The credits have rolled on the 2024 Mission Hooligan National Championship with the final two races of the season that took place at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas on September 14-15. Stefano Mesa scored a brace of ninth place finishes around the long and fast 3.426-mile circuit aboard Tytlers Cycle Racing’s #137 Eva Ribelle RS KCC (Kit Corsa Clienti), showing great speed in the early part of both encounters.
If we look deeper into the performance put together by the 31-year-old Colombian rider, we can see that his quickest lap time of the weekend was a 2:17.167 logged on lap four in today’s race two. This very lap-time would have been the fastest lap of any competitor in either of the two Super Hooligan races held at CoTA in 2023. To put this into context, Mesa’s best time in last year’s historical race one, second-place finish was a 2:20.648, so his time this year has improved by almost three and a half seconds.
Yesterday’s 2:17.464 set in qualifying 2 – which placed him in seventh position on the grid – would have translated in a front-row start for the #137 in 2023.
Every motorcycle racing season is a whole different story, and this couldn’t be any closer to the truth this time around. Series evolve, new players come in, new rules are introduced, so the variables are many and constantly shifting. But as the only EV entry in a field of otherwise ICE motorcycles, Energica can only be proud with the incredible steps forwards made in 2024 with the invaluable support of Tytlers Cycle Racing, Stefano Mesa, the whole crew, and our partners: PETRONAS iona, Siemens and Sonic Tools.
The Eva Ribelle RS KCC is still a fine example of what a street-derivative electric motorcycle is capable of in closed-circuit competition and as far as we’re concerned, we’ll keep working hard to make sure that all this knowledge is transferred to the roads for all of you to enjoy on a daily basis. After all, this is what racing is all about.
The final classification sees Stefano Mesa 9th with 58 points scored across ten individual races and a huge wealth of experience for everyone involved heading into the future. In this ever-accelerated world, Energica keeps the throttle wide open (and for good reasons!).
A big thank you to all of you, who keep showing an immense amount of support.