Podium Finish For Honda At Road Atlanta

September 8, 2020 by Honda

• Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra score third place finish in VP Fuels Stay Frosty 240

•Taylor Hagler and Ryan Eversley run fourth in best LA Honda World result of 2020

It was a pair of top-four finishes for the LA Honda World in the 2020 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge VP Fuels Stay Frosty 240 on Sunday at Michelin Raceway Road Atanta, with the #73 Honda Civic Type R TCR of Mike LaMarra and Mat Pombo finishing third and the #77 of Ryan Eversley and Taylor Hagler taking the checkers in fourth.

It was a race of attrition during the four-hour event, with many competitors struggling with reliability, penalties and on-track incidents. However, for the LA Honda World team, the enduro proceeded with minimal issues and the team was rewarded with their first podium finish of the season thanks to LaMarra and Pombo.

Starting eighth on the grid in the hands of LaMarra, the #73 ran an incident-free race, swapping positions with the #5, #21 and #23 cars throughout the first half of the event. Using less fuel than his competitors, LaMarra was able to leverage the strategy to move to the front of the field, spending most of the first two hours in the top five and leading at halfway before handing over to Pombo.

Georgia-native Pombo took over the #73 with one hour and 58 minutes remaining. Resuming fifth after his pit stop, Pombo worked his way through the field to second. Pitting under a yellow with 61 minutes remaining, Pombo would have to stretch the Honda Civic Type R TCR's fuel mileage in order to stay in the podium fight. After four hours of hard-fought racing, he crossed the line in third position for the #73 team.

Pombo and LaMarra's teammates, the #77 Honda Civic Type R TCR of Eversley and Hagler started the race in the ninth position. Hagler made moves during the early part of the race, climbing to fifth in the opening laps before settling back into eighth during the first of three caution flags during the race.

In her second stint, Hagler also managed to stay out longer than the competition, and got the #77 up to second place behind teammate LaMarra before pitting and changing over to another Georgia-native, Eversley, who resumed the race in sixth place.

Despite a quick, unscheduled pit stop with just over 90 minutes to go, Eversley maintained track position and did not lose position, exiting the pits in fourth place. Much like his teammates, Eversley also had to save fuel in the final stint to complete the final 61 minutes of the race and finishing fourth place.

HPD has three ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, and culminates with the no-compromise, championship-winning Civic Type R TCR race car. Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring

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Next

The MICHELIN Pilot Challenge travels to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course September 25-27 for two races during Acura Sports Car Challenge At Mid-Ohio weekend. The race can be streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Quotes

Mike LaMarra (#73 LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR) finished third: The racing was kinda tight at the beginning. I was trying to bide my time, but the LAP Honda World Civic was handling great, I really enjoy driving this Type R TCR, it's really fantastic. We were able to battle early, so that was good, and maintained our position. Our fuel mileage was great, and enabled us to pit from first place at the end of each stint. That set us up for a great pit stop and driver change. Mat Pombo had a great drive, and the team did a great job. I think we did the best we could today.'

Mat Pombo (#73 LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished third: 'Honestly, we had a good strategy. Mike LaMarra drove a great first stint, keeping the car in the top five for most of his run, then pitting from the lead. We had to fuel save at the end, but we got the final step on the podium, and I'll take it. Thanks to HPD, Honda, LA Honda World and LAP Motorsports, I can't thank these guys enough. Gotta thank everyone in Atlanta, too. This is my home town, and my home track and I'm always happy to be on the podium here.'

MICHELIN Pilot Challenge VP Fuels StayFrosty 240

Circuit: Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA

Weather: Hot and sunny, 83 degrees F

Photo credit: Honda
posted on conceptcarz.com