Cangialosi Wins Close Race Over Lall Dass
Summit Point, WV – After 24 action packed green flag laps around Summit Point, the margin of victory was just .090 seconds as K-Hill Motorsports driver Dario Cangialosi narrowly beat Christan Lall Dass and his Piper/Ford to the checkered flag, with Tyler O'Connor and Collin Mullan in close pursuit in round 16 of the 2018 F1600 Championship Series season.
It was the fifth win of the season for Cangialosi who extends a slim points lead over his teammate O’Connor as just five races remain.
“I was just trying to hang in steady with the front pack and make sure I didn’t lose them,” said Cangialosi. “As the race went on I managed to get into the top three and I played my cards right on the last lap. I was worried about Christian down the straight but we held him off.”
It was another strong showing for Florida’s Lall Dass, who marked his best finish of the season yet with a second place drive in the No. 94.
“I’m really happy for the team and thank you to LD Racing for prepping the car,” said Lall Dass. “I thought I could make it stick in turn one on the last lap, but I got on the brakes a little early. I didn’t want to foil the whole podium deal. I went for it and it didn’t work, but we have two more races.”
O’Connor completed the podium for K-Hill Motorsports with a third place run.
“It was pretty crazy. At one point there were seven cars separated by a blanket. It was crazy. I’m ecstatic to bring the car home third. We have a race later today and I was keeping that in my head the entire time. It was super close,” said O’Connor. “We didn’t win, but it feels like a win and I’m going to take this into this evening’s race.”
Collin Mullan was fourth for Rice Race Prep, leading the most laps of the race, while Ayrton Ori came home for Team Pelfrey in fifth.
Nicky Hays was sixth for Team Pelfrey, also leading a number of laps.
A seventh place run from Joel Haas delivered him another Masters Class victory for LD Racing.
Mike Scanlan and Sam Lockwood followed, completing the Masters Class podium.
Retirements included Baylor Griffin, Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Joey Essma.
The race two starting grid will be set by fast laps, with O'Connor starting from pole alongside Cangialosi, while Lall Dass and Essma will line up on row two for the rolling start.
F1600 drivers have two more races yet to come from Summit Point, with another round scheduled for later on Saturday afternoon and the final race of the weekend on Sunday.