Formula Race Promotions Completes Watkins Glen Event Amidst Weather Delays
Formula Race Promotions brought its F1600, F2000, Atlantic and FE2 championships to the legendary Watkins Glen International (WGI) this weekend with multiple classes sharing the bill alongside the Trans AM Series, and International GT Challenge.
Watch the Race Replays:
Friday morning sessions - HERE
Friday afternoon sessions - HERE
Saturday morning sessions - HERE
Saturday afternoon sessions - HERE
Sunday sessions - HERE
Rolling into Watkins Glen International this weekend, Mother Nature had other plans on Saturday as some lightning and weather delays shifted the schedule. After a successful test day on Friday, weather moved into the area Saturday morning, with lightning putting a halt to on-track action. The delay forced officials to cancel the F2000 qualifying session outright, while only a handful of drivers were able to complete laps in the weather-impacted Atlantic FE2 Qualifier.
Once the storms cleared, F1600 was able to take to a dry track for its qualifying session, and the class delivered one of the tightest fights of the weekend. Connor Clubine topped the session turning a 2:00.761 to edge Cristian Menezes' #4 BGR Piper RaceCars machine by just 0.026 seconds. David Ybarra was third in the for K-Hill Motorsports at a 2:00.930, with Cooper Travis fourth as the top four separated by less than two-tenths of a second. Boss Patel rounded out the top five in the putting a pair of BGR Piper RaceCars machines inside the top five. David Adorno paced the F1600 Masters contingent in sixth overall just ahead of Axel LeRoy, John P Dole, Phil Kingham and Joe Colasacco
With time lost to the weather, race officials merged the Atlantic 016, Atlantic Open, FE2 and F2000 classes into a single combined Race 1. Harbir Dass led the field to green for K-Hill Motorsports with Vaughn Glace in the #8 alongside him on the front row. Jason Conzo's FE2 entry and Nicho Vardis' ATL-Open cars filled row two.
Dass converted his pole position into the win in the combined Atlantic/F2000/FE2 Heat Race 1. Vaughn Glace made it a 1-2 for Atlantic 016 with Nicho Vardis in his F1000 machine taking the ATL-Open class win in third. Timothy Minor topped the FCCS class in fourth overall but first for his class, and Jason Conzo brought his #4 SCCA Enterprises FE2 car home fifth overall for the class win. Robert Wright led the F2000 class in sixth overall but climbed to the top step of the podium in class, with Joe Colasacco, Rick Silver, Dave Weitzenhof and Devin Lesueur rounding out the top ten overall.
In the 13-lap F1600 Heat Race 1, Cristian Menezes turned the tables on qualifying, driving his entry to the win after starting second. David Ybarra came home second in his K-Hill Motorsports entry, with Cooper Travis third in third with the top three covered by roughly a tenth of a second on best race lap. Boss Patel was fourth in the second BGR Piper RaceCars machine, while David Adorno's fifth-place finish doubled as the F1600 Masters class win. John P Dole was sixth, ahead of qualifying pace-setter Connor Clubine, who slipped to seventh after topping the earlier session. Jake LeRoy, Joe Colasacco and Steve Oseth completed the top ten, with Colasacco and Oseth continuing the Masters class's tight battle further back in the field. The weather gods held off until the F1600 checker was flown but then forced cancelation of the last race of the day and a merger of the Atlantic & F2000 races on Sunday.
In Sunday’s F1600 Heat Race 2, Cooper Travis picked up his first win of the weekend, wheeling his #17 entry to victory. Cristian Menezes was second, for the second heat race in a row with David Ybarra third. Qualifying pace-setter Connor Clubine was fourth, and Jake LeRoy completed the top five in the second K-Hill Motorsports machine. Phil Kingham was the top F1600 Masters finisher, with a photo finish needed to determine that Joe Colasacco edged out Steve Oseth for the second & third step Masters win, followed by Bob Reid and Scott Rubenzer. David Adorno, who had claimed the Masters class win in Heat Race 1, was sidelined after 11 laps.
The Combined Atlantic, F2000, FE2 race two was declared a non-race after completing only 5 of 14 laps due to heavy impact between Chris Monteleone and Dave Weitzenhof in the bus stop ending both their weekends- the drivers were fine.
The 13-lap F1600 Feature race was dominated by a four-car lead pack. For laps 8-12, it would remain a tight train of Copper Travis, Boss Patel, Cristian Menezes and K-Hill’s Axel LeRoy. On the final lap, The BGR machines of Patel & Menezes would both pass Cooper Travis, but he would then repass Cristian coming to the checker, resulting in an exciting finish with Boss Patel #1, followed by Copper Travis, Cristian Menezez and Axel Leroy.
Connor Clubine and Jake LeRoy followed the lead pack, having had a close battle for fifth and sixth. Phil Kingham backed up his Heat Race 2 result with another F1600 Masters class win, finishing seventh overall with a close three-way battle for Master’s 2nd & 3rd with Bob Reid, Joe Colasacco and David Adorno completing the top ten and the Masters 2nd-4th. There was a steward’s action from Race 2 that resulted in David Ybarra sitting out the feature race.
Vaughn Glace closed out the Watkins Glen weekend with a statement win in the Atlantic/F2000/FE-2 Feature Race, completing all 14 laps in his Swift 016 to claim both the Atlantic 016 class victory and the outright win — a big turnaround after a difficult run through Saturday's heat races. Nicho Vardis was second overall and the Atlantic-Open class winner in the with Jason Conzo taking the FE-2 class win in third. Chris Fahan was fourth to lead the FCCS class home, ahead of classmates Timothy Minor and Rick Silver in fifth and sixth. Joe Colasacco led the F2000 class in seventh, while Heat Race 2 pace-setter Harbir Dass was scored eighth after completing just two laps.
Next up for FRP will be a trip to Summit Point Motorsports Park over the August 7 – 9 weekend
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