La Rocca Leads Mid-Ohio Practice

“We are getting there,” said La Rocca, who has seven wins thus far in just eight races in 2012 in the No. 10 HP-Tech Motorsport Van Diemen. “This track is tough on tires and finding the right balance is the key.”

Livengood called the first practice of the day his best session of the year in his new RFR chassis.

A new mustache-style front wing, popular on the Van Diemen chassis, made from parts the team found in the trash can in New Jersey, did not prove to put the magic combination, leaving him third, eight tenths off La Rocca, in the final session of the day.

“We pulled Coello’s nose out of the trash and spent two weeks working on it,” said Livengood, who also said the John Walko team switched to harder springs on his car between sessions.

Coello was third on the morning time sheets, the second RFR, ahead of Wyatt Gooden, who sits a distant second in points to La Rocca.

Gooden won both F1600 races at Mid-Ohio last year, also driving for the same team – Quantum Racing Services.

Kopp was fifth quick, ahead of Zach Craigo, in another solid performance, Kyle Connery in the No. 91 RFR, Tim Paul, and Series newcomer Cesar LaPoint, in another Van Diemen for HP-Tech. John Brumder rounded out the morning practice session’s top ten list.

In the afternoon, on a much slower track, La Rocca turned in a lap just a few thousandths off his morning time, although on new tires. John LaRue was second quick ahead of Livengood, Coello and Gooden.

Kopp was sixth fastest in the afternoon session with Connery, Tim Minor, and LaPoint and Dan Denison, driving for Polestar Motor Racing, following in positions seven through ten.

Both sessions were run with few issues, although Tim Paul did bend a wishbone after a spin on his outlap in the afternoon session.

Saturday follows with qualifying at 8:40 eastern time and race one of the weekend at 1:15. Sunday concludes the event with 8:40 qualifying and a 12:50 18-lap or 30-minute race.  Updates and live audio for qualifying and races will be available on www.F2000Series.com

Practice 1 Results

Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 10 Robert LaRocca 1:24.293 96.435 6 - - 2 37 Chris Livengood 1:24.564 96.126 4 +0.271 +0.271 3 81 Niki Coello 1:24.882 95.766 10 +0.589 +0.318 4 6 Wyatt Gooden 1:25.062 95.563 12 +0.769 +0.180 5 66 Kevin Kopp 1:25.428 95.154 10 +1.135 +0.366 6 18 Zach Craigo 1:25.462 95.116 13 +1.169 +0.034 7 91 Kyle Connery 1:25.577 94.988 8 +1.284 +0.115 8 06 Tim Paul 1:25.877 94.656 6 +1.584 +0.300 9 33 Cesar LaPoint 1:25.900 94.631 10 +1.607 +0.023 10 19 John Brumder/M 1:26.044 94.473 13 +1.751 +0.144 11 88 Tim Minor/M 1:26.315 94.176 6 +2.022 +0.271 12 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:26.487 93.989 9 +2.194 +0.172 13 39 Paul Alspach 1:26.613 93.852 5 +2.320 +0.126 14 42 Bill Jordan/M 1:26.856 93.589 11 +2.563 +0.243 15 15 Aaron Pettipas 1:27.036 93.396 13 +2.743 +0.180 16 51 Dan Denison/M 1:27.440 92.964 14 +3.147 +0.404 17 90 Robert Wright/M 1:27.620 92.773 7 +3.327 +0.180 18 23 Joey Selmants 1:27.731 92.656 4 +3.438 +0.111 19 9 Jose Montiel 1:27.751 92.635 12 +3.458 +0.020 20 52 Dean Baker/M 1:27.896 92.482 5 +3.603 +0.145 21 27 Craig Clawson/M 1:27.997 92.376 6 +3.704 +0.101 22 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:28.055 92.315 6 +3.762 +0.058 23 59 Shaun Miller 1:28.450 91.903 13 +4.157 +0.395 24 16 Peter Gonzalez/M 1:28.599 91.748 6 +4.306 +0.149 25 02 Rob Allaer 1:29.053 91.280 12 +4.760 +0.454 26 13 Barry Gilbert/M 1:29.656 90.667 12 +5.363 +0.603 27 4 Dennis McCarthy/M 1:30.222 90.098 6 +5.929 +0.566 28 46 Doug Rocco 1:30.411 89.909 6 +6.118 +0.189 29 61 Tom Drake/M 1:31.559 88.782 8 +7.266 +1.148 30 35 Eric Presbrey 1:33.123 87.291 12 +8.830 +1.564 31 94 Al Guibord, Sr. 1:34.920 85.638 5 +10.627 +1.797