Race Report: E1 Class Win in NASA Utah 6 Hour for Million & Palomar Racing
Tooele, UT | July 29-31st, 2022
Round 4 of 6 for NASA Western Endurance Racing Championship took Palomar Racing to Utah Motorsports Campus in late July. The NASA Utah 6 Hour has become a traditional race in this endurance championship; the longest event this team has faced to date.
Palomar Racing took on the challenge to run their #25 BMW E36 in the E1 class while running the #24 BMW E36 in the E2 class marking the first two-car operation for the team. The team would also enter Matt Million and Nik Romano into the regional ST4 and ST5 sprint races as well to gain further data on the cars.
Even as a first-time entrant in the E1 class, Palomar Racing took a closely contested victory from 8 competitors in the class whilst finishing 6th of 34 overall. Nik Romano started the race fast and clean, followed similarly by Ryan Bittner, Ryan Keeley, and Matt Million to finish. The car ran within the top three for much of the race, even with an apparent fuel mileage deficit. A penalty issued by the stewards for a small fuel spill in the final stop gave #25 a substantial setback. This was eventually overturned before the end of the race as Million charged to make up time.
This marks the second consecutive NASA Utah 6 Hour win for Million after his E2 victory last year for GOneppo Racing. Bittner, Keeley, Romano and Palomar Racing all became first-time winners of the event.
In the E2 class, Million qualified the #24 on pole with a class record. The race started with Million and ran in contention during the opening stints as he handed off to Lucas Weisenberg. An unfortunate shifter failure combined with a power loss issue meant the car required service behind-the-wall. After multiple attempts to get the car back into the race, third driver Sonny Watanasirisuk was able to finish 4th from 7 in the class.
Million’s next event with the team will be September 9-11th at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the US Touring Car Championship. The team will use this event as the warm-up for their main focus; NASA Nationals in ST4 and ST5 from September 15-18th. Million will contest the ST5 championship in the #24. Monday, September 19th will be the fifth round of NASA WERC as the team will again enter #24 in E2 and #25 in E1.
The ‘Palomar Racing E2/ST5 Challenge’ would not be possible without the following partners; Palomar Solar, Swift Springs, Motion Control Suspension, Toyo Tires, BimmerWorld, ApexRaceParts.com, FastSideways, AGA Tools, Hawk Performance, Frozen Rotors, and others.
Look for Matt Million’s ‘August Update’ to be published soon. Visit ‘Photos’ to view more pictures from the event.