Road Atlanta Practice Underscored by Minor’s Pace
Braselton, GA – Fresh off a eight-month long off-season, reigning F2000 Series Champion Tim Minor didn’t take long to return to his form, dropping fast lap after fast lap during Friday practice at Road Atlanta for the opening rounds of the 2014 season. Minor, from Falls Church, VA, dropped times right down into the low 1:24s, only running one of two practice sessions.
Out front in the morning session, Minor, driving for Ski Motorsports, said: “We did what we expected out of the car today. Yesterday during testing I got down to around a 1:24.8 and felt the car had three or fourth tenths left in it. We’re going to keep pushing and hopefully qualify up front tomorrow.”
Minor’s pace was impressive, right near track-record numbers, and the Series champ sat out the afternoon practice to dial in a perfect Saturday morning qualifying setup. In 2013, Minor sat on pole and swept both races at Road Atlanta. As Minor may have the outright pace now, a number of other competitors are inching closer to the Masters Class ace.
A few hours after morning practice, 18-year-old American hopeful Skylar Robinson dropped fast lap in the afternoon session, in a similar Citation chassis to Minor’s, from Eric Langbein Racing.
Following the No. 88 of Minor on the morning time sheets was David Grant, in a new and getting faster Spectrum F2000 car out of the Polestar stable. Canada’s Sergio Pasian was third fastest, with Kevin Kopp and rookie Quinlan Lall, for Momentum Motorsports, rounding out the top five in the No. 1 Radon.
Exclusive Autosport’s Thomas McGregor was sixth fastest in the second and final new Spectrum, as he continues to get adjusted to the spec Hoosier tires. The Canadian was followed on the time sheets by Robinson, who spun and stopped the session, leading to a penalty and losing five minutes of practice in the afternoon, which did not get in the way of his late-day pace. Tim Paul, Jim Libecco and Sam Beasley completed the morning top ten. Those ten cars were a near-perfect blend of aspiring drivers and F2000 veterans.
Following Robinson on the afternoon time sheets, on a slightly slower and greasier racetrack were a pair of Spectrums in Grant and McGregor, before Pasian and Steve Bamford, doing double-race-duty in both F1600 and F2000.
James Libecco followed in sixth place, under the guidance of driver coach and F2000 race winner Wyatt Gooden. Kopp, Beasley, Paul and K-Hill’s Connery Kearby rounded out the top ten in afternoon practice at Road Atlanta. Off a great morning run to fifth fastest, Quinlan Lall was 11th for Momentum.
Full practice times and results are available on www.f2000series.com under the results tab.
The gloves come off on Saturday with F2000 qualifying at 9:55am followed by the first race of 2014 at 4:05pm. Sunday features 1:50 pm qualifying and a 5:20pm race.