Another VIR Pole for Erickson
Alton, VA – Australian rookie Daniel Erickson made it two VIR poles, setting a lap time during qualifying for race two of the F2000 weekend at VIR that no-one else could get near. The 22-year old set the track record yesterday and was three tenths slower today, but four tenths up on outside pole sitter Remy Audette.
For Erickson, it will be another rolling start. In race one, having never done a rolling start, Erickson fell victim to Victor Carbone, who went on to win his first race by two-tenths over the Australian.
“I have to give credit to the team, they’ve done a great job,” commented Erickson, who is driving for Primus Racing and adds three additional bonus points towards the national title. “As far as the star tthis time around, I’ll have to do it right.”
Audette will start second in the #21 Audette Racing Van Diemen. “It was an odd session because I kept coming up on slower cars,” Audette said. “The car was good and we missed one additional quick lap at the end because we thought the checkered flag was out.”
Yesterday’s winner Carbone will start third next to Jonathan Scarallo in the R-Sport entry. 2007 Champion Cole Morgan and Fabio Orsolon will be on row three.
Rounding out the top ten were Phil Lombardi, Tim Kautz, Tim Minor and Tom Fatur.
A last-second deal put 22-year old Chris Keller in the #83 Van Diemen for the day. It was Keller’s first time ever in an F2000 car, and first time at VIR in three years. Moreover, his crew was in the paddock well into the night to prepare the car for the 2008 Formula Ford National Champion.
Keller ended up in a respectful 23rd out of the 33 car grid, and found an additional three seconds in that car compared to yesterday’s times.
“It’s tough rebuilding a car overnight,” Keller commented. “We didn’t even have time to put a setup on it, so now it’s time to make a couple real adjustments before the race.”
Race two of the weekend gets underway at 3:30pm. Fans and competitors can follow live updates, news and photos on www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com or on Twitter @F2000.
Race 2 Grid Order:
Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 02 Daniel Erickson 1:54.739 102.598 10 - - 2 21 Remy Audette 1:55.200 102.188 11 +0.461 +0.461 3 23 Victor Carbone 1:55.301 102.098 6 +0.562 +0.101 4 22 Jonathon Scarallo 1:55.519 101.905 10 +0.780 +0.218 5 1 Cole Morgan 1:55.598 101.836 4 +0.859 +0.079 6 26 Fabio Orsolon 1:55.729 101.720 6 +0.990 +0.131 7 3 Phil Lombardi/M 1:55.762 101.691 10 +1.023 +0.033 8 36 Tim Kautz/M 1:56.043 101.445 9 +1.304 +0.281 9 88 Tim Minor/M 1:56.387 101.145 10 +1.648 +0.344 10 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:56.543 101.010 8 +1.804 +0.156 11 5 Keith McCrone/M 1:56.662 100.907 6 +1.923 +0.119 12 37 Chris Livengood 1:56.739 100.840 9 +2.000 +0.077 13 89 Rob Nicholas/M 1:56.766 100.817 3 +2.027 +0.027 14 80 Bobby Caldwell 1:56.906 100.696 6 +2.167 +0.140 15 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:57.044 100.578 10 +2.305 +0.138 16 11 Jesse Yorio 1:57.045 100.577 11 +2.306 +0.001 17 97 Chris Gumprecht 1:57.084 100.543 5 +2.345 +0.039 18 95 Al Giubord, Jr. 1:57.233 100.415 10 +2.494 +0.149 19 8 Mark Defer/M 1:57.247 100.403 11 +2.508 +0.014 20 57 Billy McLaughlin 1:57.263 100.390 7 +2.524 +0.016 21 7 Brent Gilkes/M 1:57.410 100.264 11 +2.671 +0.147 22 90 Robert Wright/M 1:57.512 100.177 8 +2.773 +0.102 23 83 Chris Keller 1:57.642 100.066 8 +2.903 +0.130 24 25 Jeff McCusker/M 1:57.725 99.996 9 +2.986 +0.083 25 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 1:57.920 99.830 7 +3.181 +0.195 26 16 Peter Gonzalez/M 1:57.922 99.829 9 +3.183 +0.002 27 06 Tim Paul 1:58.021 99.745 8 +3.282 +0.099 28 27 Craig Clawson/M 1:58.448 99.385 12 +3.709 +0.427 29 94 Al Guibord,Sr./M 2:00.376 97.794 11 +5.637 +1.928 30 69 Paul Farmer/M 2:00.671 97.555 12 +5.932 +0.295 31 03 Tim Walsh 2:02.219 96.319 3 +7.480 +1.548 32 42 Bill Jordan/M 2:20.341 83.881 1 +25.602 +18.122 33 33 Len Amato/M -.--- - 0 - -