Mosport Friday Report
Bowmanville, ONT – Cole Morgan paced Friday practice at Mosport setting the fastest lap of the day at 1:21.6 early in the first official session of the weekend. The American 2007 F2000 title holder, who is driving for Liberty Motorsports for this event, had never been to the famed Canadian road course until today. Championship points leader Victor Carbone followed along with Remy Audette, Jonathan Scarallo and Phil Lombardi.
“This has to be the top track in North America, the car was good and we were just getting used to the track while running a specific testing program with Liberty,” commented Morgan.
With rain in the forecast for the rest of the weekend, today might have been the only dry action the F2000 drivers will see in Canada. Quebec’s Remy Audette paced the afternoon practice session with a lap of 1:21.9, followed by Victor Carbone, Tim Minor, Fabio Orsolon and Keith McCrone.
Audette said: “We worked a lot on our setup to make the car better and made a big change during a black flag that made the car even faster, the team did a great job. If it rains tomorrow it is going to be tons of fun.”
Victor Carbone, who started to gain momentum at Mosport last season, commented that: “The car is not where we need it to be yet, luckily we have another session tomorrow morning but I am planning to fight for pole and the points that go with it.”
American Jonathan Scarallo was fourth fastest in the morning session in his R-Sport #22 before a suspension failure put him off course in the afternoon. “It was a decent start, we’re making some changes for more high speed grip but overall I’m happy with the result with the way the car felt on old tires,” Scarallo said. Additionally, Scarallo is being coached by his old brother, Joey Scarallo, a former Trans-Am Series driver.
Meanwhile, Chris Livengood completed his first official day in Zetec-power, having recently converted from the Pinto power plant. Livengood was a solid top-ten in the morning session. He said: “We ran good, the Zetec is pretty quick and there is a lot more torque, now we have to put the right gears in it. This place is wild, pretty rough and just really fast.”
Phil Lombardi posted a top five time in the morning practice to back it up with a top ten in the afternoon session. “The GTP car rolled off the trailer perfect, we made some small changes and ran a decent lap with old tires and no draft,” commented Lombardi.
The break between morning and afternoon sessions saw most teams changing gears and ride-height as most in the paddock are expecting a lot of rain for the rest of the event.
Zach Craigo, in his return to the Series for the first time since 2008, had a hard impact into the turn nine wall in the afternoon practice session. Craigo emerged uninjured but it will be a late night for the Liberty Motorsports crew. “I tried to do turn eight flat, like the fast guys,” Craigo commented. “I looped it and it went straight into the wall.”
The weekend continues tomorrow, Saturday June 12 with a 9:25am practice session followed by a 11:30am qualifying for the 2:50pm race start. Sunday sees a 9:40am qualifying session for round two of the weekend, at 11:45am. Fans can follow live updates on Twitter @F2000.