Goughary Scores Road Atlanta Victory
Braselton, GA – Jim Goughary edged out a win in a highly-competitive F1600 Formula F Championship Series race at Road Atlanta on Sunday as he went wheel-to-wheel with Garth Rickards in the closing stages of the race before a turn ten showdown, with Goughary coming out on top in his No. 7 Van Diemen/Honda. Jack Mitchell, in a Spectrum/Honda, and Ayla Agren, in a Mygale/Honda finished second and third.
Goughary and Rickards were able to break away from the pack as the race unfolded, trading the lead back and forth before a back-stretch braking duel on the last lap.
“We were side-by-side down the back straight,” said Goughary, who started on pole and even led most of Saturday’s race. “He was on the outside and I drove him deep into the breaking zone. He couldn’t make the turn and spun it.”
Goughary, a Masters Class veteran driving for Ski Motorsports, marks his second win following a victory at VIR by milliseconds in 2011.
Mitchell, meanwhile, nearly got to Goughary coming to the checkered flag in his debut weekend for Exclusive Autosport after starting 17th and moving through the pack in a hurry.
“It was a nice workout today,” said Mitchell. “It was a good way to end the weekend, we had some adverse situations but we worked through them. Exclusive gave me a great car.”
Agren completed the podium for Team Pelfrey.
“That was some entertaining pack-racing,” said Agren. “Everyone was pushing to the limits with no mistakes; and it was all about having your car in the right place.”
Steve Bamford followed in fourth place, adding that the pack racing let the leaders get away, as Garth Rickards, despite a last-lap spin and gravel trap visit, managed to finish fifth.
“I just tried to out brake Jim (Goughary) and locked them up,” said Rickards, in the No. 82 Team Pelfrey Mygale/Honda. Teammate Augie Lerch was in sixth, improving from 14th on the starting grid.
Will Harvey followed in seventh in his second F1600 race for WISKO, while Raceworks’ Bradon Angel was eighth ahead of Exclusive teammates Jeff Kingsley and Jayson Clunie to round off the top ten at Road Atlanta.
Saturday’s winner Franklin Futrelle was forced to retire the No. 97 Raceworks Spectrum/Honda from the race on the fifth lap despite running in the top three for the opening portion of the event. Futrelle had reported rear suspension damage.
“Jim (Goughary) and I made contact in turn ten,” Futrelle explained. “It’s on me, we touched and I got the car up and it broke the suspension.”
Other notables included Esteban Garzon, who had run as high as fourth but finished 15th after going off.
Max Mallinen missed Saturday's race and made his first F1600 start, finishing 18th in the Swan Motorsports Spectrum/Honda.
After a qualifying crash, Nikita Lastochkin missed the green flag and started the race a lap down.
Following a race incident yesterday, Sam Chastain also missed the start as the team elected not to run.
The debut of the expanded 2014 F1600 schedule, now featuring seven double-race weekends, was coupled with great weather in Atlanta, tight competition, and a solid increase in year-over-year car count.
The competitive F1600 Formula F Championship Series season continues with rounds three and four, of 14, scheduled to take place at Watkins Glen, May 16-18.
Race Results
PosNo.NameLapsBest TmMake/ModelDiff 1 7 James Goughary/M 16 1:30.122 Van Diemen Honda - 2 93 Jack Mitchell 16 1:30.742 Spectrum 014 Honda +0.128 3 81 Ayla Agren 16 1:30.625 Honda +1.888 4 07 Steve Bamford/M 16 1:30.514 Mygale Sj11 Honda +2.275 5 83 Garth Rickards 16 1:30.459 Honda +5.590 6 82 Augie Lerch 16 1:30.221 Honda +9.736 7 24 Will Harvey 16 1:30.904 Mygale Sj Honda +9.829 8 9 Brandon Angel 16 1:31.303 Spectrum Honda +20.029 9 92 Jeff Kingsley 16 1:31.205 Spectrum 014 Honda +26.177 10 90 Jayson Clunie/M 16 1:31.716 Spectrum 014 Honda +28.641 11 31 Scott Rubenzer/M 16 1:32.112 Spectrm Honda +28.829 12 0 Lewis Cooper III/M 16 1:31.587 Van Diemen Ford +29.079 13 46 Douglas Voss/M 16 1:31.952 Spectrum 012B Honda +32.614 14 91 Max Hanratty 16 1:31.106 Spectrum 014 Honda +32.653 15 80 Esteban Garzon 16 1:30.360 Honda +36.487 16 06 Austin McCusker 16 1:32.355 Van Deiman Honda +39.670 17 75 Donald Baggett 16 1:32.583 Swift DB6 Ford +40.121 18 10 Max Mallinen 16 1:31.656 Spectrum 014 Honda +41.014 19 21 Arthur Foster/M 16 1:30.909 Spectrum 014 Honda +42.638 20 2 Mike Scanlan/M 16 1:33.717 Spectrum Honda +58.869 21 66 Bob Melvin/M 15 1:36.607 Van Diemen Ford 1 Lap 22 13 Nikita Lastochkin 15 1:31.387 Mygale Sj Honda +19.716 DNF 97 Franklin Futrelle 5 1:31.943 Spectrum 014 Honda 11 Laps DNF 3 Joe Colasacco/M 4 1:31.555 Van Diemen Honda 12 Laps