- Latest Ridgeline Baja Race Truck captures Class 7 win
- Third Ridgeline Class 7 Baja 500 victory in last four years
- Honda Off-Road Racing Team now three-for-three in 2019
The Honda Off-Road Racing Team brought a brand-new Ridgeline Baja Race Truck to the Baja 500 this weekend, and continued its string of "500" success with a third Class 7 victory at the iconic off-road race.
Starting and ending in Ensenada, Mexico, this year's 487-mile, single-loop course was tough even by Baja standards, with a string of silt beds stranding multiple entries in the opening miles of the event.
Completed in the days leading up to the race, and with just a single test prior to the race start Saturday morning, the new Ridgeline Baja Race Truck features revised bodywork and a lighter-weight chassis, but remains powered by the same reliable twin-turbocharged Honda V6 engine produced by Honda Performance Development.
Making approximately 550 horsepower, HPD's 3.5-liter HR35TT engine uses the same block and cylinder heads as the production V6 that powers the production Ridgeline. Additional, custom elements of the powertrain include an HPD-designed intake plenum and custom Engine Control Unit programming.
After delays resulting from the "traffic jam" in the silt beds, starting driver/team owner Jeff Proctor, second driver Pat Dailey and navigator Evan Weller came from behind to win Class 7 – for unlimited V6-powered trucks – by a healthy margin of almost 28 minutes. This weekend's victory adds to the legacy of Baja 500 success for the Ridgeline effort, which includes class wins in 2016 and 2018, and a third-place result in 2017.
The Honda Off-Road Racing Team is undefeated in three races this season, including class victories for the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck at the Parker 425 in February and the Mint 400. Remaining races on the 2019 schedule include August's Vegas-to-Reno race and the Baja 1000 in November.
Photos and information from the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck's efforts can be viewed on Instagram at @hondaoffroadracing and @proctor_race. Honda Racing/HPD news and reports can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD.
Quote
Jeff Proctor (team owner/driver Ridgeline Baja Race Truck) on this weekend's class win in the Baja 500: "Evan Weller [navigator] and I started off the race, and right out of the start – you're talking within the first five miles – there were nasty sand washes going up into this canyon. There was a lot of silt, stuck race cars everywhere, and the battle [against conditions and terrain] started right away. So there was no 'getting our feet wet and settling into a groove'. It was just tough, probably one of the toughest Baja 500s I've every raced. So to be here at the finish, and win our class, I couldn't be happier for this entire team. We're going to take this momentum right into [the next race] Vegas-to-Reno. That's a race that's really going to favor this truck. We're looking forward to showing what it can do on those fast 'rally roads' on the Vegas-to-Reno."
# # #
