KONI Challenge at Laguna Seca

Finally! We didn’t have any event to promote our products last weekend.
So, I decided to drive up to Monterey to see KONI Challenge in the Festival of Speed at Mazda Speedway of Laguna Seca.
KONI Challenge is a semi-endurance touring car race series ran by Grand-Am Road Racing.
I love touring car race becuase it relate to our steet cars and our product R&D.
It looks similar with Super Taikyu Team 5ZIGEN races in Japan. To learn about the series, please visit http://www.grand-am.com/ & http://www.konisportscarchallenge.com/

Entering turn 4 after the start of GS class.
#59 Mustang got pole-to-win in this race.
There are two classes in KONI Challenge, GS = Grand Sports and ST Street Tuner.
I was wondering how competitive 5ZIGEN NSX among KONI Challenge cars...

This weekend is the 5th round of KONI Challenge. Compass 360 Racing's three Civics are ready to race. They did 1-2-3 finish in the last round. #74 car is the series leader until last race.

Motorsport Technology Group takes team picture during the pit-walk. Drivers are right Billy Johnson, left Peter Ludwig.

Drivers answer question from kids at pit walk before the race.

Battle in the "Corkscrew" One of fun thing of KONI series is variety of cars, main contenders in GS are Ford Mustang, Porsche 997 and BMW M3, ST-class has more cars - Honda Civic, BMW 328, VW GTi, Mazda MX-5, Subaru Legacy, Chevy Cobalt SS, etc.

At the top of the Corkscrew, battle between different classes Mustang vs MX-5, even smaller power ST cars can compete with GS cars in the technical section.

Top three battle of ST in the last 10 minutes was very thrilling. Final result was, #95 Turner Motorsport BMW 328i (Winner), Freedom Motorsport's MX-5s #145 (2nd) and #146 (3rd). It was very nice weekend for Mazda. RX-8 won Grand-Am ROLEX cup GT-class on Sunday. I wished I could stay one more day...

6-hour driving home Los Angeles was tough for around 40 guy, especially after staying under the sun.
I admire the race mechanics and transporter drivers.
All transporters of ROLEX Cup and KONI Challenge teams are racing to other side of coast now!!
Next Grand-Am race is already this weekend at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut.

The next big road racing event in California is American Le Man at Laguna Seca in October.
This seriese is very interesting race for JDM fans. Mazda and Acura are doing good job in proto type cars and Team FALKEN races in GT class with Porsche. I am already looking forward to coming back to Laguna Seca.