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| Within the first three laps, Michele's car began to smoke. The team brought it in and tried to diagnose the trouble again. She would go out and take only 2 full laps as she was black flagged twice and that would end her day. It turned out the smoke was not engine trouble but a loose valve cover letting oil get onto the exhaust and possibly on the track. |
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| Edik continued to drive as hard as he could. If he was going to win, he was going to win with distance between himself and Steve Rockwood. While Edo couldn't go to full redline because of the noise issue, he was still pulling away with every lap. He pulled a best time of 1:55.576 on Lap 9. Rockwood would only be able to do a 1:56.727, forever on a road course. Rockwood did that on Lap 2. |
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| Project G20 wasn't without issues for Race 2, though. That alternator issue came up again and it would only run on battery power for the rest of the race. Steve would complete 10 of the 13 laps Group C would run on Sunday. |
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| This gives the provisional win to Edik Stepanyan! At the end of the 24 minute race, Edik finished in 3rd overall in Group C. |
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| He was only a lap behind the faster 1992 BMW 325is of Andrew Morton and Overall winner Tony Colicchio in his 1996 BMW M3. Colicchio's best time for the race was a 1:47.062 on Lap 11. Edik's time was 8.514 seconds slower to Colicchio and 5.366 seconds slower than Morton. However, Edik was 3.027 seconds faster than Ted Hill in his 1987 BMW 325is. |
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| Straight after the race, Edik reported to the MotoIQ tent to have his engine and ECU sealed with tape. |
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| Martin then signed down each piece of tape, ensuring that if it was removed, they would be difficult to put back. |
There you have it folks, Sonoma is mostly in the books. However, we won't know the full story until the Official Dyno Session at Road Race Engineering. Will Edik's car pull the correct horsepower or will the win be taken away and given to Steve Rockwood? Or could something else entirely happen that will re-write the rulebook before the 2013 season can even start? We won't know until we know. The only way to know is to follow me to Road Race Engineering on the day of the Official Dyno Pull of Edik Stepanyan's DA Acura Integra. However, I encourage you to keep your minds open for this one. Edik has been accused of cheating in the past, but has pulled through clean every time. Let's say he has won Sonoma until the rollers stop on the dynamometer! Meanwhile, be sure to refresh yourself on Edik's DA Integra, Michele's 2012 tC, and Project G20 by visiting the links below:
Edik Stepanyan's DA Acura Integra
Michele Abbate's 2012 Scion tC
Project Infiniti G20 Racecar – The Build So Far!
The MPTCC would like to send a special thank-you to the team over at NorCal NASA for all their help and support, and to the good guys at MCE Racing who provided the dyno services at the track.
