Rookie Shines in 2 Liter Debut

The on-track activities kicked off on Thursday for Robinson and the other thirty five F2000 cars with four 30 minute practice sessions.  The day went well for the Augusta, Georgia native as he consistently improve throughout the day.

Official practice began on Friday, where the thirty six F2000 competitors had two 25 minute timed practice sessions.  Skylar had a slight hiccup in the first session and he would end up setting the 6th quickest time.  However, he was back in fine form in the second practice as he would top the timing charts.

Saturday played host to the first qualifying session and race of the 2014 season for the F2000 Series.  Robinson showed strong pace and put the car P2.

“Qualifying was really intense and I was glad I was able to lay down a good lap with the amount of traffic we had”, Skylar stated.  

The F2000 cars would take to the 2.54 mile road course for Race 1 late in the afternoon.  The track was slippery and there was a tremendous amount of jostling for position on the first lap as the cars struggled to get grip.  When the dust settled, Skylar was P4 after the opening lap.  However, Robinson methodically started to catch the top three, and several laps into the race, he was able to secure the third position.  A lengthy caution period then followed, and when the field went green, there were only five laps remaining.  Skylar was able to take advantage of the tight field and he made his move into second shortly after the restart.  The next lap, Skylar would take the lead from Kevin Kopp in a bold pass under braking.  For the last two laps, Robinson was under relentless pressure.  On the last lap, the 18 year old bobbled in Turn 7 leading on to the long back straight causing him to fall to second.  He remained composed though and out braked defending champion Tim Minor into Turn 10a to take the 2014 opener.

 “It was a tough race with Tim and Kevin.  They both are very experienced and very fast.  I was in a position to win the race after the caution so I took advantage of the opportunity”, remarked Skylar after the race.

Sunday started with another 30 minute qualifying session.  Once again, Skylar qualified P2 within striking distance of the fastest lap.

Race 2 was scheduled very late in the afternoon, so the drivers would have to deal not only with slippery track conditions, but also reduced visibility due to the setting sun.  When the field went green, Skylar had a look at the lead around the outside of Turn 1, but he was unable to hold his position and when the leaders arrived at Turn 3, he fell to 2nd.  Skylar was then able to apply pressure to the leader before he was able to snag the lead.  However, Robinson was unable to hold the point, and fell to 2nd after several laps.  Unable to gain ground on the leader, he finished Race 2 in 2nd place.  

“It was a great debut weekend.  There are some things I need to refine in my driving, but I think seat time will cure that.  Thanks to Eric Langbein Racing for the awesome car and Quicksilver RacEngines for the power.  I can’t wait for Watkins Glen next month!”

You can follow Skylar on Twitter @SRMotorsports6 and on Facebook at Skylar Robinson Motorsports for updates.