Filgueiras Continues Podium Ways in Pittsburgh
After what was a very trying rounds 7 & 8 at the Mid Ohio Sportscar Course, the Lipten Energy Solutions Spencer Racing team was looking forward to moving onto the next venue held right outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Many teams were expected to take on the challenge of the track’s brand new layout with Thursday’s promoter test day. 21-year old Eric Filgueiras would use every opportunity of every lap to carve his way through the new course finding his rhythm over the course of the day. Using a well-worn set of tires, the young Floridian would finish Friday’s official Practice 7th and 9th in the sessions, building confidence for weekend racing.
The team knew they needed to make adjustments to the car, and along with fresh tires Filgueiras would push the car and accomplish a 4th place starting position for Saturday’s race. The battle ensued at the drop of the green flag. Eric moving up into 3rd immediately, and after a few laps of jockeying for position was able to hold onto 2nd place and drive on to the checkered flag “This feels like a win for us, it's a pleasure being here, it's a great track,” said Filgueiras. “That's the goal, as races wind down we have to beat our competitors that are with us in the points and we accomplished that today.”
Sunday would be a smooth effort in qualifying, with Eric jumping up one position to 3rd position. At the start of the race The young driver would push through to 2nd and continue until a series of mistakes would cause Eric to lock up under heaving braking and spin out of control. He eventually would rejoin the action and come back to finish in P13. “Unfortunately today was no one else’s fault but my own, and I can’t apologize to the team enough. But at the same I just have to take it on the chin and keep going. We’ll rebound for the next weekend!”
All of this weekend’s success was accomplished with the constant support of Lipten Energy Solutions, Kovi Consulting, SPEEDCOM Communications, HAWK Performance, BELL Helmets, Oakley, A&B Graphics, GoPro, RaceQuip and Dark Horse Pros.
Join Spencer Racing at the next round of 2015 F2000 Competition August 28-30 at New Jersey Motorsports Park!