Twelve teams braved the heat to master Willow Springs’ nine turns. Two drivers new to Spec E30, Steve Agoston and Ryan Henderson, made their debut with the group. On track, Mihld claimed the first pole position of his career! Hauser and Buzzetti were right behind.
Mihld held the lead for the first three laps. Entering Turn 2 on the fourth lap, Stepanian dived deep on the outside of the turn, which set him up for the inside of Turn 3, where Stepanian passed Mihld. Hauser followed Stepanian through for the second spot. Mihld’s loss of momentum made him vulnerable for Buzzetti to squeak by in Turn 4, dropping Mihld from the lead to fourth place in two turns.
Two laps later, Buzzetti slid coming out of Turn 5 and Mihld was able to take advantage and repass Buzzetti going into Turn 7. Soon after, Stepanian ran out of track on the exit of Turn 9 and gave the lead to Hauser. Stepanian fell back to fourth behind Buzzetti. The next lap Buzzetti and Stepanian went off track, and Mitch Pepper took over the third.
Entering Turn 2, Mihld passed Hauser on the outside of Turn 2. At the end of that lap, Hauser battled back and took the inside line into Turn 1 from Mihld. They ran door to door into Turn 2 where Hauser was able to retake the lead.
Meanwhile Stepanian battled back from fifth place past Pepper and Buzzetti as he worked his way toward the front. The battle between Mihld and Hauser allowed Stepanian, Buzzetti and Pepper to rejoin the two lead cars. On lap 10, Stepanian passed Mihld for the second spot. It remained this way up front until the last lap. Hauser defended his position all the way to take the checkered flag.
Coming off the last corner, Mihld got a great run off of Turn 9 and passed Stepanian for second place just before start finish. It was truly one of the greatest races of the season!
The results from Saturday’s race created the grid for the first race on Sunday. Mihld jumped out to a lead and did not look back. Buzzetti maintained second place all race long. Starting from sixth, Clark worked his way up to the final podium position!
Race two featured an inverted start from the results of the first race. Javier got his first pole! This also was a short race, only 20 minutes long, so drivers would need to get it done in a hurry!
Pepper and Agoston battled all race long, swapping positions back and forth. Up front Buzzetti took point all race long until the last lap when Agoston drafted Buzzetti down the front straight and beat him at the line by a bumper for his first win in his first racing weekend! Buzzetti finished second and Pepper took the third!
