Goikhberg Dashes to Watkins Glen Win
Watkins Glen, NY – Mikhail Goikhberg ran in the lead pack for 12 green-flag laps and came out first in a last lap battle among seven cars for the win in round four of the 2014 F1600 Formula F Championship Series season at Watkins Glen. Goikhberg piloted the No. 98 Mygale/Honda from K-Hill, in partnership with Pelfrey, to the checkered flag with Garth Rickards and Jack Mitchell Jr. closely behind.
For Goikhberg, it marks his first F1600 win on his Series debut weekend and second-ever F1600 start.
“It has been an awesome weekend, the Series is very competitive. I need to thank K-Hill and Pelfrey for a great car,” said the Goikhberg. “Very clean racing, I liked it.”
Rickards notched yet another podium result for Team Pelfrey, leading laps continually throughout the race but failing to find the top step of the podium in his Mygale/Honda.
“It was a good race, we led a few laps but it was all about the draft. We wanted to play it smart and I had the lead on the backstretch on the last lap but got passed,” said Rickards, who started from pole with a new F1600 track record.
Mitchell Jr. at had one point pulled out a 1.5 second lead but couldn’t hold it, settling for third in the No. 93 Exclusive Autosport Spectrum/Honda machine, after two straight second-place finishes.
“The race was pretty good, we started in sixth, the race was fun. There are a lot of quick people out there, the Exclusive Spectrum was super quick, hopefully we get a win at VIR. This Series has been awesome,” said Mitchell Jr.
Augie Lerch followed in fourth position right ahead of Pelfrey teammate Nikita Lastochkin.
Art Foster, Ayla Agren, Will Harvey, Sam Chastain and Brandon Angel completed the top ten.
Championship points leader Jim Goughary could not keep his podium streak alive. The Saturday winner at Watkins Glen settled for a DNF after last-lap contact while running in the battle for the win.
Not competing in the race on Sunday was Franklin Futrelle, after a crash on Saturday. Futrelle was okay – but with a sprained ankle. Evan Mehan also missed the day after mechanical issues on Saturday.
The event Watkins Glen was shared with the F2000 Championship Series and re-energized Atlantic Championship Series which started some 22 Atlantic cars in a double-header weekend.
The F1600 Formula F season continues June 6-8 at VIRginia International Raceway, rounds five and six of 14. Stay tuned for the latest news and more on www.F1600Series.com.
Race Results
PosNo.NameLapsBest TmMake/ModelDiff 1 98 Mikhail Goikhberg 12 1:57.929 Mygale Honda - 2 83 Garth Rickards 12 1:57.184 Mygale Honda +0.208 3 93 Jack Mitchell 12 1:58.678 Spectrum 014 Honda +0.754 4 82 Augie Lerch 12 1:58.254 Mygale Honda +1.978 5 80 NIkita Lastochkin 12 1:58.068 Mygale Sj Honda +2.014 6 21 Arthur Foster/M 12 1:57.593 Spectrum 014 Honda +3.231 7 81 Ayla Agren 12 1:58.855 Mygale Honda +10.214 8 24 Will Harvey 12 1:58.851 Mygale Sj Honda +11.088 9 27 T. Sam Chastain 12 1:58.301 Mygale Sj13 Honda +11.195 10 9 Brandon Angel 12 1:58.636 Spectrum Honda +14.324 11 10 Max Mallinen 12 2:00.170 Spectrum 014 Honda +26.666 12 88 Bill Valet 12 2:00.559 Swift DB6 Ford +26.876 13 23 Reid Hazelton 12 2:00.050 Van Diemen Honda +27.727 14 13 Andrew Hobbs 12 1:59.160 Mygale Sj Honda +27.870 15 06 Austin McCusker 12 2:00.480 Van Deiman Honda +29.136 16 46 Douglas Voss/M 12 2:01.958 Spectrum 012B Honda +39.522 17 50 Keith Joslyn/M 12 2:01.430 Van Diemen Rf98kHonda +39.599 18 7 James Goughary/M 11 1:57.571 Van Diemen Honda 1 Lap 19 66 Bob Melvin/M 10 2:09.633 Van Diemen Ford 2 Laps 20 07 Steve Bamford/M 6 2:00.727 Mygale Sj11 Honda 6 Laps DNF 2 Mike Scanlan/M 4 2:02.927 Spectrum Honda 8 Laps