Daniel Erickson Takes VIR Pole for Race 1

April 10, 2010
Erickson is on pole with a new track record at VIR.

Alton, VA – Australian rookie Daniel Erickson took pole for today’s F2000 race at VIR with a new track record at 1:54.496, three tenths up on the rest of the field. It was only Erickson’s third day in his Primus Racing Van Diemen/Zetec. The former British Formula Ford driver waited until the very last second to bump Brazilian Victor Carbone off the pole.

“The car was handling well,” said Erickson, who grabs three championship points. “I’m still getting used to it but the result is great, big thanks to the team and Jon Baytos. The lap came together at the end and there wasn’t much traffic, things were getting better by the lap. For the race, it would be nice to pull a gap and break away from the field but that is easier said than done.”

Carbone will start on the outside of the front row.

Carbone, driving for Alegra Motorsports in his second F2000 season, set the pace for most of the session and will start second on the 33-car grid.

“The car is just amazing,” commented Carbone, who logs his best ever starting position as the run to the national championship begins. “The base setup was fast and we’re making small changes to make it even better.”

Behind Erickson and Carbone on the front row were Canadian Remy Audette, who was on pole at VIR last year, Fabio Orsolon, Carbone’s Alegra teammate, and 2007 F2000 Champion Cole Morgan. That makes four different nationalities and four different teams in the top five.

Rounding out the top ten were Tim Kautz, Jonathan Scarallo, Tom Fatur, Phil Lombardi and Tim Minor.

Tim Kautz was fastest of the Masters Class drivers, also in his first F2000 race ever.

Tim Kautz was the fastest Masters Class competitor.

“We’re still learning here, I’ve only got about 30 laps in the car,” Kautz explained. “The car is good and Liberty Motorsports is doing a great job, each time I go out the car gets a little faster.”

Jonathan Scarallo, in his first race for R-Sport commented: “It was a disappointing run to be honest. We left a lot of time out there and only got one clear lap. We have a great car for the race so it should make it a good show.”

Jesse Yorio, in the brand new Piper DF5C chassis qualified 11th. Chris Livengood, in the only Pinto-powered Van Diemen in the field will be grided 13th.

Livengood has the only Pinto powered car in the field.

“We threw the kitchen sink at the car last night,” commented Livengood, another rookie in the deep F2000 field. “The lap was pretty good but I got held up which cost me some time, it’s not bad since all the wheels are still on the car and we should be able to move up in the race.”

The session was relatively clean with one short black flag period for Tim Walsh, who had a minor incident in turn one. Rob Nicholas, who was fastest in the first official practice of the weekend, also failed to complete a lap in the session.

Race one of the 2010 season starts this afternoon at 3:30 eastern. Sunday has a similar schedule with a mid-day qualifying session followed by an afternoon 30-minute or 14-lap race. Fans and competitors can follow live updates, news and photos on www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com or on Twitter @F2000.

Race 1 Grid:

Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 02 Daniel Erickson 1:54.496 102.816 7 - - 2 23 Victor Carbone 1:54.840 102.508 7 +0.344 +0.344 3 21 Remy Audette 1:54.986 102.378 7 +0.490 +0.146 4 26 Fabio Orsolon 1:55.154 102.228 8 +0.658 +0.168 5 1 Cole Morgan 1:55.438 101.977 7 +0.942 +0.284 6 36 Tim Kautz 1:55.655 101.785 7 +1.159 +0.217 7 22 Jonathon Scarallo 1:55.873 101.594 8 +1.377 +0.218 8 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:56.134 101.366 7 +1.638 +0.261 9 3 Phil Lombardi/M 1:56.226 101.285 8 +1.730 +0.092 10 88 Tim Minor/M 1:56.257 101.258 7 +1.761 +0.031 11 11 Jesse Yorio 1:56.301 101.220 7 +1.805 +0.044 12 97 Chris Gumprecht 1:56.386 101.146 7 +1.890 +0.085 13 37 Chris Livengood 1:56.423 101.114 6 +1.927 +0.037 14 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:57.046 100.576 8 +2.550 +0.623 15 7 Brent Gilkes/M 1:57.055 100.568 7 +2.559 +0.009 16 80 Bobby Caldwell 1:57.068 100.557 5 +2.572 +0.013 17 95 Al Giubord, Jr. 1:57.199 100.445 5 +2.703 +0.131 18 90 Robert Wright/M 1:57.657 100.054 7 +3.161 +0.458 19 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 1:58.435 99.396 6 +3.939 +0.778 20 25 Jeff McCusker/M 1:58.466 99.370 7 +3.970 +0.031 21 27 Craig Clawson/M 1:58.687 99.185 8 +4.191 +0.221 22 57 Billy McLaughlin 1:58.746 99.136 6 +4.250 +0.059 23 16 Peter Gonzalez/M 1:58.873 99.030 6 +4.377 +0.127 24 8 Mark Defer/M 1:59.625 98.408 3 +5.129 +0.752 25 42 Bill Jordan/M 1:59.991 98.107 7 +5.495 +0.366 26 06 Tim Paul 2:00.200 97.937 6 +5.704 +0.209 27 83 Charles Finelli/M 2:00.342 97.821 6 +5.846 +0.142 28 69 Paul Farmer/M 2:01.967 96.518 5 +7.471 +1.625 29 33 Len Amato/M 2:04.297 94.709 3 +9.801 +2.330 30 5 Keith McCrone/M 2:07.740 92.156 2 +13.244 +3.443 31 89 Rob Nicholas/M -.--- - 0 - - 32 03 Tim Walsh -.--- - 0 - - 33 94 Al Guibord,Sr./M -.--- - 0 - -

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