Field takes shape for 25 Hours of Thunderhill

The 14th edition of the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance is shaping up to be the most competitive ever when it gets underway December 3-4.

Professional drivers listed on the entry include: Bryan Herta, Colton Herta, Ryan Eversley, Al Unser Jr., Kyle Marcelli, Dion von Moltke, Colin Braun, Johannes van Overbeek, Darren Law, Sean Rayhall, Tyler McQuarrie, Kelly Collins, Taz Harvey with more expected.

Drifting and IMSA competitor McQuarrie is anchoring a driver line-up that will be running a new Lamborghini Gallardo. McQuarrie is being joined by Le Mans and IMSA driver Marc Miller and drifting and rallycross ace Tanner Foust along with sports car drivers Tom Dyer and Pat O'Keefe.

"Every year the competition gets stronger and stronger, but this year seems to be even more so," McQuarrie said. "I think the Lamborghini will be very competitive especially since it is all wheel drive. We typically see some wet conditions during this race and that will put us at a huge advantage.

"I love the 25 because it is a complete team effort. The track is dark at night, weather is typically very bad, tons of traffic on track, so it is a true test for the entire team. Simply just finishing is a massive accomplishment, but we are going there to get the win!"

Team Honda Research is coming back to the 25, and for the first time the Civics are turbo-charged.

"We are running two newly built 2016 Honda Civic Coupes," John Whiteman, race strategist and team co-manager said. "Because the Civics were developed in North America, they are truly an example of our mantra 'we race what we develop and develop what we race.'

Honda's 10 drivers are Matt Staal, Lawrence Hwang, Derek Ferretti, Scot Nicol, Sage Marie, Mike Tsay, Doug Chan, Calvin Tam, Chad Gilsinger and Brian Shanfeld.

"This is the first year for OEM turbo charged engines in the Honda Civic," Whiteman continued. "As such, we have had to learn about the new engines in terms of race conditions durability and how to optimize fuel economy versus performance. Team Honda Research is a 100% Honda Associate team that is the official race team of Honda R&D Americas, Inc. The team is supported by Honda Performance Development and American Honda Motor Co, Inc. While the race cars, transporters and equipment is owned by Honda all the associate hours for building and racing the cars is entirely voluntary and unpaid."

Sports car driver Eversley will be in the JFC Racing MJ-V8 Wolf with teammates Al Unser Jr., Mike Jackson and Todd Harris.

"The Wolf is an extremely capable machine," Eversley said. "The amount of aero generated from the massive wings and also the tunnels under the car makes it incredibly fun to drive. We were one of the fastest cars entered last year and now we'll have twice the power and more aero so I'm excited to see what it can do."

"I enjoy the 25 hour because it's an event that's more about the experience and less about the modern day racing politics," he continued. "You don't hear about driver rankings or B.O.P. (Balance of Performance). You hear about racecar drivers in race cars, racing and it's just a ton of fun. Prototypes with Indy 500 winners share the track with Spec Miata drivers that have rookies driving them. What's not to love?"