Round 9 and 10 Honda Challenge
The weekend started just like any other weekend. Saturday morning became a rush to get the new front splitter installed and getting the car ready. Nothing really heavy, just the typical small stuff to put on after transport, and small setup stuff to ensure the car is ok and ready. Saturday was pretty relax with lack of competitors. We used the day to get Hartanto re-acquainted with the car, the track, and to find a good setup for the car. The day progressed well with Hartanto finding good setup and improving his lap time every time he goes out. The new engine sounded healthy and seemed to perform well and provide ample of power.
Going into the weekend, Hartanto was confident that he would be able to pull a victory going wheel-to-wheel with Kraus. Kraus’ Prelude has a weight and power advantage over us, but Hartanto felt our car’s setup was more suited to the technical nature of Infineon, as opposed to the long straights of Thunderhill. Hartanto’s confidence on Saturday was reflected upon his qualifying result on Sunday. We were able to out-qualify Kraus by a little over 1 second to grab pole position for the race.
For the race, Honda Challenge was gridded behind USTCC, and the traffic from the standing start allowed Kraus you get by Hartanto a few turns into the first lap. Traffic between Kraus and Hartanto widened the gap between the two. By the time Hartanto was able to get past the slower cars, the gap was around 7 seconds. With a clear track in front of him, Hartanto was able to close the gap, gaining about 1 second per lap on Kraus.
That was, until the 6th lap. Hartanto was coming out of turn 8a (the esses) gaining on Kraus quick, when disaster struck. Something had broken on the car at that point, and Hartanto lost control of the car. Instead of turning in for turn 9, the car went straight off into the wall. I was all the way up at the top of the grandstands watching the race, and even I could hear the sound of the impact. Even now, I still can’t come up with the words to describe how I felt. Just describing the accident again is extremely difficult. You can see the video here.
Hartanto just walked away from the accident with bruises. Nothing can beat his “Oh well that’s racing” attitude, and determination to get the car fixed and back out there again. I always remembered he told me that the best racing driver crashed due to fault of his own or the car. It is just part of the game. As of right now, the car is at RedZone Performance getting repairs done, and hopefully we’ll have it up and running for Thunderhill in August and Nationals in September!
