Beasley Continues Form, Paces WGI Practice
Watkins Glen, NY – Sam Beasley continued where he left off at Road Atlanta, pacing Friday F2000 Championship Series practice at Watkins Glen International with the fastest overall time of the day. The Legacy Autosport driver is coming off a victory, and also won at Watkins Glen last October. Following Beasley on the faster morning time sheets were David Grant and Quinlan Lall.
“It was a really good lap we ran in the first session, and I hope we can get down to the track record,” said Beasley, of his 1:51.613 circuit of Watkins Glen, compared to a 1:51.291 qualifying record. “We were off a bit on gearing and will make more adjustments.”
Beasley’s Legacy Autosport team made a major change to the car for the afternoon session, pacing the time sheets again later in the day during a slightly slower-paced session. Beasley got the better of Grant, Austin McCusker, Steve Bamford and Sam Chastain, making the top five on the afternoon time sheets five different chassis variants: Mygale, Spectrum, RFR, Citation and Van Diemen.
After a competitive opening double-header weekend in Road Atlanta, Bamford finds his No. 7 atop the Championship Series point standings on two strong podium finishes as the Series prepares for rounds three and four of the 14-race season.
Beasley, Lall and Grant are the only drivers to visit victory lane in 2015, with Beasley and Grant winning at the season opener while Lall scored his triumph at an exhibition event held in Palm Beach in February.
Rocketing up the time sheets to the tune of a second between morning and afternoon was Eric Filgueiras, in the No. 22 Spencer Racing Van Diemen. The Florida native lowered his time to 1:53.085 by the end of the day, gapping Tim Paul in seventh by seven tenths of a second.
Paul made his first appearance at an F2000 race in 2015, hoping to better his drive that saw a podium run to close out the 2015 season. Paul, racing the No. 6 SMR/GTP Van Diemen, is also racing in the SCCA Pro Racing MX5 Cup this season.
Lall could not repeat his morning performance, falling to eighth for Momentum Motorsports in the No. 1 Van Diemen.
Trent Walko put in 13 laps after mechanical issues sidelined his Spectrum in the morning practice session. Steve Jenks completed the top ten with a quick lap of 1:54.6, the second of the Masters Class drivers behind Bamford's sleek Citation.
Completing positions 11-15 in the afternoon were Charles Finelli, Dean Baker, Jim Hallman, Brent Gilkes and Craig Clawson. Chris Monteleone, sporting the only Pinto-powered car in the field, was 16th quick.
Both 30-minute Friday practice sessions were run under full green-flag conditions without any significant incidents, allowing for maximum utilization of track time for F2000 Series drivers.
Full results are available on www.F2000Series.com under the results tab.
Saturday and Sunday continue with early morning qualifying and an afternoon race each day.