Shane Lewis and John Schmitt gave the Honda of America Racing Team (HART) its second Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series victory in Sunday s Miami ST 400k at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Driving the No. 22 Honda/Red Line Oil Honda Accord, Lewis led twice for a race-high total of 24 laps, and claimed the lead for good from Trevor Hopwood in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i in Turn 8 with 11 laps remaining. Lewis pulled away over the remaining laps and went on to win by 10.669 seconds. It was Lewis third career KONI Challenge Series class victory, but his first since the 2002 season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
“This was due to the hard work of everybody in Ohio, ” Lewis said. “The Honda of America Racing Team just worked with me all weekend long. I can t thank John Schmitt enough. He handed me the best car. He knew he had to take care of the brakes and his job was to keep it in the top 10. He did exactly what we asked of him and he just did an awesome job. I couldn t have done it without the car he handed me. All the guys worked so hard all weekend. We made them make more changes than you could imagine, and they never quit. That s what it takes to win here. ”
Post-race technical inspection revealed the No. 22 Accord had an improper ballast position, and series officials deducted five points for the infraction in addition to a $1,000 fine. Nevertheless, the team and drivers retain credit for the victory. It was the second KONI Challenge Series class victory for Schmitt, who claimed his first class win in the 2006 season-opener at Daytona.
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