Estep Takes Three-Wide Victory
Alton, VA - A three wide photo-finish at VIR saw Trenton Estep take his first win of the 2016 F1600 Formula F Championship Series season by .025 seconds, with Phillippe Denes on his left and Calvin Ming on his right, and Neil Verhagen on the gearbox of Estep's No. 90 Spectrum from Exclusive Autosport. The top four cars were covered by .062 seconds at the checkered flag in a race-long battle among the leaders.
"It was an awesome race, I can't thank the Exclusive Autosport guys enough to give me a car to do it," said Estep, who has run all weekend, including taking pole for Saturday's race. "The last lap is all about strategy, you have to hold off at the right moment to get the draft and it paid off."
Denes finished second for the second straight race, taking home more valuable points in his mounting Championship run for Team Pelfrey in round eight of the 21-race season.
"We were doing good and I knew I had to get a good run onto the front stretch. I knew it was going to come down to that because of the big pack. It was a good race," said Denes.
Ming completed the podium for Team Pelfrey, saying: "It was a battle royale and a pretty good race."
After leading multiple laps, Verhagen could not repeat his Saturday win for K-Hill Motorsports, and finished in fourth, with Peter Portante completing the top five in another K-Hill Mygale.
Ben Auriemma climbed through the pack late in the race to bring the second Exclusive Autosport car home sixth, while F1600 newcomer Kaylen Frederick diced in the lead pack and finished seventh.
After leading early, Steve Bamford finished eighth to win the Masters Class, but it was not the result the Rice Race Prep driver was aiming for after easily running at the front in the second of three F1600 races scheduled for the weekend at VIR.