Robinson Learns at VIR
Alton, Virginia- Skylar Robinson made his first trip to the beautiful Virginia International Raceway this past weekend in the F2000 Championship Series. The 18 year-old piloted his Eric Langbein Racing prepared Citation to quick times and a strong result during the weekend.
Thursday practice went well for the second generation race car driver, as his main focus was learning the general flow of the track. After getting the flow of the track down, Robinson started to pick up the nuances of the 3.27 mile course and eventually had top 3 pace.
Official practice on Friday marked more improvements for Robinson, however old tires were not indicative of his actual pace.
Saturday morning brought qualifying, and with it, a 4th place qualifying position for the Augusta, Georgia resident. However, a great start to the race enabled Skylar to charge his way into 2nd place by the end of the first lap. He then went to work on the leader who had stretched a small gap. After running down the leader, Robinson made a bold move around the outside of Turn 1 to take the lead. Skylar turned the fastest lap of the race once he lead the field, but a little bit of traffic was just enough to allow 2nd place to close on him and reap the benefits of the draft. With three laps to go, Robinson fell back to 2nd where he finished.
Sunday’s qualifying pace was much better for Skylar, and he put the car on pole with a new qualifying lap record. Robinson would get a good start on the field at the green flag, and he managed to put some space between him and the rest of the field through the first half of the lap. Going into Oak Tree though, a slight miscue on a downshift locked the rear tires up sending Robinson off course and tapping the tire wall. Unfortunately, this was enough to tear the rear wing off the car and end Skylar’s race.
“The past couple of weekends have been pretty tough for me. However, I am learning from my mistakes. We had really good speed this past weekend, and I was super excited to hear that I got pole on Sunday which was a new qualifying lap record in an F2000. We will move on though and keep on pushing”, Skylar commented.
Robinson’s next scheduled race is the F2000 Championship Series round at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course July 4-6.
You can follow Skylar on Twitter @SRMotorsports6 and on Facebook at Skylar Robinson Motorsports for updates.