Round 7: It was hot
Thunderhill East Bypass – June 7, 2025
86 Challenge stormed into Thunderhill East Bypass for Round 7 under blazing sunshine and searing track temps — a perfect recipe for tire torture and some dramatic PBs as summer officially made its entrance.
GT Radial Stock Class
Dennis Feng #72 secured P1 with a blistering 2:05.742 (2:08.242 adjusted), shattering his own previous record of 2:06.478 set earlier this year, and stunning everyone with what a stock class 86 can do. If anyone still thinks stock 86s are slow, Dennis would like a word. Or maybe he’ll just keep quiet.
Nico Iskos #60 landed in P2 with an equally scorching 2:06.360 (2:08.860 adjusted), a time that would’ve broken the record — if Dennis hadn’t just rewritten it.
Saurabh Kulkarni #404, like the main character of the 2009 Redline movie, used his engine’s final boost to dramatically cross its final finish line to get P3 with a 2:06.812 (2:09.312 adjusted).
GT Radial Street Class
Timur Iskhodzhanov #944 set a very impressive 2:05.400 even with a 0.2s handicap because of transponder issues in the first session, earning P1 in his GR86. A lesser driver might have blamed tech issues, Timur just went faster.
Haowei Wu #98, the Mr. Consistency of 2025, took P2 with a 2:07.181, while also doing so with only 1.5 points out of Street Class’ 3.0 maximum. Calculated. Precise. Ruthless.
Brian Armstrong #900 claimed P3 with a 2:07.274, just 0.093s behind Haowei, and kept his podium streak alive like a true Street Class samurai.
Touring Class
Keith Hnatiuk #682 topped the Touring field again with P1, clocking 2:04.709 on Kumho V730s — a continuation of his strong season pace. Fast, composed, and annoyingly unbothered.
Miles Kodama #860 wrangled a P2 with a 2:06.653 while struggling with setup gremlins, and was the only Gen. 1 to make it on the podium across all classes. Respect.
Derek Xie #43 followed up the podium with P3, nailing a tidy 2:11.037.
Huge thanks to our sponsors:
- RaceTreads.com for sponsoring the championship.
- GT Radial for supplying the fun tires.
- Hummus Mediterranean Kitchen for supporting our operating costs (and hunger).
See you next time — let’s bring the heat and the hype to Buttonwillow Raceway on September 14!
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Published by Miles Kodama on June 24, 2025 20:36