Beasley Out Front in VIR F2000 Practice
Alton, VA – Fresh off his second win of the season in May, Sam Beasley paced both Friday practice sessions for the F2000 Championship Series at VIR ahead of rounds five and six of the season. David Grant was second quick on the day with his time from the morning practice session while Sam Chastain followed with a flyer in the afternoon session. Beasley’s fast time of the day clocked in at 1:52.646 on the 17-turn road course.
Practice 1
Beasley put in the fast time of the morning his No. 4 Mygale from Legacy Autsoport, out pacing Championship rival Grant and Championship points’ leader Bamford. Those three drivers, fittingly, account for all the wins thus far in the four-race old 2014 season. Against Beasley’s new-for-2015 silver Mygale chassis, Bamford is driving a Citation, the same car that sat on pole at VIR in 2014. Grant’s No. 29 Polestar entry is a Zetec-powered Spectrum chassis.
The late morning session ended a few minutes early for an incident involving Eric Filgueiras’ Van Diemen, which still managed to set the fourth best time of the session. Filgueiras emerged okay from the cockpit but the left front corner and nose of the car required extensive repair. The Spencer Racing team missed practice two and hopes to have the No. 22 ready for Saturday morning qualifying, as Filgueiras hopes to improve on two third place finishes in four race starts.
Sam Chastain completed the top five in practice one, followed by Quinlan Lall, Austin McCusker, Trent Walko, John McCusker and Nick Palacio, whose No. 25 car failed to complete the entire session, returning to the paddock with a mechanical issue.
Practice 2
Beasley continued his pace in the afternoon session, outpacing the Spectrum of Grant. As the Championship marches on, two races worth of points are on tap this weekend in Virginia, while once Sunday is complete, just eight races remain with six in the books.
Chastain, in the No. 29 Chastain Motorsports Van Diemen, improved his fifth place time from the morning to come in third quick, just three and a half tenths behind Beasley, and some eight tenths faster than his personal best from earlier in the day.
Bamford followed in fourth in the afternoon session, followed by brothers Austin and John McCusker in a pair of RFR chassis from Dotworks Racing. Lall continued his top ten showing for Momentum Motorsports, seventh quick, while Dan Denison, Walko and Palacio completed the top ten on the 3.4 mile track.
Denison found five more tenths on his morning time in the Polestar No. 51, while Walko improved a tenth despite moving back a position in the No. 91 Exclusive Autosport Spectrum.
Full results are available on www.F2000Series.com under the results tab.
The F2000 Championship weekend continues from VIR with Saturday morning qualifying followed by a race late on Saturday afternoon – a similar day on Sunday follows.