Summit Point, WV Apr. 1

The Flatoutracing/iCarp Team sponsored by Hankook Tires and Guident Technologies took home the win for the season opening East Coast Honda Challenge round and finished third in the second round. Held at Summit Point Raceway’s challenging Shenandoah circuit, Andrew Zimmermann opened the NASA Honda Challenge season in strong fashion.

The weekend started off with the possibility of wet conditions but better weather prevailed. Zimmermann, running on a set of new Hankook tires with a new compound, destroyed the old H4 track record with a blistering lap of 1:43.498, nearly two seconds faster than the previous years record of 1:45.61. Lining up second on the grid for H4, was rookie driver Ryan Jenkins in another H4 Integra LS less than half a second behind. Third on the grid was the H4 Honda Prelude of Trevor Millville.

Unlike previous Honda Challenge races, which normally emulate Speed World Challenge with standing starts, this race started with a rolling start and Melville made a great start to pass both Jenkins and Zimmermann for the early lead. However both Jenkins and Zimmermann would eventually pass Melville for the lead with Zimmerman out in first place. Both Zimmermann and Jenkins then caught the Nissan SE-R Cup car of Stephen Harper and the three ran nose to tail until both Integra’s proved to fast and got by Harper.

During the battle, many of the faster H1 cars encountered problems, either spinning off track or having terminal mechanical failures. Then with a few laps to go Jenkins spun off the track on the back straight allowing Zimmermann a clean run to the season’s first HC victory. Zimmerman took the H4 win and also won overall in HC beating the much faster H1 class cars.

Sunday’s race would prove less successful when Zimmermann ran out of fuel and wasn’t able to finish a hot lap. Meanwhile, rookie Jenkins lowered the H4 track record by another full second with a 1:42.586. Jenkins got a good start and opened up a lead but Zimmermann worked his way through the field to catch up with Jenkins. The two battled for the ensuing laps and Zimmermann attempted a risky pass on the top line of the carousel section but Jenkins held the bottom line and forced Zimmermann to concede the position. This slowed Zimmermann down and lost him three car lengths. Two laps later Zimmermann was back on Jenkins’ bumper when disaster struck. Zimmermann’s car started developing a hesitation, which forced him to give up the race. Zimmermann ended up nursing an ailing car to a third place finish.

Flatoutracing/iCarp wished to thank Hankook Tires, Guident Technologies and Davis Acura.