July 4 Redline Time Attack at Willow Springs smelled of sweet success for the Evolution Racewerks team. It scored a Street Class RWD win, Overall Street Class win and set a new lap record for Street Class RWD

After months of careful preparation and continuous development, the Evolution Racewerks BMW 135i finally reaped the reward its dedicated crew deserved.

With VJ Mirzanian at the wheel, and new sponsorship from Hankook Tires and Velocity Motor Cars, the twin-turbo BMW set a scintillating time of 1:29.326sec during the Circuit Battle on Saturday night and smashed the previous record track record for Street RWD by more than 3 seconds.

VJ also laid down a smoking time of 1:29.331sec during the Competition session, which ensured class victory in Street Class RWD as well as making the ER 135i the fastest Street Class car on the day – beating even the AWD competitors.
 
Among a number of changes to aerodynamics and suspension, the team was using new Hankook Ventus RS-3 tires for the first time. The R-S3 is Hankook's Extreme Performance Summer DOT-legal tire that received rave reviews from Evolution Racewerks’ driver: “These new tires were amazing; I love them!”
 
Compared to the tires previously used by the Evolution Racewerks BMW 135i, the Hankook tires had a taller sidewall. This meant the team had to work all night adjusting the suspension, revising the geometry and even modifiying the carbon fiber bodywork to compensate for the new tires.
 
During Saturday’s Circuit Battle, Evolution Racewerks went head-to-head with a BMW 135i with similar engine and chassis modifications; it was even using the same tires. However, the ER 135i was unstoppable this weekend, beating the other car by almost 1 second, with an advantage of more than 2 seconds for the two combined hot laps.
 
Making more adjustments on Sunday, the car ran even faster in the Competition Rounds, setting its fastest lap at 2pm despite the high temperatures.