Honda: NSX teams gain respect

LONG STRANGE SUCCESS Without having scored a podium, Honda was among the winners of the Spa 24 Hours. Overall 6th place for one and 4th place in the Silver Cup for the other NSX GT3 Evo with Philipp Frommenwiler from Thurgau are respectable. The Honda Team Motul, with the help of factory partner JAS Motorsport from Milan, set the same [...]

Editorial - July 30, 2019

The wet and cooler temperatures played into the Honda Motul team's hands. The factory-supported NSX advanced to the finish in 6th place.

Honda Team Motul, with the help of factory partner JAS Motorsport from Milan, fielded an NSX GT3 Evo as it did for all of this year's rounds of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. At the 24 Hours of Spa, professionals Mario Farnbacher (D), Renger van der Zande (NL) and Bertrand Baguette (B) were at the wheel. The Jenson Team Rocket RJN from England, which has been involved in the Blancpain Endurance Cup since 2019 and is backed by ex-GP driver Jenson Button (2008 world champion on Brawn-Honda), entrusted its sports car as usual to drivers with FIA Silver ratings. One of the regular drivers is Philipp Frommenwiler from Kreuzlingen.

Welcome weather change
Midsummer temperatures around 35°C in practice and qualifying were not ideal conditions for the NSX GT3 Evo and its 3.5-liter V6 biturbo engines. On race Saturday, however, thick rain clouds moved over the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, bringing not only precipitation but also cooler temperatures. From then on, things moved forward.

Mario Farnbacher: "At times the conditions were really adverse. But the Honda was super fast in the wet, so this change in the weather suited us extremely well. It was also a lot of fun in the process."

Honda Team Motul and its drivers, including Mario Farnbacher (3rd from left), celebrated sixth place like a victory.

When the race was interrupted on Sunday morning due to weather and restarted after around six hours, Honda Team Motul was already inside the top 10. Thanks to a fast pace, the trio of #30 Honda NSX GT3 finished the 71st edition of the 24 Hours of Spa in 6th place, which is the best result so far in the world's toughest GT3 series.

Mario Farnbacher: "I'm very happy with the result. We traveled to Belgium with the goal of finishing in the top 10. I think this weekend was a valuable experience for the whole team."

Just past the podium
Philipp Frommenwiler and his three teammates also achieved a respectable success with 31st place overall and fourth place in the Silver Cup. They struggled slightly with the performance of their car throughout the weekend, but made the best of it.

Philipp Frommenwiler (right) and his three teammates at Wednesday's driver presentation. They did a good job afterwards in significantly worse weather.

The man from Thurgau managed to stay out of everything in the opening phase, which was dominated by accidents, and handed the car over to his teammates undamaged. Together they made up quite a few positions by the time of the forced break.

After the re-start, they fought for the last place on the Silver podium but were narrowly beaten. 4th place in this sub-ranking is also the best result so far for the British team.

Philipp Frommenwiler: "It was clear that we could only work our way to the front in the race with a consistent and flawless performance from the entire team. It was extremely demanding and difficult to keep the car on the track over the entire distance. Especially in changing conditions when we weren't on the optimum tire at the time. But we managed it and thus moved up from eleventh to fourth place in our class in the end."