Honda claim top ten despite troubles in Sebring

• Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra finish tenth in the Advent Health 120
• More tire woes for Eversley and substitute co-driver Dakota Dickerson

The LA Honda World Racing team scored a top-ten finish Friday at Sebring International Raceway, the first IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge race since the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the 2020 season after the opening round at Daytona in January.

Starting twelfth, Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra brought their LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR car across the line in tenth place in the weather-shortened Advent Health 120. LaMarra qualified the car and started the race, moving up three spots on the opening lap before a 75-minute red flag due to lightning in the area paused the action.

Though the clock continued to run at the start of the red flag, it was eventually stopped and the race was resumed with one hour and 10 minutes still to run. The trio of Honda Civic Type R TCR cars continued to run in the top 10 as pit stops started, with the No. 77, being driven by Dakota Dickerson, substituting for Taylor Hagler, working its way through the field and climbing to second position before diving in the pits for their stop.

Despite the strong showing before the pit stop, Dickerson's co-driver Ryan Eversley saw shades of Daytona struggles again as the No. 77 suffered a punctured tire that dropped him and Dickerson back to a 12th place finish.

The No. 37 of Chris Miller and Shelby Blackstock struggled during the weekend following a heavy accident in Thursday practice. The LA Honda World Racing team worked hard to repair the car, but eventually power steering issue took them out of the race. The team is investigating the issue to determine if it was related to Thursday's incident.

LaMarra and Pombo clinched the best result for the Honda TCR squad, crossing the line under yet another weather-induced yellow flag in their Honda Civic Type R TCR machine tenth.

HPD has three ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, and culminates with the no-compromise, championship-winning Civic Type R TCR race car. Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring

Honda Racing social media content and videos from Sebring International Raceway are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD). Produced by CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.

Next

The MICHELIN Pilot Challenge travels to the scenic Road America circuit in Wisconsin for the August 1st Road America 120. The race can be streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Quotes

Mat Pombo (#73 LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished 10th: "We had a trying weekend with the balance of performance it seems. The LAP Motorsports LA Honda World Civic Type R TCR cars were on rails and the crew executed our plan flawlessly. We controlled everything we could today and came away 10th. I want to thank Mike LaMarra for driving a great opening stint, Luis and Rob for the great car, any my LAP Motorsports team for being the best in the paddock. We will forget this weekend and get after them in two weeks at Road America."

Ryan Eversley (#77 LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished 12th: "Well, that's Sebring. We struggled for ultimate pace all weekend and were clearly out-gunned. But the L.A. Honda World guys gave us the best car they could. Dakota [Dickerson, substituting for regular co-driver Taylor Hagler] did a great job at the start to work our way up to sixth before handing over to me. After the pit stop we were running seventh and the car was handling really well before a puncture caused us to pit and lose a lap. It's an unfortunate result, but it was really great to be back in a race car and on track.  I'm looking forward to paring back up with Taylor we we come back for Road America in a few weeks."

Mike LaMarra (#73 LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR), finished 10th: "It was amazing to be back in the LA Honda World Civic Type R TCR, doing what we love to do. While the event was a little different than we are used to having, it felt good to be back with our LAP Motorsports team and the IMSA community. We just didn't have the overall pace that we needed today.
Thanks to LA Honda World Racing, LAP Motorsports, HPD and Mat [Pombo] for their support and effort."

MICHELIN Pilot Challenge Advent Health 120

Circuit: Sebring International Raceway, Sebring FL
Weather: Intermittent thunderstorms, high humidity, 89 degrees F

Top Five TCR, Honda Race Results:

Other Honda Results:

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