Chastain Motorsports Sees Victory at VIR
Noblesville, IN – Chastain Motorsports notched their first victory of the 2014 F1600 Formula F Championship Series season as Brandon Newey edged out a win by .042 seconds during round five at VIRginia International Raceway. That was backed up by a pair of poles, a second place, in addition to two top-ten finishes by Sam Chastain in the No. 27 Mygale/Honda.
A multiple race winner during the 2012 campaign, Newey’s win on Saturday at VIR was his most hard-fought, in a race-long duel with another car. Teammate Chastain wasn’t far behind either, until a last-lap incident put him off-track, recovering to finish tenth.
“That was a lot of fun,” said Newey, immediately after the race. “A big thanks to Chastain Motorsports for a great car, Ayla Agren was so fast today and I couldn’t break away. I thought she had a run there at the end, it was close.”
With a pair of fast pole laps, Newey is the new track record holder for F1600 at VIR.
A day later Newey was on pole again and a breakaway-lead group had six cars, including both Newey’s No. 29 and Chastain’s No. 27 battling for the win.
It would be a different story on Sunday, however, as Newey was on the other end of the battle at the line in round six of the season, missing the victory by a car length, while Chastain finished eighth, running a best lap during the race faster than Newey.
Added Sam Chastain: “It was an overall good weekend for the team as we showed we have the pace to run up front and with a little bit more testing we will up there more often.”
With podium hardware coming home to Indiana with Chastain Motorsports, the team expects Watkins Glen entrant Evan Mehan to be back in the No. 29 car for rounds seven and eight of the 2014 season at Mid-Ohio, marking the mid-way point of the year.
“I have a lot of experience at Mid-Ohio,” Chastain continued. “We know we have a car that handles well, so hopefully we’ll be able to have a good finish.”
In addition, a third blue Mygale/Honda is being built due to demand, and the team expects to be testing various drivers for that seat in the coming weeks.
Learn more about Chastain Motorsports on the web at www.chastainmotorsports.com