Sean Hingorani capped off his second-consecutive ARCA Menards Series West championship with a third-place finish in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 Friday at Phoenix Raceway. The 18-year-old driver was able to complete the full season despite bouncing between four different teams throughout the 13-race campaign.
Hingorani, who piloted the No. 15 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports on Friday to lock up the championship over Tyler Reif, says that his season was supposed to be a lot less confusing.
The driver says he had a full-season commitment from a sponsorship partner, and he entered into a driving agreement with Hattori Racing Enterprises to run in all three ARCA Menards Series divisions, but Hingorani alleges that Hattori took the sponsorship money and ran one race into the season.
“It’s kind of pretty straightforward. Took our sponsorship money and put us in a bad spot,” Hingorani explained in his post-race press conference. “Like I said, we had some great people to help put us afloat and get us through the rest of the year, but pretty unfortunate.”
When asked for clarification, Hingorani confirmed that the sponsorship he had lined up for the Hattori ride would have covered the entire 2024 ARCA season in the Main, East, and West Series.
“Yeah, we had a whole season planned out across the whole ARCA Menards platforms, and you know, just didn’t bring a car to the racetrack one day. So, we had to figure it out,” Hingorani stated.
Even with the chaotic nature of his driving situation, Hingorani was able to march to a second consecutive ARCA West Series championship. Currently, the driver has no plans secured for the 2025 season, but he has hope that the championship will help him change that.
“Still trying to figure things out for next year, so, I don’t have anything in mind right now. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put something together and announce it soon.”
