signs of stress.

Late in the afternoon the team took their S2000 to the grid, ready for the battle that was about to unfold.

The start of the race certainly didn’t disappoint from a spectator’s point of view as Hartanto held the inside line down into the tricky Andretti Hairpin of Turn Two. Hazelton’s S2000 boasted a strong start, jumping ahead of Hartanto, but was forced to work the hard way around the outside of Hartanto. Hartanto pushed to maintain his line as the two S2000s approached Turn Three. Hartanto used the nature of the track to his advantage, holding Hazelton to the outside until he ran out of space and was forced to drop behind Hartanto into Turn Three.

From there, Hartanto pushed aggressively, stretching his lead on Hazelton before a major accident in the T3 class race forced a full-course caution. The caution brought the pace car back onto the track and bunched Hazelton and Hartanto back together, thus eliminating Hartanto’s early lead.

Driving Ambition’s Hazelton used the restart to his full advantage as he got the green flag jump on Prima Racing’s Hartanto and subsequently made a gutsy move down the inside, darting alongside Hartanto into the pit lane exit.

Hartanto gave Hazelton just enough room to head into Turn Two, but refused to give in. Heading perilously close, side by side on inside of the track and incredibly deep into the Andretti Hairpin, Hartanto waited until the last split second to brake, but then waited even later, hoping that Hazelton would out-brake himself and be forced to run wide. The move would likely decide the fate of either driver’s race.

In order to stay ahead, Hazelton was forced to brake too late in order to properly apex Turn Two. Hazelton’s S2000 broke loose and ran wide to the outside of the corner’s exit. Hartanto rode out the turn, ducked in front of his competitor’s flailing S2000 and seized a decisive lead.

Hazelton dropped back to third place, having been overtaken by the Cobalt SS of Carl Young. While Hazelton would fight to resume second place, Hatanto and Prima Racing’s lead was already too great.

With steady guidance and time gap management from Crew Chief, Wayne Sausa, Hartanto calmly maintained his lead, thereby winning his first SCCA National Championship.

Back in the pits, Hartanto and the team celebrated in championship fashion.

On the podium, Hartanto thanked everyone that he could remember in a moving speech in which he was overwhelmed with the excitement of the moment.

Following the podium ceremony, a serious dousing of champagne ensued before Hartanto and the other podium finishers were whisked away to the media center for post-race interviews.

After the interviews, the team got to work on preparing the car for the SCCA post-race inspection and following a clean bill of health (and legality), the team was officially awarded the win.

“I’m still on a complete high from this whole week. We started off the first two days feeling really discouraged. Rylan and Driving Ambition make for terrific competitors and they definitely had the pace early in the week. From the beginning of the season, we knew that they would be extremely tough competition. Until Thursday, we were struggling to keep up. Doing the alignment check late Wednesday night really helped give us a small degree of reassurance and the tires made the rest of the difference,” Hartanto explained.

“I’ve never gotten that nervous the day of a race. It must have been because there was so much on the line for us. I really wanted to deliver a victory for the team, for our sponsors and supporters and also for our fans. It meant so much to me to be able to fight for this championship. Ironically, once I got onto the grid, I felt no nerves at all and was determined to win. Once I was able to stretch the lead I was so tempted to try and break my record lap time. It was incredibly tempting, but I had to keep telling myself that if I were to make a mistake, it could be the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done, so I played it safe and brought the car home,” Hartanto remarked.

“People are already challenging us to defend our championship next year in Daytona. Everyone knows that I’m always up for a good fight, but for now I’m just looking to enjoy this huge victory for us. I am so thankful for everyone who have helped me to get here this year. It’s been such an amazing season, even with all of the challenges we’ve encountered. A great feeling comes with every win, but with this one, after setting our sights on it since last year, especially with all the work, I can’t describe how proud I am to deliver such a big result for everyone,” Hartanto exclaimed while never ceasing to smile.

Race Replay – Watch the SCCA STU race replay here! 2014 SCCA Runoffs STU Race

In-car Video – Watch the Record Breaking Lap during Qualifying SCCA STU here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEA4ItLkRiE&list=UUDndLnvyHdo0cAzadZVwKcA

We are working on the race video. To ensure you don’t miss any of our exiting videos, you can also subscribe here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AndriePrimaRacing

Sponsors – Prima Racing’s 2014 Championship-winning season is brought to you by CT EngineeringSupertech PerformanceWicked TuningRota WheelsCarbotech BrakesHondataStitch Tech DesignsDrastikk IndustriesIgnited Soul ApparelSpeed SFBlacktrax PerformanceExedy ClutchAPR Performance, Twincam Motorsports, Penske Racing Shocks, and QuickJack.