Chastain Ends Solid Year in F1600 and F2000 Competition
Noblesville, IN – A race win and multiple podiums in two highly competitive series were the highlights over the course of the 2015 race season for Chastain Motorsports in the F1600 Formula F Championship and F2000 Championship Series.
The team added a F2000 program for Sam Chastain, and dramatically expanded its F1600 program for 2015. In 2014, the team started the year with a single Mygale/Honda entry. In 2015, at Road Atlanta, the team fielded four F1600 Mygale/Hondas and a F2000 Van Diemen/Zetec.
While Sam Chastain got acclimated to his new F2000 car at Road Atlanta, having moved up from the F1600 Series where he scored a victory in 2014, it was Kyle Kirkwood having led the charge at Road Atlanta. The F1600 newcomer won the first race of the 21-event 2015 season for Chastain Motorsports, while teammate and MIT college student Will Harvey also scored his first ever F1600 podium in his debut with the team. Andy Lewis also ran a full, strong season for the team, finishing 10th in points.
In fact, Kirkwood was the only one of two drivers in the field that won a race despite not running the entire season.
It didn’t take long for the success to continue, as the No. 30 of Sam Chastain made his inaugural visit to the F2000 podium at Mid-Ohio, challenging for the race win in the process, eventually finishing third.
Seven weeks and three races later, he would score his best finish with a determined drive to second among a tough field at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The second place tied the best effort of the Van Diemen chassis for 2015. Chastain would go on to finish eighth in points and improved some 17 positions over the course of the year between qualifying (grid) order and race finishes.
As well, on the F1600 side, Lewis’ first full-season in pro competition was a solid one, with multiple top 10 finishes, and staying out of trouble to complete the top 10 in the final Series points tally.
Harvey, meanwhile, showed his speed in the No. 27 Mygale/Honda, but was caught up in a few unfortunate incidents that limited his points haul to 12th in the final standings in his sophomore year, which included his first podium finish.
Running nine races for the team, Parker Chase got his first taste for pro-level competition as well, with a season high finish coming in race three at Road Atlanta, where he finished eighth.
With the off-season exhibition by Formula Race Promotions expected to take place in Florida in February, and the points-paying season opening at Road Atlanta, Chastain has its fleet of race cars ready to test for aspiring drivers over the course of the winter into the spring, and hopes to put together a Championship-winning effort in 2016.