F2000 Looks to June at VIR
Salem, NH – Last year, Tim Minor swept the opening F2000 Championship Series weekend at VIRginia International Raceway to start his title run. This year, he comes in on three straight wins as VIR provides a crucial third doubleheader weekend of the 2014 F2000 season. Those wins haven’t come easy, however, as the racing at the front of the field has been fierce for the defending Champion.
In the season opener at Road Atlanta, a restart gave Skylar Robinson the win and his inaugural F2000 victory. He backed that up a day later with a second place run, repeating the feat at Watkins Glen before a qualifying problem put him at the back of the field, and into the wall on the start.
Off a weekend racing a midget in North Carolina, the recent high-school graduate looks to get the best of Minor in the No. 6 Eric Langbein Racing Citation at a re-paved and faster VIR.
Flying under the radar has been Kevin Kopp, with two second place finishes, laps in the lead at Road Atlanta, and a pair of DNFs. Kopp has been engineering the car himself – recently graduating with a engineering degree with a double minor in math and physics – and runs for a small team in the all-family privateer Kopp Motorsports in the No. 66 Van Diemen – a car Tim Minor used to drive.
Thomas McGregor has put his Exclusive Autosport Spectrum F2000 car on the podium twice in four starts as development of the new chassis continues. McGregor hopes to bring Spectrum their first win in the F2000 Series and land on the top step of the podium for his inaugural Series victory.
Another driver vaulting up the time sheets this year has been John McCusker in his sophomore F2000 campaign for Dotworks Racing in an updated No. 01 RFR. McCusker scored his first top five at Road Atlanta in April and backed that up with a pair of top 10s at Watkins Glen last month.
Returning to a track he actually has laps on will be aspiring Momentum Motorsports’ driver Quinlan Lall in the No. 1 Radon chassis.
Sam Beasley has kept a low profile in the Polestar Racing Group Van Diemen, but started to show his speed with a fourth place effort on Saturday at Watkins Glen. Better yet, a problem on Sunday left him last for the race start, and he knifed through the field, going from 33rd to 14th in a race that went two laps short.
F2000’s VIR trip is underscored by track time – a full Thursday test day is on tap, offering drivers four unofficial practice sessions before Friday’s official practice (two sessions). Saturday and Sunday each bring forth a qualifying session and 30-minute race.