We’re nearly two weeks into the New Year already, so it’s fine time to rev things up and get the 2025 Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA® Super Tour (HST) rolling. A highlighted marquee of the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program, HST’s 10-event season is underway at Sebring International Raceway during a Jan. 10-12 festival hosted by SCCA’s Central Florida Region.
Saturday morning got going with a few 25-minute qualifying sessions in wet conditions. That was followed by 25-minute contests for each of the eight run groups, and early races took place on a damp but drying track. Under cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid 60-degree range, competitors headed out on the rugged 3.7-mile circuit with every intent of landing on the season’s first victory podiums.
HST Updates Fans Should Know
Casual fans who follow the HST series might notice some changes for the 2025 season. In an over-simplified nutshell, feedback from HST drivers revealed the series could be enhanced to provide an even better experience. After great deliberation over several years and involving multiple SCCA Boards, tough decisions were made – some of which were widely embraced, while others were met with lament.
First, let’s talk about the new GT3U classification. Gone from HST weekends is the traditional GT-3 class. That’s because GT-3 is transitioning to the Super Touring® Under (STU) ruleset. It’s a long and involved explanation on why this is happening, but it has to do with the number of classes competing at the National Championship Runoffs® each year. The new GT3U class, however, will only be around for one season as SCCA’s Club Racing Board reviews data and sorts through necessary changes to assimilate former GT-3 cars into the STU field so competition remains as even as possible moving forward.
Next, sharp eyes might notice the GT-Lite (GTL) class is no longer included in HST race results. That’s because GTL has been merged with F Production. Once again, this change has to do with the number of classes competing at the Runoffs, but the most notable change for onlookers will be the lack of a rear wing on cars previously classed as GTL.
That brings us to changes centered on the run group that was home to Formula 600 (F6), Formula F (FF) and Formula Vee® (FV). For multiple reasons, that run group could not be included within eight of 10 HST weekends this year. Much of that decision came down to the amount of daylight available to safely conduct HST contests, as well as the lack of choices for group consolidation within other groups with similar cars and performance. That being said, West Coast HST weekends at Buttonwillow, CA, and Portland, OR will indeed include the FF, FV and F6 run group. And while F6 will not be a class competing at the 2025 Runoffs, both FF and FV are Runoffs-eligible classes that will surely thrill onlookers again when SCCA’s National Championship rolls into Road America this fall.
Formula X is also no longer a HST competition class, but there’s still more than enough action to satiate motorsports fans throughout SCCA’s road racing season. Tune in and catch all the action live every HST weekend at SCCA’s YouTube and Road Racing Facebook pages. Additionally, Sunday victory podium celebrations are archived and can be viewed at the SCCA Road Racing Facebook page, too.
As always, live HST Timing & Scoring can be found throughout the weekend at scca.com/live.
Adventures in Flagging
Sports Car Club of America® has 51,000 annual members. Some of those are drivers participating this weekend at Sebring, while others are volunteers having #funwithcars in their own way and making the HST event happen.
Tarin Finn, 39, of SCCA’s Florida Region is part of that second group. She first joined the Club in 1987, has been involved in Flagging & Communications for nearly two decades, and is currently Florida Region’s Flag Chief. This weekend in Sebring, however, she’s helping out in Race Control.
SCCA, Trans Am, IMSA and a multitude of other organizations have benefited from Finn’s involvement, and she plans to add IndyCar to that list later in 2025 during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. It’s all very thrilling for Finn, but perhaps her greatest adventures happened last year while working Formula One events in the United States.
The saga began at the Miami Grand Prix where Finn was stationed just past the start-finish line. During driver introductions, World Driving Champion Sir Lewis Hamilton gave her a quick hug. Later at the Unites States Grand Prix in Austin, TX, Finn was again stationed along the front stretch and held up a sign asking Hamilton for another hug and a selfie, a request he kindly obliged. You can watch those interactions here.
The real kicker came at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where Finn was not stationed near the start-finish line for once. Undaunted, she hustled over to the driver introduction stage carrying a sign noting that Hamilton had already doled out hugs and a selfie. This time, however, she hoped for a personal tattoo design from the then Mercedes-AMG driver.
Staff from Hamilton’s team recognized Finn from previous U.S. races and motioned the soon-to-be Scuderia Ferrari driver over for another visit with the volunteer worker. A tattoo enthusiast himself, Hamilton was handed a black marker and wrote “STILL I RISE 44” on her left forearm. Video from that interaction can be enjoyed here.
Hamilton’s handywork remained on the SCCA member that entire weekend. After race duties were completed, Finn hopped a flight back to Florida. Immediately after her plane landed, she headed to a favored tattoo artist. About an hour later, Hamilton’s artwork was made permanent and will be an amazing reminder of an incredible year.
“I love racing. I love flagging,” Finn said. “The adrenaline, the smell … I just love the excitement and the people.”
Being a member of SCCA and volunteering at events opens a whole realm of experiences and adventures few truly comprehend. Learn more about volunteering with SCCA by clicking here.
