Another Mid-Ohio Pole and Three More Points for Chris Miller
Lexington, OH – Chris Miller took pole for the F2000 season finale at Mid-Ohio this morning in qualifying and added another three points to his championship lead over Matthew Inge, who lost a front wing during the session and will have to start seventh. Remy Audette will line up next to Miller’s JDC Van Diemen. Tim Minor will start third alongside yesterday’s winner and 2009 rookie of the year, Benjamin Searcy. Victor Carbone rounded out the top five.
“We used our remaining two allotted Hoosier slicks on the left side,” Miler said. “That was a good call and we turned a couple good laps right in the middle of the session. Then I just pulled into save tires. I’d love to win the race but it’s more important to stay out of trouble and think championship.”
Chris Miller now touts a huge 30 point margin in the championship over Matthew Inge.
Inge said: “The car was so much better than yesterday with the wing package St. Clair put on. I think I could have put it on pole but was pushing way too hard and just lost it in one, ending my session.”
Audette led most of yesterday’s race before a late race spin demoted him to a third place finish. Audette will start alongside Miller. Yesterday, Audette took the lead going into turn one from the green flag from a third place starting spot.
“In the end we went for pole,“ commented the Canadian. “With a couple laps to go I hooked up with Tim Minor and thought it would help but I was much faster than him in some areas on the track. So I lifted off and left some space and set my time on the final flyer. Since we are out of the hunt for the championship I am going for the win."
TIm Minor did not use any new tires for the session, as the 2008 Masters Class champion is saving his last two remaining slicks for the race. Minor employed a similiar tire-saving strategy yesterday, earning him a second place finish coming off a domating victory at Summit Point in July.
The surprise of the 25-minute session was Mark Defer, who qualified his St. Clair Van Diemen in sixth. Matthew Inge followed in seventh with Slade Miller, Fabio Orsolon and Jerry Szykulsk rounding out the top ten.
Caitlin Johnston got a solid lap in early before her car experienced mechanical issues and lost ignition, she will line up 12th for the 2:55 local time green flag.
The session was relatively clean except for a short black flag period to get a stranded Jonathan Scarallo back underway.
F2000ChampionshipSeries.com will have live coverage for the season finale and championship decider this afternoon.
Race 2 Grid Order:
Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 85 Chris Miller 1:24.211 96.529 9 - - 2 21 Remy Audette 1:24.787 95.873 12 +0.576 +0.576 3 88 Tim Minor/M 1:24.905 95.740 11 +0.694 +0.118 4 10 Benjamin Searcy 1:24.918 95.725 8 +0.707 +0.013 5 23 Victor Carbone 1:24.998 95.635 11 +0.787 +0.080 6 8 Mark Defer/M 1:25.199 95.410 3 +0.988 +0.201 7 02 Matthew Inge 1:25.227 95.378 6 +1.016 +0.028 8 17 Slade Miller 1:25.289 95.309 7 +1.078 +0.062 9 26 Fabio Orsolon 1:25.368 95.221 4 +1.157 +0.079 10 31 Jerry Szykulski/M 1:25.369 95.220 10 +1.158 +0.001 11 5 Keith McCrone/M 1:25.542 95.027 11 +1.331 +0.173 12 20 Caitlin Johnston 1:25.607 94.955 8 +1.396 +0.065 13 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:25.666 94.889 11 +1.455 +0.059 14 11 Jesse Yorio 1:25.968 94.556 8 +1.757 +0.139 15 90 Robert Wright/M 1:26.049 94.467 11 +1.838 +0.081 16 22 Jonathon Scarallo 1:25.829 94.709 8 +1.618 +0.163 17 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:26.074 94.440 11 +1.863 +0.025 18 89 Rob Nicholas/M 1:26.418 94.064 5 +2.207 +0.344 19 25 Jeff McCusker/M 1:26.422 94.059 8 +2.211 +0.004 20 4 Chris Camadella/M 1:26.579 93.889 9 +2.368 +0.157 21 97 Chris Gumprecht 1:26.586 93.881 5 +2.375 +0.007 22 56 Ted Sahley 1:26.698 93.760 9 +2.487 +0.112 23 27 Craig Clawson/M 1:27.067 93.363 11 +2.856 +0.369 24 96 Alejandro Munoz 1:27.104 93.323 3 +2.893 +0.037 25 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 1:27.461 92.942 9 +3.250 +0.357 26 94 Blake Teeter 1:28.364 91.992 8 +4.153 +0.903 27 51 Dan Denison/M 1:30.614 89.708 2 +6.403 +2.250 28 95 Al Giubord, Jr. -.--- - 0 - -