- Ryan Eversley, Todd Lamb and Greg Strelzoff score second place in caution- marred season opener
- 16-year-old Noaker stars with pole position before the #84 suffers mid-race contact
Atlanta Speedwerks kicked off the 2021 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season with a qualifying pole and podium finish for their Honda Civic Type R TCRs in Friday’s four-hour race at Daytona International Speedway.
Just 16 years old, Robert Noaker scored pole position for Friday's event in the #84 Civic Type R TCR, but it was the sister #94 car out of the Atlanta Speedwerks stable that crossed the line second and took home the hardware for the team. Driven by team owner Todd Lamb alongside Ryan Eversley and Greg Strelzoff, the #94 started the race in 12th place, working their way through the field, and utilizing a well-timed splash of fuel with just over an hour to go to secure their podium finish.
Though they started on pole position and led for much of the early part of the race, the #84 of Noaker and Brian Henderson did not share its sister car's luck, getting taken out with just over an hour left to run in a multi-car incident, resulting in the sixth of seven yellows during the four- hour event. The #73 LA Honda World entry of Mike LaMarra and Mat and the new-to-IMSA #88 Civic Type R TCR from VGMC Racing of Victor Gonzalez and Ruben Iglesias both exited the race early with mechanical issues.
IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Daytona Race Results
- 2nd TCR - #94 Todd Lamb, Ryan Eversley and Greg Strelzoff, Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R TCR [led race-high 60 of 104 laps]
- 11th TCR - #84 Robert Noaker and Brian Henderson, Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R TCR
- 15th TCR - #88 Victor Gonzalez and Ruben Iglesias, VGMC Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR
- 16th TCR - #73 Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra, LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR
Quotes
Ryan Eversley (#94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R TCR) finished second: "We had a really great Roar [pre-race test], the car was really fast every session. I was proud of how fast I got up to speed, and how fast Greg [Strelzoff, co-driver] got up to speed. The Atlanta Speedwerks guys were fast all last year, I saw that when I raced against them [in previous seasons]. They were always tough to beat. So I knew when I got to join them that we would have fast cars. We proved that here by having one of the fastest Hondas. We just lost the win at the end, but [due to the late caution] I don't think we got beat by anything in our control. We did the best job we could, and I'm proud of everybody on this team. We'll go to [the next race at] Sebring and try to win!"
Todd Lamb (#94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished second: "We're extremely happy to be running two Hondas this year, full time, it's a big step up for the team. We couldn't do this without the support of HPD, Sabelt, Lemons of Love and all of our other supporters that have been there for us. I'm really proud of everybody on the team. We thrashed and thrashed and thrashed in that very short off season and the guys did a great job
prepping the cars. We're looking for big things this year. Very excited to get this season going."
Greg Strelzoff (#94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished second: "Not only first race of the year, it's my first professional race in five and a half years, coming out of retirement. I was able to work with a great team in Atlanta Speedwerks. They were able to get me up to speed quickly, even faster than I thought I could. At the start of the race I was able to make a lot of moves, the equipment really worked well, the team really worked, the strategy was really well called and I felt super comfortable in the car. I love racing the Honda Civic, it was a great car to drive."
Next
The Michelin Pilot Challenge travels to Sebring International Raceway, in central Florida, March 17-19 for the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. The race can be streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.
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
Honda Racing social media content and videos from Daytona International Speedway are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD). Produced by CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.
# # #