Switching Things for the New Year
Yesterday’s SCCA.com story from Sebring looked at reigning National Championship runners-up launching efforts to move up a step at the 2025 Runoffs. Purposely left out of that discussion was Sebastian Mateo Naranjo, 18, of SCCA’s Central Illinois Region.
Naranjo claimed the silver medal in Formula F (FF) last year at the Runoffs but won’t be looking to improve his result in that class this year. Instead, he has shifted focus for 2025 and is running in Spec MX-5 (SMX), driving the No. 1 TKG Motorsports/Ares Elite Sports Vision Mazda MX-5 this weekend at Sebring.
While Naranjo may be moving away from open-wheel racing, he is certainly not leaving behind all the racecraft learned through FF competition. Much of that knowledge, Naranjo believes, will be equally applicable in SMX contests as they, too, are momentum-reliant racecars.
“The racing style is not too different, there are just a few more things to account for,” he said. “The two different cars, I believe, have a similar race style to them, relatively. Neither has all the power in the world to get them accelerated to move away from opponents.”
Of course, there are plenty of differences Naranjo will be adapting to this season. For instance, he’ll need to become accustomed to bump drafting and learn to handle a vehicle that is 1,000 pounds heavier.
“With a formula car, I can just chuck it into a corner, and it will stick no problem,” Naranjo said. “In the Spec MX-5 car, I can’t be throwing it around then counter-steering every other corner. I learned the hard way that I can’t drive 100 percent or 110 percent, because I’ll overheat the tires.”
Sure, Naranjo’s FF car last year was a bit faster than what he is piloting this weekend. Still, the SMX platform has proved to be an interesting challenge with more weight and bigger tires. Everything unfolds a bit slower in the SMX car, yet deliberate input is still required from drivers behind the steering wheel.
“It’s so fun to throw around the Spec MX-5 car,” Naranjo added. “One of the things I had to learn about is there is so much roll … and it feels like there’s a whole lot more grip you can work with than you’d think. And there is a lot of weight transfer that you have to manage.”
On a very damp track Saturday, Naranjo finished in the 21st position. The SMX race was won by Matthew Novak in the No. 11 Advanced Autosports Mazda MX-5 machine.
Saturday Race Winners
Below are provisional race winners from Saturday’s Hoosier Racing Tire SCCA Super Tour at Sebring International Raceway with Class: Name, SCCA Region and Car.
American Sedan®: Thomas Ellis, Florida Region, Ford Mustang
B-Spec: Stephanie Andersen, Milwaukee Region, Mazda 2
E Production: Sean Saggese, Buccaneer Region, Mazda RX-7
F Production: Ken Kannard, Atlanta Region, Acura Integra
H Production: Mike Ogren, Central Florida Region, VW Scirocco
Formula Atlantic®: Larry Howard, Kansas City Region, Swift 016
Formula Continental®: Robert Allaer, Central Florida Region, Van Diemen RFR02
Formula Enterprises® 2: Charles Russell Turner, Washington DC Region, SCCA Enterprises FE2 Mazda
GT-1: David Pintaric, Mahoning Valley Region, Ford Mustang
GT-2: Tony Ave, Central Carolinas Region, Porsche 991.2
GT3U: Tony Ave, Central Carolinas Region, Honda Civic
GT-X: Jacek Mucha, Florida Region, Cadillac Dallara
Spec Miata: Ethan Goulart, New England Region, Mazda Miata
Spec MX-5: Matthew Novak, Central Illinois Region, Mazda MX-5
Spec Racer® Ford Gen3: Robeson Clay Russell, Central Carolinas Region, SCCA Enterprises SRF3
Prototype: Todd Vanacore, Central Florida Region, Elan DP02
Prototype 2: Bart Wolf, Milwaukee Region, Ligier JS51
Super Touring® Lite: Jon Sewell, Florida Region, Acura Integra R
Super Touring® Under: Jose Osiris Pena, Central Florida Region, Honda CRX
Touring 1: Mark Boden, Chicago Region, Mercedes-Benz AMG
Touring 2: Scotty B White, Northwest Region, Dodge Viper
Touring 3: Juan Carlos Leroux Jr., Florida Region, Subaru BRZ
Touring 4: Marc Cefalo, Northeastern Pennsylvania Region, Mazda MX-5
Sunday Sees Second Day at Sebring
There’s still one more day of HST competition slated for Sebring, with contests starting at 8:05 a.m. local time in Florida. Each of the eight different run groups will have 14-lap or 35-minutes races to gather up trophies, bottles of Mazza sparkling wine, and bragging rights before things come to a close.
Follow all the wheel-to-wheel excitement live, online thanks to HST’s broadcast produced by DriversEye Live and anchored by announcers Brian Bielanski and Gregg Ginsberg. Video coverage is streamed via the SCCA YouTube channel and SCCA Road Racing Facebook page. Sunday victory podium celebrations can also be viewed at the SCCA Road Racing Facebook page.
As always, live HST Timing & Scoring is found throughout the weekend at scca.com/live.
Photo: On a track that was still damp at spots, Matthew Novak and his No. 11 Advanced Autosports Mazda MX-5 took the Spec MX-5 class win Saturday at Sebring during the Hoosier Super Tour.
Photo by Dave Green
