Success shined bright for the No. 93 Harrison Contracting Company Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 Racers Edge Motorsports and Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport (WTRAndretti) team at Circuit of the Americas as the pairing of Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher collected a class podium finish and an overall win in the Lone Star State.

 

Although the weekend ended in triumph for the team, there were an equal number of challenges handed to the No. 93 Rely on RED team. As the green flag flew for Saturday’s Race 1, Ashton Harrison had her sights on battling forward from a tough qualifying position before Harrison had to serve a drive-through penalty for contact on the start. Despite the penalty, a caution flag for an incident on track stacked up the field and shuffled the pit window to make for a busy pit lane when Harrison handed the wheel over to Farnbacher. A solid strategy and pit stop by the crew sent the Acura NSX back out in a strong position and the German driver was able to make his way up into a podium spot by the end of the race.

 

Sunday’s Race 2 brought a different scene in both track and weather conditions. Farnbacher started first in the No. 93 Harrison Contracting Company Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 and was quickly able to find clean and clear track in his stint, despite the initial sprinkling of rain. As he traded the driver’s seat with Harrison, in a mix of slightly wet conditions, Ashton continued to hold off competitors challenging behind her to win overall in Race 2 of the Fanatec GT World Challenge America weekend. In the effort for Sunday’s win, Harrison and Farnbacher earned the eBoost Super Fuel Hard Charger award for overtaking the most positions (plus six positions) on the grid.

 

Next on the schedule for Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America season is Virginia International Raceway on June 16-18, 2023.

 

 

Ashton Harrison:

“A challenging weekend but a great way to end it. I’m super excited for Honda, HPD, Racers Edge Motorsports, WTRAndretti and Harrison Contracting to get an overall win in Race 2. We capitalized on the opportunities that were presented to us on Saturday to get up to P2, and both results are important to our championship goal. Since we’ve had our fair share of bad weekends, I think it is important to be in the position to collect the points that we were able to get this weekend at COTA with our win in Race 2. Like Mario said, it was a challenging weekend. I think that everyone at Racers Edge Motorsports did a really good job to help keep us competitive as we could be with some of the situations we were dealt, either way we persevered and pushed forward and were able to come through with important points, which puts us back in the position to fight for the championship. I am looking forward to being back with the team at VIR in a couple weeks where I feel our Acura NSX is really strong. We’ve had potential for success there in the past so I’m looking forward to more opportunities to get back the championship lead.”

 

 

Mario Farnbacher:

“We definitely didn’t have an easy weekend. The pressure was on to perform and even out the points from the races in NOLA.  We struggled for pace this weekend at COTA. We’ve had some bad luck of our own, and unfortunately so did some of our competitors. We finished second in the first race of the weekend after a drive through penalty and after starting from the back of the field. That was a good result, but it didn’t show our true potential. It was good for points, but we weren’t satisfied. Difficult conditions in Race 2 – it started raining then stopped raining and I don’t Ashton had really ever driven in those kinds of conditions, especially in the Acura NSX. I think my start from P7 was okay and I gave the car to Ashton in a good position. She did an amazing job towards the end of the race, kept her head cool and adapt to the track conditions, the weather conditions, and the pressure from behind. The overall win was well deserved, and I think we were quite satisfied with the outcome. We earned good points from the weekend and for the championship. Now we look forward to VIR and the ‘green jungle’ – I love that circuit and hope we can rebound after last year where we had the pace.”

 

 

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About Harrison Contracting Harrison Contracting Company, Inc. (HCC) is a commercial painting and facility maintenance contracting company headquartered in Villa Rica, GA with divisional offices in Florida and Texas. HCC provides repainting/reimaging and facility maintenance services nationwide, and new construction painting across the southeastern US. At HCC, red is more than the company color, its culture. RED stands for Reliable, Experienced, and Diligent, and is the cornerstone for all we do. We are more than just your painter; we are your partner.

 

About the HPD Driver Academy Program

The Honda Performance Development (HPD) Driver Academy Program was developed to enable qualified racers to accelerate their racing career via ‘on-track’ and ‘off-track’ training from experienced Acura/Honda professional drivers, HPD-supported teams, and HPD personnel. The program includes sessions in the championship winning Acura NSX GT3 Evo or Honda Civic Type R TCR teaching the special knowledge and various skills required for professional sports car racing. The program is available by application-only and is limited to eight students per year.

 

About Honda Performance Development

Honda Performance Development, Inc., (HPD) has a rich heritage creating, manufacturing, and supporting Honda Racing and Acura Motorsports customers since 1993 from pinnacle racing in INDYCAR and IMSA to commercial racing programs. HPD is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and leads all of Honda and Acura’s high-performance racing programs in North America, specializing in the design and development of race engines, chassis and performance parts, as well as technical and race support.