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USTCC GT Class: Shootout at Laguna Seca

Make no mistake about it, the 2014 USTCC GT season for Prima Racing has been quite the challenge. While the team has enjoyed its fair share of pole positions and even a surprise win during the endurance race, the recurring theme has been that Prima Racing has been considered an outside contender, which is to be expected when bringing a naturally-aspirated, four cylinder Honda S2000 to a true GT class series.

In other words, all season long Prima Racing and Andrie Hartanto had been bringing a knife to a gunfight. Thanks to longtime partners CT Engineering and Blacktrax and a few long nights put in by the Prima Racing crew and TwinCam Motorsports, Hartanto not only felt confident enough to enter the shootout head-on, but to boldly proclaim to the rest of the USTCC GT field, “I’m your huckleberry.”

The addition of CT Engineering’s supercharger and some expert tuning at Blacktrax Performance allowed Prima Racing to finally have the sorely-desired horsepower and torque package in order to have a chance at going toe-to-toe with the other GT class competitors.

As Hartanto put it, “this removes all the “if’s” that we always have to put into the equation when we think about winning scenarios for this series. So far, if you take out our crash in the first race, we’ve had some pretty good luck in the SCCA STU class,” Hartanto explained. “But, if you look at how we have approached our races with USTCC GT, it was always “if” we run the perfect race, “if” the other guys screw up the standing start, “if” we’re still in the running to capitalize on major mistakes, “if” other cars break down. Even when we earned the pole position, we knew that the chances of us holding off the entire field of cars would be pretty slim. Especially when you consider that all of them have a substantial horsepower advantage. We knew we were fast, but to stand a chance at winning we always had to be perfect and it was obvious that fending off the field during the standing start was not a big strength for us.”

The team was once again at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, carried the momentum of the previous race weekend’s record-breaking SCCA STU record-breaking time of 1:37.811; shattering the previous record of 1:40.245.  The team was anxious and excited with the prospect of the added power and torque but still had some reservations. After all, first was the problem of cooling that they experienced with their short-lived turbocharging experiment in Las Vegas. Secondly, there was the concern that the stock brake calipers and rotors would not withstand the added speed and heavier braking. When Hartanto clocked in a blazing fast lap of 1:35.001; two seconds faster than the closest competitor and a dramatic contrast to any other qualifying session in the USTCC GT class to date, most of the team’s fears were alleviated.

Hartanto and the team felt rather confident in their preliminary success, especially after passing USTCC’s post-session technical inspection. “CT Engineering has an outstanding product in their supercharger. Incredibly smooth power and everything felt great. Cooling isn’t a concern at all and I can definitely tell the brakes are working really hard, but we’ll be able to manage. We’re very happy so far,” Hartanto commented after the wildly successful qualifying session.

Following qualifying was an afternoon practice session that mimicked race settings, which Prima Racing and Hartanto led at the front of the grid. It wasn’t long after the start until Prima Racing’s S2000 was nowhere to be seen on track, prompting concerns. Hartanto radioed into Crew Chief, Wayne Sausa that he had no shifter.

“Waynie, shifter broke, I repeat, shifter broke,” Hartanto called in.

“Can you tell what might have broke on the transmission?” Sausa replied.

“Yes. I can. It’s the shifter,” Hartanto reported.

“So is it stuck in gear?”

“No…sorry Waynie, I lied. I do have the shifter. The problem is that the transmission doesn’t. It broke off in my hand…so I’m coming in now,” Hartanto clarified as he signaled that he was leaving the track to come back to the team’s trailer.

Following the unfortunate events, the team then packed up for the day. Hartanto took the broken shift lever to be repaired all the way back up to Concord, catching a ride with friends who offered to take him back to TwinCam Motorsports. Crew members Wayne Sausa and Bao Vu stayed behind at the track to finish up the S2000’s adjustments and preparations for Sunday’s race, then drove up in Vu’s car to assist Hartanto at TwinCam.

Hartanto found a sleeve amongst TwinCam’s fabrication supplies and welded it to the broken shift lever, serving as both a reinforcement and as an attachment to the Quaife sequential transmission. Unfortunately, as the team would later discover, this inventive quick fix would also have the consequence of eliminating the lockout mechanism of the reverse gear. While not catastrophic, it is a nuisance.

