Qualifying saw Cooper's MazdaSpeed 3 on Pole followed by both Compass 360 Hondas. Car 33 struggled throughout practice sessions with some residual fallout from the heavy crash it sustained late in the race at Laguna. Coupled with a qualifying session that was cut short by a red flag, Car 33 qualified P10. Car 43 was on pace straight off the hauler and qualified P5.
At the start of race one, Tristan Herbert in car 33 went to work on the field from the back of the grid, while Jeff Altenburg in car 43 dove in to challenge the leaders. Running a patient race, Altenburg was able to keep the GLI in the right place to take advantage of errors by both Hondas. As the white flag came out, he made a brilliant pass on the pole sitter and over took the MazdaSpeed 3 for the lead and the win.
Race one in the books, Herbert's Car 33 managed a 6th place finish and Altenburg's Car 43 won first place and captured the pole for Race 2 by having set the fastest lap of the race.
Race one and two were back to back heats separated by a 15 minute pit stop.
The second race kicked off with the same intensity found in the first. Car 43 was locked in heavy combat at the front of the pack while car 33 worked the field on its move to the front. Before lap two concluded, contact amongst the leaders retired car 43 with a broken wheel, driveshaft and control arm. Car 33 took over third place after the crash, only to be retired by a fuel delivery issue.
Sadly, Sunday's race was cut short before it began when both HPA cars were withdrawn from competition due to technical difficulties. The HPA Goldin team is looking forward to ramping up the cars to bring them back in peak condition for the next event.
HPA Motorsports' full line of 2.0 TSi tuning solutions as featured in the World Challenge race series is now available through HPA dealers worldwide. Please visit HPA's website and Facebook for more details.
Dealer inquires welcome.
