Audette Paces Early Practice in Georgia
Braselton, GA – Remy Audette set the fastest time in the first official session of the F2000 Championship Series weekend at Road Atlanta. The Canadian posted a time of 1:25.092 around the 2.54-mile track, under the existing track record and good enough for the fastest lap of the 30-minute practice session.
Audette, the Championship leader, won the second race of the 2011 season at VIRginia International Raceway a few weeks ago and hadn’t seen Road Atlanta until Thursday’s test sessions.
Chris Livengood was second fastest at 1:25.232, with Jonathan Scarallo, Tim Minor and rookie Kyle Connery rounding out the top five.
Connery led a trio of rookies in the practice session, with Angel Benetiz in sixth position, followed by Robert La Rocca and Gustavo Rizzo, Benetiz’s teammate at Alegra Motorsports.
Nathan Morcom, Scarallo’s Primus Racing teammate, is also expected to be quick but did not have a working transponder during the practice session. Morcom won the season opener in Virginia and sits second in the Championship chase.
Brendan Puderbach, who debuted in a brand new RFR during Thursday testing under the John Walko Racing tent, has moved to the team’s backup Van Diemen for the remainder of the event following some teething issues with the new car.
Alegra Motorsports also battled through some kinks with its new #24 RFR chassis driven by Fabio Orsolon, replacing the Zetec engine overnight. Orsolon did not make the session.
Meanwhile, multiple-time SCCA National Champion Dave Weitzenhof sat out the session, opting to focus his efforts on prepping the #67 Citation/Zetec for qualifying later in the morning.
Tim Paul also missed the session, the sophomore-year driver for SMR/GTP Motorsports is expected at the track later today following final exams in New Hampshire last night.
Fans can follow live qualifying and race updates from Road Atlanta on F2000Series.com or @F2000 on Twitter, on Friday and Saturday. Friday, May 6, follows with qualifying at 11:00 am and the first race of the event at 2:15 pm. Saturday follows with an early, 8:00 am practice, 10:30 am qualifying, and 1:00 pm race. All times are eastern.
Practice 1 Times:
Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 21 Remy Audette 1:25.092 107.460 14 - - 2 37 Chris Livengood 1:25.232 107.284 19 +0.140 +0.140 3 13 Jonathan Scarallo 1:25.250 107.261 8 +0.158 +0.018 4 88 Tim Minor/M 1:25.285 107.217 8 +0.193 +0.035 5 91 Kyle Connery 1:25.566 106.865 3 +0.474 +0.281 6 26 Angel Benitez 1:25.749 106.637 14 +0.657 +0.183 7 10 Robert La Rocca 1:25.849 106.513 13 +0.757 +0.100 8 23 Gustavo Rizzo 1:25.959 106.376 16 +0.867 +0.110 9 72 Thomas Schwietz 1:26.426 105.801 12 +1.334 +0.467 10 3 Joe Colasacco 1:26.700 105.467 9 +1.608 +0.274 11 51 Dan Denison/M 1:27.024 105.074 10 +1.932 +0.324 12 22 Enzo Potolicchio 1:27.346 104.687 14 +2.254 +0.322 13 60 Dwight Rider/M 1:27.655 104.318 9 +2.563 +0.309 14 7 Brent Gilkes/M 1:27.952 103.966 12 +2.860 +0.297 15 90 Robert Wright/M 1:27.959 103.958 13 +2.867 +0.007 16 14 Jose Gerardo 1:28.258 103.605 9 +3.166 +0.299 17 8 Mark Defer/M 1:28.268 103.594 11 +3.176 +0.010 18 96 Brian Tomasi 1:28.652 103.145 3 +3.560 +0.384 19 29 Ardie Greenamyer/M 1:28.733 103.051 13 +3.641 +0.081 20 83 Brendan Puderbach 1:30.004 101.595 8 +4.912 +1.271 21 9 Zach Craigo 1:30.441 101.105 8 +5.349 +0.437 22 1 Ethan Ringel 1:32.136 99.245 3 +7.044 +1.695 23 2 Nathan Morcom -.--- - 0 - - 24 06 Tim Paul -.--- - 0 - - 25 24 Fabio Orsolon -.--- - 0 - - 26 42 Bill Jordan/M -.--- - 0 - - 27 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M -.--- - 0 - -