Bao and Waynie arrived at TwinCam and the team made the two-plus hour trek back down to the track from the shop. Unfortunately, the broken shift lever wasn’t the only complication that the team would experience. A little over an hour into their drive back down, the alternator on Bao’s E36 BMW M3 failed, leaving the team stranded on the side of Route 101. After a quick call to AAA, the team piled into the rescuing wrecker and they completed their trip back down to the track, albeit in rather delayed fashion. Fortunately for Bao and the team, the weekend’s list of E36 M3 competitors was quite long, so acquiring a replacement was a relatively easy task.

Race day brought with it yet another qualifying session before the race.  Again, the team demonstrated its newfound power, although with temperatures heating up, they weren’t able to improve on their time as they recorded a 1:35.390 fastest lap.

The gap between Prima Racing and its closest competitor, Daniel Akhrometsev and Red Star Racing’s E36 BMW M3 was just barely under two seconds behind, with Life’s Good Racing and Dave Brown’s monster Camaro less than half a second further back. While BTM Motorwerks and Dave McClure’s ex-Porsche GT3 Cup car had been experiencing misfire issues, they were still considered a major threat as well.

“The biggest concern for me is that we stay in front at the start,” Hartanto explained. “Yes, we have a lot more power now, but all of these cars would probably still walk all over us in a drag race, so we have to get a great start and defend. In practice we tried getting behind a few of the guys to see where overtaking opportunities might exist because there is a legitimate concern that we’ll still get passed on the start. The truth is that we’ve discovered that it’s still going to be very tricky to pass any of them, so we can’t mess up the start.”

When the green flag dropped, Hartanto nailed a solid start, narrowly protecting his lead. Akhrometsev and Red Star Racing were overtaken by the incredibly fast Camaro, which nearly had caught up to Prima Racing’s S2000 and forced Hartanto to drive flat-out from the very start of the race in order to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field. Following Brown was the E46 BMW M3 of the World Motors Racing driven by Tyler Thompson.

Hartanto maintained consistency and speed as he opened up a manageable gap. The race however was not firmly in hand as there was a still concern for Prima Racing as Akhrometsev, who had passed Thompson’s M3 and Brown’s Camaro, was showing no signs of backing off of his charge to the front.

Crew Chief, Waynie Sausa relayed the news to Hartanto. Never one to be deterred, Hartanto responded by increasing his pace even further. In spite of Sunday’s notably hotter track temperatures which generally result in slower lap times, Hartanto still managed to increase his pace, rattling off a series of extremely quick 1:34 and low 1:35 laps around the track. The team’s fastest lap of the race was also the fastest of the weekend at 1:34.75

Hartanto never let off and maintained his increased pace, carrying Prima Racing to their second USTCC GT Class victory of the season.

“We finally were able to bring a gun to the shootout!” Hartanto exclaimed after the race. “Everything worked really well for us. I know we looked much stronger out there this weekend, but this wouldn’t have been possible without a lot of hard work by everyone not only at the track, but at the shop, too,” Hartanto commented.

“Everyone did a terrific job and I’m really proud of what we were able to accomplish this weekend. A big thanks to CT Engineering and to Blacktrax Performance as they really made a difference for us this time around. That supercharger was just what we needed. Not a bad performance considering we did zero testing! I think that goes to show how simple and reliable CT Engineering’s supercharger package is. That helped get us to the front the grid and then to stay there even after the green flag dropped! I can’t thank everyone enough and I can’t wait to bring the fight to the next event!”

Championship points – With a major first place finish, Hartanto and Prima Racing vaults itself back into Second Place in the USTCC GT Class Championship.

Next Up – The Prima Racing team changes gears once again as it prepares for a SCCA Double Major event next weekend, over the 4th of July weekend, July 5-6 at Sonoma Raceway.  The team will look to improve upon its track record-breaking SCCA Double Regional sweep at Laguna Seca.

Sponsors – Prima Racing’s 2014 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.

We can always use more sponsors/partners with similar goals.  To be a part of winning team or general inquiries, please email us here: primaracing@gmail.com

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