Mitchell Jr. Powers to Road Atlanta Victory
Braselton, GA – Jack Mitchell Jr. won the third and final F1600 Formula F Championship Series race of the weekend at Road Atlanta by going from third to first on the last lap. Mitchell Jr. made it an Exclusive Autosport themed day at Road Atlanta as his teammate Scott Andrews scored top honors in the morning race. Saturday winner Kyle Kirkwood was second for Chastain Motorsports while Andrews completed the podium in third.
“That last lap was unbelievable, we were racing to the yellow flag in turn 10 and it was just unbelievable, we were three wide and then I came up first … it’s a great way to start off the season,” said Mitchell Jr., who took his second career F1600 win as he begins a title assault in his second season in the 21-race Championship.
Kirkwood rebounded back to his race-winning form for Chastain Motorsports after a race two penalty placed him eighth in the final results from Sunday morning.
“I thought I was positioned right for the end but Jack just got a little more draft on me toward the end,” said Kirkwood.
Andrews, however, made it three podiums in two days at Road Atlanta with a pair of third place finishes and his victory.
“The last lap is a big draft festival,” said Andrews. “It was a lot of fun out there, thanks to my team Exclusive Autosport and Spectrum.”
Steve Bamford swept the Masters Class division at Road Atlanta by finishing fourth overall and being the first of the Masters’ drivers in his Mygale/Honda, and led the first lap of the race from his starting spot on the outside of the first row.
Meanwhile, Thomas McGregor completed the top five, putting all three Exclusive Spectrums within five positions.
K-Hill’s Austin Mack put in a stellar drive, falling back to nearly last after the opening lap but working his way back to third and settling for sixth in the No. 44 Mygale/Honda.
In a borrowed Mygale after a Saturday crash, Ben Auriemma finished seventh for Team Pelfrey, leading Chastain teammates Parker Chase and Andrew Lewis to the checkered flags.
Art Foster and Jim Goughary followed in 10th and 11th, completing the Masters Class podium.
Andrew Hobbs was also looking like a podium contender after sitting on pole for Saturday’s race. An issue with two laps to go, however, left the Team Pelfrey driver stalled on course.
After a great performance to his debut on the F1600 podium earlier in the day, the No. 27 of Will Harvey went off on lap three and failed to finish the race.
It was a wild F1600 weekend with the new triple-header format that sees 21 races across seven weekends in 2015. Saturday saw the season opener marked by a major turn 10 incident involving two Team Pelfrey drivers, while Sunday morning’s race two had a lead pack of eight cars going for the win over 17 green-flag laps.
The season continues with rounds four through six at Watkins Glen International, May 15-17.