newey-to-f1600-pole-at-summit-point

August 25, 2012
Newey vaulted to pole (photo: Valet)

Summit Point, WV – Brandon Newey grabbed the F1600 Formula F Championship Series pole at Summit Point Motorsports Park by just two thousandths of a second over his Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/ Agajanian teammate of Garett Grist. Newey, the Championship leader, extends his points margin over Matias Koykka from eight to 11 with three bonus points for pole in his Mygale/Honda. Shae Davies, who has won three of the last four races, followed in third position.

For Newey, it was three valuable Championship points, and with his team controlling the front row, it should at least keep the Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing duo of Davies and Koykka behind for a bit.

“We made a lot of changes during those three practice sessions to find more grip in the car,” said Newey, who has won a pair of races this year, at VIR and Lime Rock, and was just named a finalist for the Team USA Scholarship. “We are expecting a close race tomorrow and Sunday with the long straight.”

Newey’s pole time checked in at 1:13.728.

His Canadian teammate Grist added: “We fought through electrical problems, we weren’t even sure we were going to make it out in qualifying. We changed everything in the car that was electrical, so a big thanks to the crew for that.”

Davies, meanwhile, only ran a handful of laps in qualifying, clearly conserving tires as F1600 competitors must adhere to a strict six tire rule for the weekend. The Australian has a stellar record in the Series, having won three of out the four races he has started this year in his Spectrum/Honda, and could figure in for the overall Championship with a little bit of luck.

“I pulled in the pits thinking we were fastest,” Davies added. “I went back out and someone spun in front of me and there was contact, and that was the end of the session.”

Steve Oseth qualified a season-best fourth in his Citation/Honda, at his home track, while Koykka, from Finland, sitting second in points, was fifth – some eight tenths of a second off the pole time.

“I need to look at the data and we need to make some changes for the rest of the weekend,” added Koykka. “The car is handling well.”

Both Koykka and Davies commuted to West Virginia for the weekend, Davies from Australia and Koykka flying in from Finland. Both had never seen the track until this weekend.

Completing the top ten were Jeremy Grenier in his Citation/Honda, third in points, along with Roberto Lorena, from Brazil and driving a Van Diemen/Honda for Quantum Racing Services, John McCusker, Mike Scanlan and Art Foster.

The weekend continues with 7:30am warmup on both Saturday and Sunday for the F1600 Series, along with races at 11:00am each day (all times are eastern). Live updates and audio are available on www.f1600series.com

Qualifying Results

Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 98 Brandon Newey 1:13.728 97.656 15 - - 2 97 Garett Grist 1:13.730 97.654 17 +0.002 +0.002 3 9 Shae Davies 1:13.906 97.421 3 +0.178 +0.176 4 72 Steve Oseth 1:14.521 96.617 16 +0.793 +0.615 5 10 Matias Koykka 1:14.596 96.520 12 +0.868 +0.075 6 12 Jeremy Grenier 1:15.299 95.619 11 +1.571 +0.703 7 17 Roberto Lorena 1:15.598 95.241 8 +1.870 +0.299 8 01 John McCusker 1:16.086 94.630 14 +2.358 +0.488 9 2 Mike Scanlan 1:16.317 94.343 16 +2.589 +0.231 10 21 Art Foster 1:16.361 94.289 8 +2.633 +0.044 11 42 Joe Parsons 1:16.387 94.257 10 +2.659 +0.026 12 55 Ray Phillips 1:16.836 93.706 15 +3.108 +0.449 13 7 Haruaki Tanaka 1:17.731 92.627 14 +4.003 +0.895 14 44 Ed Callo 1:21.573 88.264 6 +7.845 +3.842 15 43 Bill Maisey 1:22.510 87.262 3 +8.782 +0.937 16 50 John Nesbitt 1:22.618 87.148 8 +8.890 +0.108 17 36 Steve Roux 1:27.766 82.036 4 +14.038 +5.148 18 99 Sean Maisey -.--- - 0 - -

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