Megennis Leads F1600 Friday Practice at Mid-Ohio
Lexington, OH – At the end of two practice sessions at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the F1600 Formula F Championship Series, Robert Megennis came out on top with the fastest time of 1:29.834, with the No. 80 .046 seconds ahead of VIR winner Steve Bamford. Points leader Scott Andrews was third quick in a competitive afternoon session with a fast time of 1:29.933.
It was the first session led by Megennis in his debut F1600 season for Team Pelfrey in the No. 80 Mygale/Honda.
It was all about Megennis and Bamford, as well as Andrews a month ago at VIR as Bamford nipped Megennis for the race three victory, while Andrews won both races prior to that in Virginia. Coming into the Mid-Ohio tripleheader weekend it’s Andrews atop the point standings, but Bamford in second, as well as leading the Masters Class standings.
Megennis was able to step up three positions after a fourth place finish in practice session one in his Mygale/Honda. The No. 80 driver will try to continue his fast lap times as qualifying commences on Saturday.
Practice One
First on the schedule for the Mid-Ohio weekend was practice one for the F1600 series, which allowed No. 12 Skylar Robinson to put in the fast lap time of 1:30.319 for the morning session. No. 94 Andrews came in second with a time of 1:30.514 for the session and behind him in third was Jordan Cane who had a time of 1:30.518. It is the first time racing at Mid-Ohio for both Andrews and Cane.
Megennis, who maintained the fastest lap during the early minutes of the session ended up settling for a fourth place finish in practice one and in fifth was fellow Pelfrey teammate Ben Auriemma.
A yellow flag put a hold on practice session one after No. 44 Austin Mack had to pull off the track due to mechanical issues near the end of session, but drivers were able to get a few laps in after the track was clear. Mack sits third in points with a win at Watkins Glen.
In sixth for practice one was Exclusive Autosport driver Thomas McGregor followed by Andrew Hobbs in seventh in his Mygale/Honda and David Grant in eighth. Grant is in the No. 0 Polestar Spectrum/Honda for the weekend.
Completing the top ten for the early session was Jason Wolfe in ninth, who was a late entry for the Mid-Ohio weekend, and in tenth was Masters Class Competitor James Goughary. Wolfe is in his F1600 debut weekend, driving for Jay Motorsports. The Ohio native is the 2014 World Challenge TCA class champion.
Practice Two
Megennis had the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session with a time of 1:29.834. It was the faster of the two 30-minute sessions on the day with Bamford and Andrews following on the time sheets.
Cane repeated his morning performance, but couldn’t get into the 1:29s with a fast lap coming in at 1:30.140 in his Pelfrey Mygale/Honda, ahead of his teammate Auriemma.
Finishing with the sixth fastest lap for practice two was Pelfrey driver Andrew Hobbs. In seventh was Grant, Grant also holds the F1600 race record at Mid-Ohio, which he set in 2013
Robinson, McGregor and Goughary completed the top ten in a clean afternoon session, with most drivers running between 15 and 18 laps over 30 minutes.
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com under the results tab.
The F1600 Formula F Championship Series continues its Mid-Ohio weekend with qualifying and racing on both Saturday and Sunday.