Nicolas Hammann knew that if he didn’t come home with a victory in Honda Challenge 2, he’d hear about it Monday morning from his coworkers at the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio.
“I’ve got all these guys that I’ve got to work with, managers and stuff, and I’m the kid, so I’ve got to at least represent,” Hammann said with a laugh. “It’s a true testament to what Honda products makes every day and they are amazing to drive on the racetrack.”
Hammann can walk into work holding the trophy above his head because he put on a clinic from qualifying to the Championships race. The young driver was quick to credit his team THR. The fastest lap Hammann turned all weekend came on lap 13 when he ran 1:38.690, besting second-place finisher Jeremy Lucas by 0.40 seconds.
Jeremy Lucas finished second, in a race beset with engine fires, meatball flags, spinning GTS cars on the front straight. Through it all, Lucas stayed glued to Brian Shanfeld, and one mistake was all it took for Lucas to pounce.
“Coming out of the Keyhole and Brian missed a shift, and that enabled us to get by, and then finally put a little bit of gap on him,” said Lucas who works at Honda R&D in Maryville, Ohio. “I’d say it was just nice to be out there with my co-workers. I work with Brian and Nick and Ben in the 16 Civic and it’s really good just to be out there as a group.”
No stranger to the podium at Championships events, Robert Paszkiewicz finished third in his right-hand drive Acura Integra.
