8th Edition of MonTech NYGP underway at 360V2
The 8th edition of the MonTech New York Grand Prix got underway today with drivers enjoying a full day of practice at 360v2 RC Raceway in New Rochelle ahead of the weekend’s racing action. Attracting 134 entries, the indoor electric onroad race hosted by multiple 1:12 World Championship finalist Donny Lia, sees defending Champion Sam Isaacs head the entry. Winning both 1:12 Mod and Mod Touring Car last year on his return to the event after being absent in 2024, the Awesomatix driver was a late entry on the list. With 2 of the 4 rounds of qualifying on Friday’s schedule, the entry also includes Isaacs’ team-mate & reigning ROAR Champion Kemp Anderson, the returning Xray of Keven Hebert, and Excelerate’s Ollie Payne, the British driver always in the mix in the 1:12 categories.
Arriving yesterday afternoon and setting up his pit table so he could get straight down to business today when the track opened for practice, Isaacs explained, ‘as I didn’t know if I would be able to make to the race, I had to scramble a little bit to throw my 1:12 together so I think that is going to take some work and also getting used to the driving again with the foam tyres. It is just a lot more reactive and different to touring car and hopefully we can pick it back up again and very quickly.’ A fan of the track, he said, ‘I think the track here is great. Donny (Lia) makes it with the soft walls and the curbing, I mean there is really no hard boards to hit so bodies last a long time. It also makes for really good racing with high consistency rates.’ He added, ‘I think the track is inch by inch exactly the same as last year so it will be cool to have a lap time comparison even through we were on a different tyre last year.’
Asked how his day had gone, Anderson, who is racing here together with his father Eric, said, ‘We left Nashville at 06:3o this morning so we got here at like 11:00.’ One of his favourite races of the year, the 24-year-old added, ‘I’ve been working on my Touring Car all day, I haven’t really run my 1:12 at all yet, because I am trying to get more grip in to the touring car.’ The 1:12 Mod Champion here 2-years ago, on the track, the layout the same as last year, he said, ‘I like this layout. I think it flows really well and it’s good for a big race. The racing is pretty clean on it.’ Asked if there was any reason he was mainly focused on his Touring Car, the Awesomatix driver replied, ‘It just hasn’t been great and 1:12 usually shapes up to be pretty good here. We had NYGP and the Nats (National Championships) the past year and my car has been pretty in both of those.’ Asked to sum up his progress with his touring car over the day, he said, ‘it’s getting better, still some work to do but it’s getting better.’
Arriving from Canada yesterday evening at around 17:00 and setting up his pit area, Hebert said he then retired to bed ‘very early’ as he was not feeling 100%. Despite not getting the best of night’s sleep, Hebert described today as ‘a good day of practice’ as he completed ‘a lot of mileage’. With the Xray team present in New York with three prototype 1:12 cars, Hebert said he split his day 50/50 between the new 1:12 and his regular X4’26 Touring Car. On his performance he said, ‘I am close to the pace I think in Touring Car and the 1:12 is good but I think Oillie (Payne) might have the upper hand for now. That said it is always tough to say for 8-minutes, there is so much that can change throughout the run.’ He added, ‘I think he’s got a little bit the upper hand now but we will work and try to make that gap a little smaller.’ Making a return to the NYGP having missed last year, on the track layout the Quebec racer said, ‘it is super nice, it’s 360’s typically layout but it has a good flow and it should be a good layout to race people on.’