F2000 Road Atlanta Notebook

Connery

Working with James Lee Racing, Rookie Kyle Connery took home two trophies, a fast lap, and an Afterburner  pole award. The Florida-native is short on funding, but is expected to be at Watkins Glen International for rounds five and six of the 2011 season, June 3-5, in the #91 Connery Concrete Van Diemen.

He walked to his first win on Friday afternoon by more than four seconds, but had to fight Tim Minor down to the last lap on Saturday, eventually out braking Minor for a dramatic win in Georgia.

Connery was going to be a force coming into the weekend as the karting standout never got to show his true potential at VIRginia International Raceway.

The story has been repeated again and again, but, as it goes, Connery put the car on pole at VIR but had a massive shunt just a few corners later, missing the start of his first F2000 race. He bounced back in the second race of the doubleheader to finish second in a quickly-put-back-together Van Diemen.

Championship

Championship points leader Remy Audette did what he needed to do at Road Atlanta, somehow finishing second in the first race of the weekend after falling to seventh, and staying out of trouble on Saturday to finish fourth.

Heading to Watkins Glen, where Audette has been a fixture on the podium in past years, he leads by 13 points over Kyle Connery, with another 16 points back to Robert La Rocca. Tim Minor and Nathan Morcom round of the top five in the standings.

RFR Data

Now that Alegra has an RFR with an experienced F2000 driver in Fabio Orsolon, it is relatively easy to compare lap times.

In 2010, Orsolon set a quick lap of 1:25.365 in a Van Diemen, a year later, with a new spec tire, Orsolon’s quick lap was 1:26.630 in the new RFR chassis.

Keep in mind Alegra Motorsports literally had no testing or development time in the car.

Fashion Award

Speaking of the now three-car-team Alegra Motorsports, the team’s fedoras win the highly contested fashion police award from the Road Atlanta weekend.