THUNDERHILL: Ryno Racing holds lead at halfway mark

At the halfway mark of the 14th edition of the NASA 25 Hours of Thunderhill presented by Hawk Performance, the polesitting No. 57 Ryno Racing Ginetta was holding on to a lead it's held for most of the race.

The team decided to start the No. 5 team car with Colton Herta behind the wheel, but did not plan to run that car the entire race. Now they are forced to juggle drivers in and out of the leading 57 Ginetta.

"My last stint in the 57 was good," Herta said. "I think we are two and a half laps in the lead. The Ryno guys put a great effort together and the 57 Ginetta is running strong. If we keep the pace and keep the car together we will be in a good place come the morning. I have been swapping cars, between the 5 and the 57. It is not too difficult because the cars are the same chassis."

In ES the defending overall race winning No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 remains just four laps down to the faster Ginetta and leading the ES Class.

"It was a good stint," driver Johannes van Overbeek said. "The level of aggression out there seems higher this year than in year's past. Especially the slower cars. I don't know if they are new drivers and not paying attention or what is going on. I was just trying to stay out of trouble and get the Flying Lizard Toyo Tire Audi to the front. There is always prototype cars that are quick, but they usually don't last too long. So far they are quick, but there is a lot of race left."

The No. 60 Mazda Miata of A+Motorsports was leading the E3 Class.

"It was pretty brutal out there," driver Tao Takaoka said. "Not physically. We are in a momentum car, so the power cars just close very quickly. It is tough to judge sometimes. You have to pay attention the entire time you are in the car. We are leading. The night time driving is a real equalizer. You have to be consistent and keep out of any drama."

In the ENP Class the No. 71 Diamond Level Motorsports NASA elan NP01 Prototype powered by Mazda continues to lead the class and running in the top five overall.

"The NASA elan Prototype NP01 powered by Mazda is running really strong," driver, Jeremy Croiset said. "We are just plugging away running our own program. We are not focused on what anyone else is doing. We just did our first tire change of the race. We went more than eight-and-a-half hours on one set of Toyo Tires. The fuel stints are running as schedule and we are hoping for the best. The cars in front of us are all half million race cars."

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