Championship Fight to Watkins Glen International
It’s the closest F2000 Series title battle since the 2010 season, with the 2014 Championship up for grabs between Tim Minor and Skylar Robinson as the season finale at Watkins Glen International looms in mid-October.
The two are in nearly identical Citation F2000 cars, both engineered by Eric Langbein. A previous visit to Watkins Glen in May saw Minor easily win both races while Robinson struggled after a second place finish on Saturday. Come Sunday, a problem in qualifying left him at the back of the field, leading to an impact with the pit-lane wall coming to the green flag, ending his day with a rare DNF.
In the same cars, the two drivers are indeed very different. Minor is the reigning F2000 Champion, and has been in the Series for years, having built his racing career on sheer pace in amateur and pro racing ranks. After the Watkins Glen weekend he’ll drive his truck and trailer home to Virginia, and be at the helm of his automotive repair business on Monday morning.
Minor’s dominating 2013 performance hasn’t been repeated in 2014, but the veteran driver has taken wins at Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, VIR and Mid-Ohio. Minor leads all active drivers in victories, poles, top fives and top tens, and has more wins and poles than all active F2000 drivers combined.
Robinson, on the other hand, is looking to make his mark in F2000 and move right on up the racing food chain. Born in 1996, the Georgia native just graduated high school and has driven everything from open wheel cars in England for a summer to Honda-powered midgets on short ovals.
Robinson’s season has been a bit of a roller coaster. He won his debut race at Road Atlanta in April, but couldn’t find victory lane again before a convincing double-race sweep at Thompson Speedway in late August. He has picked up the pace each weekend, also noting a key pole in extremely tricky wet conditions at Pittsburgh. Robinson is part of a racing lineage, with father Chip having spent time in IndyCars and various factory-backed sports car programs.
Coming off Thompson, Robinson has the momentum, while Minor was able to score two solid top fives for points – but wasn’t on the pace of the leader.
Now the Championship finale is set for Watkins Glen, October 10-12, and rounds 13 and 14 of the season. Minor has three wins at the track, while Robinson has a sole second place finish, which came this past May.