The 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance started Saturday under a light rain as the teams settled in for a long day and an even longer night of racing.
ESR cars Crowdstrike by Riley and Stratus Racing 59 started on the front row after Friday evening’s qualifying session. About 30 teams crossed the starting line when the green flag dropped at 11 a.m. The endurance race will run until noon Sunday.
Eddie Nakato, team principal for Three Thieves Racing, has been watching the radar like the other teams and planning for various weather contingencies, including potential small hail.
“We’re starting off on wets and we’re hoping that it continues this way, but we’re prepared,” Nakato said. “We’ve got intermediates, we’ve got dries. This is going to be a long race and we’re primarily worried about mud like we had a few years ago, so that’s the biggest question mark right now.”
A light mist started about two hours before the endurance race, leaving the Thunderhill Raceway track in Willows, Calif., wet but with no standing water. A mix of teams opted to run rain tires, while other teams had the tires at the ready if the rain got heavier.
The starting grid order for the 2022 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance:
Row 1: Crowdstrike by Riley (ESR); Stratus Racing 59 (ESR)
Row 2: TVI Racing (ESR); Kleen Blast/Davids Race Productions (GT)
Row 3: Stratus Racing (ESR); Three Thieves Racing (ES)
Row 4: Trackspec Autosports/Yokohama (E1); Palomar Racing Thunder (E2)
Row 5: MooreWood Creative White Car 2 (E2); MooreWood Creative/Bay City Electric (E2)
Row 6: Palomar Racing Thunder (E2); Ageless Bio Racing (ENP)
Row 7: Legacy Motorworks (E2); Funduro Racing (E1)
Row 8: Honda Racing THRW1 (E1); Honda Racing THRW2 (E1)
Row 9: MF Racing (E2); Dig Motorsports (E0)
Row 10: Misfits Racing (E3); Lesher Motorsports (E3)
Row 11: Lesher Motorsports (E3); Entropy Racing EVSR (EM)
Row 12: Bah Bah Blacksheep (E3); Hugo Parker/LLP- Racing (E2)
Row 13: Belladonna Racing (E3); Modified Racing (GT)
Row 14: TVI Racing (ESR); Tazio Ottis Racing (E0)
Row 15: Heyer Performance (E3)
To follow the event live, visit the 25 Hours of Thunderhill page on Race Hero.
