Afterburner Lines Up 2011 Campaign
Sharon, CT - Afterburner will contest the 2011 F2000 Championship Series with Brian Tomasi and Niki Coello in new Ralph Firman Racing (RFR) cars. The team, under guidance from Tim Walsh, may run a Van Diemen chassis in addition to the new RFR as well.
“We will have two-time SCCA Formula Continental champion Tomasi in one car and four-time SCCA Formula Continental champion Coello in the other,” said Walsh in a statement.
Walsh continued: “We will be back to back testing using a Van Diemen for our baseline. A Van Diemen will travel with us to the F2000 races as a backup car or another driver’s car. Ralph Firman designed the current chassis and his new RFR Cars chassis. Engineers from RFR will be on our team assisting in our race to the top. We are also negotiating a top team manager with experience winning the F2000 series only a few years ago.”
Tomasi described F2000 as a “top series that does not put limitations on engineering capabilities,” additionally he said that the biggest challenge for the new program will be getting the new chassis setup, “getting used to a new car and a new track will be quite challenging”
Coello explained that the speed of the RFR “will be there quickly,” but :”it will be a matter of fine adjustments of balance and specific driver comfort, so it will need to be developed."
The 2011 F2000 Championship Series opens its sixth consecutive season with a double-header weekend, like all the events, at VIR, April 8-10. The Series next heads to Road Atlanta with the highly-popular Formula Drift tour, May 6-7. Rounds five and six come at Watkins Glen, June 3-5, with Grand-Am. June 30-July 2 sees the Series visit Mid-Ohio before pairing up with ALMS at Mosport, July 22-24. The season starts to come to a close with the NASCAR Modifieds at Lime Rock Park, September 16-17 and finishes at Watkins Glen, October 14-16, with what is appearing to be a year full of massive car counts and a variety of new chassis, teams and drivers.