Minor In Front as F2000 Goes to Lime Rock
Lakeville, CT – He is four for four – Tim Minor has thus far won all four races in his No. 88 Ski Motorsports Citation to open up a huge gap in the F2000 Championship Series point standings over David Grant, Kyle Connery and Kevin Kopp with 10 races to go. While Minor was in another world at VIR in April, the field got closer to him at Road Atlanta with Connery losing the lead on a restart late in race one.
What makes Lime Rock interesting is the fact that Connery has been very fast there in the past – leading in 2012 before going off. But, Minor has finished there on the podium multiple times and could be looking yet for more overall wins.
“We had a good weekend at Atlanta, but not without some drama,” said Minor.”We had a suspension part failure on Thursday, and we were able to repair it in time for qualifying. Kyle and his team did a good job, and I expect it will be like that all season. Some people might say it looks easy, but I can say it is not.”
Following Road Atlanta’s final race on Saturday, Minor drove home and spent the rest of the weekend preparing his car for Lime Rock – using notes from his Van Diemen setups around the short racy road course in Connecticut.
Connery’s No. 91 Van Diemen hasn’t been to victory lane since Watkins Glen in 2011, and the young racer may be hungrier than ever, narrowly missing a win at Road Atlanta from pole, and also taking fast lap, before getting passed by Minor with just a few laps to go on a restart.
But sitting second in points is David Grant - seemingly improving every race in the No. 29 Polestar entry.
Kevin Kopp is also searching for a return to the podium - and sits fourth in the standings in the WISKO No. 22 Van Diemen and could rely on his close racing days from Spec Miata around the traffic-packed Lime Rock.
Dave Weitzenhof sits fifth in points, coming off a top five at Road Atlanta where he passed most of the field after starting nearly last.
Then there is fast WISKO rookie Federico Mosconi, already with a podium, but also a handful of spins and more. If the Italian can put a race together, the No. 99 Van Diemen could easily roll into victory lane.
Steve Bamford, coming off a near race win in F1600, is also picking up speed in his F2000 car, as is Roberto Lorena, who should be further up the points standings.
Lorena’s HP-Tech squad won at Lime Rock last year, and battled through a disqualification at VIR and a lap one incident at Road Atlanta when the Brazilian was hit from behind while running fourth. One of Lorena’s best F1600 performances in 2012 came at Lime Rock.
Friday, May 24, will feature a number of practice sessions for F200 drivers and teams with a afternoon qualifying session set 4:35 local time, with live timing and audio as well as more updates available on f2000series.com throughout the weekend. Saturday, May 25 will challenge competitors with a 9:00 warm-up and two races, each 30 laps or 30 minutes, at 9:50 and 3:10 local time.