Mid-Ohio Summer Championship Midpoint
Salem, NH – Six races down, eight to go, and a Championship battle looms as Mid-Ohio will offer up the midpoint of the 2014 F1600 Formula F Championship Series this weekend. Thirteen turns and 2.25 miles have produced some of the best F1600 racing seen anywhere over the past two years, and combined with 2014, which has seen all six races come down to the last lap, this double-race weekend should continue the trend.
The big news coming off the last F1600 event is a shuffle in the points. A carefully built, but slim lead for Jim Goughary is long gone, as the Masters Class veteran and double race winner in 2014 had a weekend to forget in Virginia.
Long straights at VIR promoted draft tactics in qualifying, which left him down the grid order and out of the lead group. Mid-Ohio should give Goughary and his No. 7 Van Diemen/Honda from Ski Motorsports an opportunity to bounce back.
Taking over positions one and two in the points are Pelfrey teammates Garth Rickards and Ayla Agren – who have both put together consistent seasons, but have missed out on race wins by hundredths of seconds.
Two more Pelfry cars, Augie Lerch, and Nikita Lastochkin, sit fourth and seventh in the points, but notably, they haven’t won either as all four Pelfrey cars look to turn the tide to build end-of-season momentum starting at Mid-Ohio.
Jack Mitchell Jr. is having a quiet season, but sits fifth in the points, and the Spectrum chassis has triumphed at Mid-Ohio as recently as last year.
Steve Bamford won his first F1600 race at VIR in June, and looks to continue in top-form in the Rice Race Prep Mygale as the Masters Class racer marks yet another grueling weekend of racing both F1600 and F2000.
Another team that came off the trailer in Virginia with a fast pace was Chastain Motorsports, with Brandon Newey scoring poles and winning the first race, followed by a second place run on Sunday. Sam Chastain, in the No. 27 Mygale/Honda, will be joined by Evan Mehan, in the No. 29 entry, under the Chastain awning,
After missing VIR Max Mallinen returns to the F1600 field for Mid-Ohio, and hopes to return to the form that saw him pass more cars than anyone else at Watkins Glen in May in the No. 10 Spectrum/Honda for Swan Motorsports.
The weekend starts at Mid-Ohio with traditional Thursday evening twilight testing, offering teams a large window of track time, followed by double practice sessions on Friday, and Saturday and Sunday featuring qualifying sessions and a race each day.