Minor On Top Again at Road Atlanta

May 11, 2013
It was another win for Tim Minor. (photo: Phil Kane)

Braselton, GA – Tim Minor is making it look easy – with four wins in four races – and cruised to another win at Road Atlanta in round four of the 2013 F2000 Championship Series season. Minor timed the start and then a mid-race restart perfectly, and pulled out a gap in his Citation chassis on both occasions to take his fourth victory of the season ahead of David Grant and Matt McDonough, in the No. 69 Radon chassis.

Minor started from his third WISKO pole of the year and also set fast lap of the race at 1:25.658, taking maximum points and extending his already large Championship points lead.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Minor. “The car works very well and we have worked very hard to get to this point. The spec tires from Hoosier are so incredible and consistent. I am ready for any challenges other drivers may bring.”

Grant took his second podium in two days in the No. 29 Polestar Racing Group Van Diemen, and inherited the position after Zach Craigo made a mistake while running second. The runner-up finish marks Grant’s best F2000 result to date.

“I had a great race with Craigo, but he made a mistake and we picked up a spot,” added the Polestar driver.

For Craigo though, the day would end without a podium, as he started from second and ran second most of the race. He will have to wait until Lime Rock Park later this month to try to score his first podium after a string of fourth place finishes and strong qualifying efforts dating back to last season.

A big story of the day was “Fast-Matt” – Matt McDonough – who piloted the Radon chassis to third place. The 2006 Champion was filling in for Paul Farmer in the No. 69 GTP Motorsports entry, having last raced in 2011 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

“I saw Kevin’s (Kopp) tires going away on the last few laps and I was able to draft by on the back stretch, we touched a bit too. I am very happy with the car, and it has a lot to do with the people at GTP Motorsports and back at the shop in New Hampshire,” added McDonough, hinting that he may race in more F2000 events this year.

Kopp would settle for fourth in the No. 22 WISKO machine, while Dave Weitzenhof was fifth, charging through the field.

Weitzenhof earned the CellMark Paper Hard Charger Award, starting 16th after going off in qualifying and finishing fifth in the No. 67 Citation chassis.

After coming in third in the F1600 race on Saturday morning, Steve Bamford was sixth, with Shane Morris following in seventh for the WISKO team.

Keith McCrone marked the Metrik chassis’ best finish yet in eighth for R-Sport, with Dan Denison and Brent Gilkes following.

The race saw an early full course-caution period, with an opening lap set of incidents involving Dwight Rider, Roberto Lorena and Sergio Pasian.

While Kyle Connery led the most laps from pole during Friday’s race, only to get passed on a restart by Minor, the young driver was no factor on Saturday, missing the race to attend his sister’s wedding.

The 14-race 2013 F2000 Championship Series season continues with rounds five and six, at Lime Rock Park, May 24-25.

Race Results

PosNo.NameLapsTotal TmDiffGapAvg. SpeedBest Tm 1 88 Tim Minor/M 18 30:44.144 - - 89.251 1:25.658 2 29 David Grant 18 30:48.827 +4.683 +4.683 89.025 1:25.865 3 69 Matt McDonough 18 31:04.094 +19.950 +15.267 88.296 1:27.044 4 22 Kevin Kopp 18 31:05.658 +21.514 +1.564 88.222 1:27.053 5 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 18 31:10.845 +26.701 +5.187 87.977 1:27.341 6 71 Steve Bamford/M 18 31:11.612 +27.468 +0.767 87.941 1:27.476 7 39 Shane Morris 18 31:12.045 +27.901 +0.433 87.921 1:27.586 8 0 Keith McCrone/M 18 31:20.954 +36.810 +8.909 87.505 1:28.347 9 51 Dan Denison/M 18 31:21.123 +36.979 +0.169 87.497 1:28.240 10 7 Brent Gilkes/M 18 31:34.273 +50.129 +13.150 86.889 1:28.399 11 6 David Sugg 18 31:46.535 +1:02.391 +12.262 86.330 1:30.256 12 78 James Belay 18 32:13.466 +1:29.322 +26.931 85.128 1:30.915 13 18 Zach Craigo 15 27:30.246 3 Laps 3 Laps 83.115 1:26.335 14 16 Peter Gonzalez/M 11 21:08.167 7 Laps 4 Laps 79.314 1:29.646 DNF 98 Jim Libecco 8 16:52.725 10 Laps 3 Laps 72.233 1:28.476 DNF 90 Robert Wright/M 8 16:54.491 +1.766 +1.766 72.107 1:30.586 DNF 99 Federico Mosconi 6 13:31.017 12 Laps 2 Laps 67.648 1:27.274 DNF 19 Dwight Rider/M 6 32:11.586 +18:40.569 +18:40.569 28.404 1:29.642 DNF 01 John McCusker 3 12:40.971 15 Laps 3 Laps 36.049 1:28.705 DNF 9 Roberto Lorena 0 0.471 18 Laps 3 Laps - -.--- DNF 23 Sergio Pasian 0 0.755 +0.284 +0.284 - -.--- DNS 00 Tim Dunn/M 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 42 Bill Jordan/M 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 91 Kyle Connery 0 -.--- - - - -.---

No items found.