Agren Comes Out First at Pittsburgh
Wampum, PA – Ayla Agren made it two wins in her sophomore F1600 Formula F Championship Series season with an aggressive but calculated drive to a close win at Pittsburgh International Race Complex for round nine of the 2014 F1600 season. The race unfolded to be a competitive 26-lap event, with a number of leaders, but Agren put her Pelfrey Mygale at the front with seven to go and led all three of her teammates to the checkered flag.
“Thanks to the Pelfrey guys for their hard work yesterday, without that I wouldn’t be here now,” said Agren, who was among the fastest in Friday practice but crashed. “Motorsport is a team sport and this was a total group effort. It’s a close race with my teammates.”
Agren assumes the points lead on the provisional results coming out of round nine, with another race left at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Her teammate Garth Rickards finished second in the No. 83 Pelfrey Mygale/Honda, running the fastest lap of the event at 58.970, but ultimately surrendering his Championship lead.
“It’s fun fighting with the team for the win, this is such a great Championship. We made our moves (to the front) early but Ayla had the speed today,” said Rickards.
Augie Lerch rounded off the podium following his inaugural win at Mid-Ohio a few weeks ago, coming from 11th on the starting grid, while the final Pelfrey car, Nikita Lastochkin completed the top four. Andrew Hobbs was in fifth after pacing Friday practice in the No. 13 WISKO Racing Mygale/Honda.
Jim Goughary won the Masters Class category with a sixth place run in the Ski Motorsports Van Diemen/Honda, but that was not the result he was looking for after leading a number of laps early in the race.
Sam Chastain started second but settled for seventh, slipping back through the race – while Art Foster mixed it up with the leaders in his No. 21 Spectrum/Honda before an eighth place finish.
Exclusive Autosport pole-sitter Jack Mitchell Jr. led the field to the green flag but lost out on the early lead to Evan Mehan. Mitchell Jr. would hang in the top group of cars before a late race spin left him down the order in ninth. Steve Bamford completed the top ten.
Chastain’s Evan Mehan led the opening group of laps after a second-place starting spot in his first ever F1600 Series race start. But, it wouldn’t go his way as a spin on the back stretch left Mehan dead last on the field.
Steve Bamford completed the top ten in his Rice Race Prep Mygale/Honda.
The 26-lap race was timed to a 30-minute track window at the 1.6-mile Pittsburgh course, with a frantic pace unfolding at the start of the race, and quick sub-60 second laps meaning it was an action packed contest for the F1600 cars.
While Agren leads the points, five races remain, including the final round at Pittsburgh, with Sunday featuring a 9:25am qualifying session and 1:35pm race.
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com under the results tab.