Competitive F1600 Series Makes First Visit to Road Atlanta
Braselton, GA – The F1600 Formula F Championship Series will make its inaugural visit to the high-speed Road Atlanta circuit this coming weekend, sharing the track with the F2000 Series and Formula Drift. Bryan Herta Autosport’s Adrian Starrantino is coming off two wins at VIRginia International Raceway but the combined margin of victory was under four tenths of a second.
Starrantino held on by mere inches both days during the season opening rounds in Virginia, winning both races in his Mygale/Honda over Jake Eidson in the Cape Motorsports’ Spectrum/Honda in two thrilling races.
Now it’s onto Road Atlanta, and long straights on the 12-turn road course should promote more pack racing throughout F1600 field.
While Starrantino won both races in April, Eidson came out of the weekend in the headlines, having to start last in the second race and passing almost the entire field in turn one when Jeremy Grenier got airborne. Grenier was okay, but his Citation chassis will miss the next two events to undergo repairs.
Sitting third in points behind Starrantino and Eidson is Aaron Telitz, who scored a pair of top fives in his Series debut, marking the first race for the WISKO F1600 program as well. That team will expand to two Mygale/Honda cars for Road Atlanta with Paul Alspach in the No. 66.
Ayla Agren became the first woman to win pole in the F1600 Series, and finished on the podium at VIR – driving for Bryan Herta Autosport in a similar Mygale/Honda as Championship leader Starrantino. She sits fourth in points as the field prepares for the double-header event in Braselton.
Art Foster had a trouble free VIR, as his Spectrum/Honda comes into Georgia fifth in the Championship ahead of Polestar’s Lew Cooper, who ran VIR in a Van Diemen/Ford, but is expected to make a Spectrum/Honda switch at some point under the Polestar Racing Group banner.
The field is as deep as it is competitive with Steve Bamford landing on the podium with a Masters Class victory at VIR and has been fast in his Mygale/Honda.
Sam Chastian is also looking to improve in his first season out of karts for Bryan Herta Autosport.
Jim Goughary looks to rebound following VIR as well, where mechanical issues plagued the race winner through the weekend.
Along with the F2000, F1600 will have two races, with one on Friday and one on Saturday, in time to get home for Mother’s Day, and ending each day in the early afternoon before Formula Drift takes over the track.
The F1600 weekend starts with Thursday May 9 seeing three practice sessions before 4:30 qualifying (eastern time) for race one. Friday continues with a 8:30 warm-up and 12:00 race. Saturday's schedule calls for 8:30 qualifying and a 11:10 18-lap or 30-minute race. Follow live on F1600series.com with live audio, along with news, photos, results and more. Live timing will be available on Race Monitor.