Mario Fuentes podiums in his third race in a row in his Jimco Hammerhead Class 1 Car
The Mafuzar Motorsports team of Mario Fuentes, who teamed up with Jason Dudley for this baja 500, and navigator Mike Voyles JR. raced the #179 Jimco Hammerhead class 1 to a 3rd place finish at the Baja 500. More than half of the field in Class 1 did not make the finish highlighting the difficulty of this year’s course. The podium finish earns the team their 3rd podium in a row, following a hard-fought 3rd place finish at the 2021 San Felipe 250. After battling through bottlenecks and silt beds as well as the stacked field of racers, the team completed the brutal 466-mile loop with a time of 12:36:777 testing their team and vehicle’s resolve.
The race started and finished just outside of Ensenada, baja California crossing just over halfway across the unforgiving peninsula before heading south from Valley de la Trinidad up over to the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir mountain range to San Quintin then turning back north racing along the stunning Baja coastline back to Ensenada.
“We had some issues with the transaxle the day before the race. I went to bed not knowing if we were going to be able to race. With some help from the Jimco Crew my team figured it out, got what needed to be done and I woke up to a car ready to race. Off the start I just ran at my own pace, I wanted to take care of the vehicle. I let the fast guys pass us in the first 100 miles. The Wilson’s and Parkhouse families have a ton of experience over us and they are all driving Jimco Hammerhead Class 1 Car. I knew that other racers were going to have problems and make mistakes on this course. We passed back some of the faster guys before I hit a cattle guard and got stuck for a bit until I got pulled out. I handed the car over to Jason Dudley at Race mile 275 and he brought it in to the finish for a third place!” stated Fuentes.
Fuentes continued, “It was a hot day with tons of silt beds. It was a really technical course. Lots of Pre-running and notes helped us a lot. We are putting more time into pre-running before races and it’s paying off. Thanks to all my crew at MAFUZAR Motorsports from Juarez, Robbie Pierce and Jimco Racing, and Justin Lofton and his crew. Special thanks to my main sponsors Hiper Gas Energy Resources and Baja Gas and Oil, also thanks to Dougans Racing Engines, JImco Racing Inc, Fortin Racing, and BFGoodrich Tires. This our first full year of racing Class One in SCORE and we are having a blast and learning a lot! I am ready to go back for the Baja 400 in September!!”
Look for Mario Fuentes to continue his quest for the 2021 SCORE Desert Championship in the upcoming Baja 400 September 14th – 19th