Event details
- Date: Saturday, June 6, 2026
- Track: Thunderhill East Bypass
- Weather: Dry
- Official result: 86 Challenge Stock results
Stock top 5
| Pos. | Driver | Raw time | Adjusted time | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Larionov | 2:07.686 | 2:10.186 | — |
| 2 | Saurabh Kulkarni | 2:07.706 | 2:10.206 | +0.020 |
| 3 | Alex Deynega | 2:08.959 | 2:11.459 | +1.273 |
| 4 | Brandon Stitt | 2:10.040 | 2:12.540 | +2.354 |
| 5 | Aris Perez | 2:10.620 | 2:13.120 | +2.934 |
Recap Video
Fastest Lap Onboard
Summary
Setup Changes
Ivan's brought new tires this round, as promised. I couldn't justify the same, but I didn't come empty-handed.
Haowei sold me his gently used Bilstein B6 dampers. I got some BRZ (3.1kg/mm) front springs to complement my GR86 rears (4.0kg/mm). I also replaced the rear sway bar bushings. Maybe if replacing the front bushings makes the car oversteery, then replacing the rears will make the car neutral again?
I pushed as hard as I could in lap 1 of the day, trying to get ahead of the heat, but unfortunately the car was still snapping under throttle. I also struggled with how much longer the car was taking to settle, leading to a few embarassing dips in the dirt.
I'll make a separate writeup about the B6 upgrade later.
A Close Fight
After the first session, my laptime was 2:08.4, not enough for P1 but close enough to Ivan's 2:07.7 that I had hope. All I had to do was keep the car on track instead of dipping off track in T6, and clean up a few turns.
The second session, I somehow dipped my wheels in T6 again, but I guess this time I just harnessed the extra rotation because I shaved 0.5s there over the S1 lap, leaving me with a 2:0.7.7 - enough to beat Ivan's S1 lap but not his improved 2:07.6 in S2.
One Last Shot
The third session was really hot, and I knew a perfect lap 1 would be needed to improve. Ensky gave me some sage advice. If all I need to do is put together a clean lap, then the timer is just a distraction. The spare mental bandwidth is better spent on driving. So I turned off the timer and headed out.
Looking back at the data, Ensky was right. Despite hotter conditions, I was driving incredibly well. I'll read off the lap delta as each turn went by:
T1: 0.011s
T2: 0.002s
T5: 0.139s
T6: 0.043s (didn't dip wheels this time)
T8: 0.039s
T9: 0.020s
T10: 9.740s
Yeah, I blew the T10 braking zone by about 70 feet. About 23 yards - a quarter of a football field. I knew I needed to brake later there but braking by instinct completely collapses when you decide to ignore your instincts - who knew?
Looking forward
I have a long list of excuses but the fact is that I lost the championship due to poor execution. If I had developed a braking reference in t10 during the prior 2 sessions or simply not dipped my wheels in t6 in the S2 lap, maybe things could have different.
This year's championship may be a wrap, but there are still races to win, and I'm closer to the top than ever.
Downloads
AIM XRK Data - Session 2Download
AIM CSV Data - Session 2Download