The Honda Off-Road Racing Team Ridgeline and Talon both crossed the finish line of the 2024 Mint 400 with podium honors. The Mint 400, held outside Las Vegas, NV, is touted as the oldest and most prestigious off-road race in America and is known to racers for its notoriously rough course. This year the Talon and Ridgeline ran the four lap, 95-mile course in two separate races. The Honda Talon took P2 on Friday, March 8 in the Limited Race (215 entries) in the UTV Pro NA class and the Honda Ridgeline finished P3 on Saturday, March 9 in the Unlimited Race (69 entries) in the Unlimited Truck 2WD class.
It was a strong debut for Michael McFayden in the Honda team’s driver development program in the No. 1925 Honda Talon. In the few short weeks since announcing McFayden, the team has been busy doing double duty getting the new Talon race chassis ready as well as setting up McFayden for success. And it paid off in a hard fought battle, relying on smart race decisions and running a very clean race with a time of 9:24:37.691, just minutes behind class winner and Honda Talon driver Ricky Brabec.
Jeff Proctor, Team Principal, said, “I’m so impressed with Michael’s composure the first time out with a new race car and team. His race record is extensive for his age and his race craft maturity shows in the heat of the race situations.
“Our team really had to make fast work of getting the new Honda Talon sorted and ready for battle. We got a lot out of the car this race but I know there’s untapped potential. We have a plan to push both car and driver development as we get ready for the Baja 500 in June. As always, we couldn’t do this without the amazing support all of our crew and partners.”
McFayden said, “The Mint 400 is one of the toughest races in America and it comes with lots of fan fare. Driving the Honda Talon down the strip was a great experience. Then Tech and Contingency on Fremont Street. It’s a big week.
“Race day started with our Talon first off the line in class and 400 miles of rocks, bumps, and dirt ahead of us. We took advantage of the position by setting the pace with a three minute lead by the end of lap one. Over the next three laps we kept pushing along and had zero flats thanks to Maxxis tires. The Mint 400 was a long and hard race where I ran the Talon through all of its paces. The car held up all the way to finish on the podium. Thanks to Team Honda Off-Road racing and all our sponsors!”
In a big move since the 2023 Mint 400 for the Honda Off-Road team, the No. 9 Honda Ridgeline program, piloted by Ethan Ebert, stepped up to the Unlimited Truck 2WD class. Taking on “more unlimited” vehicles in the class, finishing P3 in class and P13 overall in 7:41:46.127, is a significant accomplishment.
The Honda Ridgeline team earned a safe qualifying position of 10th in class and 12th overall during qualifying on Thursday with some very fast and experienced teams ahead of them. Come race day, the team ran a smart race with steady progress and patience, and the usual race drama coming in the last lap of the race. After running most of the race in 5th position, opportunity opened up with another race team’s struggles, but it wouldn’t be that easy. In the last 30 miles of the race, the Ridgeline suffered a double flat incident. Ebert and Haddon made quick work of the tire change, but the pressure was on to hold and maybe best their expected finish. With no spare tires in the rack, the team persevered to the finish and held on for a podium.
Proctor said, “I couldn’t be happier with the final results of the Honda Ridgeline’s Mint 400. Everything clicked. Driver, navigator, crew, engineers – everyone. Even through the final nailbiting miles, the whole team was invested in making it happen.”
“HRC brought a full team of engineers to support the team. They were all over the truck telemetry and continue to help us wring everything we can out of this engine to compete against the bigger horsepower engines in our class. They’ve embraced the engineering challenge and it’s special for the team to be a part of watching technology developed in the Honda Ridgeline make its way to the street.
“This race was special for the pit crews as well. They continue to perfect their craft and pulled off a quick 43 second pit stop with 50 gallons of fuel and two rear tire changes. It was fun to watch the practiced choreography in action. It’s hard to imagine how important a fast, smooth pit stop is in desert racing, but this weekend’s results showcase the difference it makes.”
Ebert said, “Words can’t describe how I’m feeling after this race weekend. We started the race in a position with some work cut out for us, however the first lap started off strong with us beating the truck we started next to and which gave us some clean air to chase down the guys in front. We held our own by coming back to the main pit sitting 5th in class from just the first lap, from there we made our way through the super tough desert of Nevada and kept on going.
“The plan of the day was to ride the wave as smooth as possible, sure we got barreled a few times but we got up on the board and kept surfing. Gatlan [Haddon, navigator] was on point all day and amazing with every single call, we came across the line in third place in TT, a first for this Honda team! I can’t thank the team and Proctor enough for getting us such a fast race truck and all the support we could ever ask for! Now it’s on to Baja and this time we’re looking for silver or gold!”
Up next for the team, is the 56th SCORE-International Baja 500 taking place May 29th-June 2nd.
