(tense music)
(motors revving)
- When we reflected on last season,
and we looked at okay, what can we do better?
How can we strengthen ourselves to help deliver
that manufacturer title for Hyundai this year?
And really after finishing first and second
in the championship, I couldn't really
ask much more of the team or our drivers so what we needed
was more bullets in the gun.
(suspenseful music)
So many highlights from last year, you know,
a couple things that stand out to me were the win
at mid-Ohio.
- [Announcer] And look at this, in TCR!
- Yeah!
- Take it there.
- [Announcer] Bryan Herta Autosport sees the checkered
flag first in TCR competition.
What a run!
- [Bryan] And then closing the season with a win and
finishing first and second in the championship was amazing.
(team applauding)
- [Driver] I can't believe it!
- So the championship last year with Michael and I,
you know we celebrated that and really enjoyed that
throughout the fall and then as we rolled into winter,
it became clear that well that was in the past and now
we have a new year ahead of us.
- After winning the Driver's Championship with Mark
last year which was something so special
and I'll remember forever,
he's a good friend and a awesome racer.
You know, hearing the phone call, on the phone call about
the driver change was for sure surprising.
You know Bryan switching up the lineup it kinda keeps
us on our toes.
We can never be too comfortable and therefore always
be on the attack, always be ready.
(tense music)
- [Bryan] One of our big concerns going into this season
adding a third car is making sure that we added
drivers that were gonna fit in with what we
already had here.
- I knew Brian from my years in Indy lights.
I raced against his son, Colton.
At the end of this last season, Bryan sent me a message
saying that he would love to try me out and see how
I did in one of his cars.
And obviously I have no experience in sports car racing.
- Ryan just really blew us away.
Front wheel drive car, closed fender, closed wheel car,
all new to him and he was immediately right on the pace.
(dramatic music)
- My history with Bryan Herta Autosports,
won the rookie of the year for the Indy 500
as well as the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award for
the entire season.
I've done four Indy 500's since then.
But this will be my first full season in in Imsa.
- [Bryan] I had a lot of experience working
with Gabby Chaves.
He was an obvious candidate right from the get go.
I feel really excited about that 33 car.
They're gonna make us better.
They're gonna push our 21 and 98 guys really hard this year.
- [Man] We've come into this season with basically
a five car assault.
Three cars from Bryan Herta,
two cars from Forty7 Motorsports.
- I'm a 2018 Winter Olympian in alpine snowboarding
and I kinda grew up I grew up racing.
Yes there's a satellite program and a factory program
but we're one big team right?
We're out here to try to win a personal championship
and a manufacturers championship.
- We've added really experienced people.
We've added good people and I feel like we've
only made ourselves stronger.
We're gonna be formidable.
I wouldn't want to have to race us.
(eerie music)
- [Announcer] The champion from last year, Mark Wilkins
and Michael Lewis were split up this season.
- [Broadcaster] Five cars.
It just shows for Hyundai how important it is to win
the 2020's Manufacturer Championship.
(engine revving)
- Yeah so we qualified second on the front row.
Really just gonna try to be keeping it clean
for my stint and to give Mark a great race car
and see where we are after that.
- All right bud, got you loud and clear.
It's the fun part, let's go do this.
(upbeat music)
- [Announcer] A big draft can move into turn one.
We're gonna see this all race with these cars lined up so
close in speed and lap time.
The draft is gonna be big and when to time it.
- [Broadcaster] Audi, Hyundai, Honda.
All in one threesome right there.
- He's doing all right, he just needs to settle in.
He'll be fine.
You're doing a really good job, we've settled in pretty
nicely here on the today.
Let's just hang with those guys and take care of those
tires the best you can.
- [Announcer] Look at this fight going on here.
The 33 of Ryan Norman from Indy lights to Imsa Michelin
Pilot Challenge Racing he said that took some getting used
to but he's looking fine.
- I'm gonna take a spacer out of the rear when we put
you in I think the car's just too tight.
- [Broadcaster] We have won so much with
this Hyundai program, they are now three cars here,
plus they have a couple of satellite operations.
- Good job, Mason, we're loving the show, focus forward now,
head down you're doing a great job.
- [Announcer] Just needs to stay on the brake peddle
a little bit longer, he just kinda releasing the brake to
try to roll too much speed at apex.
Oh!
That was a little bit uh--
- [Broadcaster] Wow.
- [Announcer] Haji baji there to start the season.
(tense music)
The Hyundais have come to play in 2020.
They are here en masse and there are five in the field
and three of them are in the top four positions.
That's not a bad way to start the new racing year, hey Jay?
- [Broadcaster] I think this is exactly what Bryan Herta
Autosport were looking for when they brought more cars
to the party this year in terms of getting those big points.
- Be careful, look for safety vehicles so we want to get
back around and get to the tail of this pack before
we have to pit.
- [Announcer] It's now a Hyundai one, two, three,
with Ryan Norma, Mason Filippi, Harry Gottsacker.
- [Broadcaster] And how 'bout Ryan Norman?
First time in a sports car race.
By far the longest stint that he's ever done.
The open wheel road to Indy veteran, his races maxed out
at under an hour, over two hours, and how 'bout this,
he drove to the lead, this is his first driver change.
- Now it's keeping the tires nice and cool,
didn't want to over do them.
The Audis are super fast on the straights so I just had to
kinda wait until their tires fell off a little bit
and I could pass 'em in the in-field but man
they were suckin' up on you so it was very hard
to keep 'em behind on the straightaways.
(suspenseful music)
- The nature of this track, we run a lot of time at wide
open throttle on the banking and
so it really puts top speed at a premium.
Our car excels in braking and in cornering
and there isn't enough of that here for us.
Gonna try and keep pressure on fifth so we think he's
trying to draft to save fuel.
- [Announcer] This is where the Hyundais are strong
late in a stint.
They're a little bit better on tires then the Audis.
It seems like we see a great run off of turn six there.
We know how strong the Audis have been on the straightaways.
- More tires and fuel.
- More tires and fuel, I'm putting that one back in.
- Yeah.
That's right, he's a lot faster right now than us.
Tuck in there, try and push him maybe here.
We think he's really tight on fuel,
wondering if he can make it.
- [Announcer] Think he needs to try and make a move into
this brakes I mean you can see him trying to
work Simpson over a little bit.
- [Broadcaster] He's gonna try to undercut him again
here off of turn six, get that drive this time,
Steven Simpson little bit smarter with it.
(intense music)
- Not bad.
- Audis beat us.
This was their type of track.
You know if we go back a year,
we didn't finish with either car.
Here we finished with fourth, fifth, and sixth.
All the guys came outta the car with a smile on their face
and Ryan came up to me he says that's the most fun
I've ever had on a race track.
We got points with all the cars,
all the guys did a great job.
We led some laps.
I think it's a great start to our season.
- I'm confident that as we transition out of Daytona
and go to you know more of a twisty handling track,
we'll show which car has the better balance.