Searcy Paces Friday at Mid-Ohio
Lexington, OH – Benjamin Searcy paced yesterday’s testing and lowered his time even further to set fast lap in the morning’s practice session at 1:24.457. The afternoon session saw championship leader Chris Miller on the top of the charts with a 1:25.1, but the times were considerably slower as the sun baked the track throughout the day.
Searcy’s Z-Sports team owner Ron Boltik commented, “We made no changes since yesterday. The setup we put on the car suits his driving style very well.”
The 1:24.457 lap time Searcy turned in the morning was almost a full half second faster than the F2000 lap record, set last season.
Tim Minor was second quick in the morning session on sticker Hoosiers, followed by Victor Carbone, also on new tires.
“I am loving Mid-Ohio,” Carbone said. “The setup for the car feels good and it just clicked with me. Yesterday’s two hour test session really allowed us to dial in the setup. It will be good if we can end the season on a high note”
Championship contenders Chris Miller and Matthew Inge rounded out the top five in the morning session.
Inge said: “We’ve got a lot to do. We’re trying to figure out how the chassis-stiffener works on the car and have some more changes to make. The new tires helped a lot. I didn’t think we were going to be that close to the front the way the car was handling.”
Chris Miller paced the afternoon session after the JDC team made changes to the #85 Van Diemen.
“We made some changes on the setup and the car was better,” said Miller. “But the track was slower. I’m not completely happy with the setup yet so we’re going to have to make some more changes overnight.”
Jesse Yorio commented: “We need to find some more speed, we put some longer gears in which helped and also went to a different front wing setup on the Piper. That helped but there is still some searching to do.” Yorio was 11th quick in the morning session.
Alegra Motorsports spent most of the recess between practices changing a leaking slave cylinder in Fabio Orsolon’s #26 Van Diemen.
The afternoon session saw a lengthy black flag for Ardie Greenamyer, who stuck his Van Diemen well into a gravel trap. He will lose his two fastest laps in qualifying tomorrow.
Caitlin Johnston dropped her fast time nearly a second between the two sessions.
“We played with the setup between the sessions,” Johnston said. “We also put on some newer, still used, tires. I spent some time watching Ben’s (Searcy) video from this morning. I was getting a little worried yesterday that I wouldn’t like the track but after that session it is growing on me.”
Tomorrow starts with a 10:35AM practice followed by a 2:55PM 18-lap race. Live coverage on www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com
Practice 1 Results:
Pos PIC No. Name Class Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 1 10 Benjamin Searcy F2 1:24.457 96.248 10 - - 2 2 88 Tim Minor/M F2 1:24.730 95.938 8 +0.273 +0.273 3 3 23 Victor Carbone F2 1:24.959 95.679 13 +0.502 +0.229 4 4 85 Chris Miller F2 1:25.098 95.523 6 +0.641 +0.139 5 5 02 Matthew Inge F2 1:25.105 95.515 7 +0.648 +0.007 6 6 26 Fabio Orsolon F2 1:25.124 95.494 12 +0.667 +0.019 7 7 21 Remy Audette F2 1:25.245 95.358 6 +0.788 +0.121 8 8 17 Slade Miller F2 1:25.306 95.290 6 +0.849 +0.061 9 9 31 Jerry Szykulski/M F2 1:25.468 95.109 12 +1.011 +0.162 10 10 8 Mark Defer/M F2 1:25.616 94.945 4 +1.159 +0.148 11 11 11 Jesse Yorio F2 1:25.797 94.745 7 +1.340 +0.181 12 12 5 Keith McCrone/M F2 1:25.909 94.621 11 +1.452 +0.112 13 13 25 Jeff McCusker/M F2 1:26.184 94.319 8 +1.727 +0.275 14 14 89 Rob Nicholas/M F2 1:26.533 93.939 6 +2.076 +0.349 15 15 22 Jonathon Scarallo F2 1:26.583 93.884 5 +2.126 +0.050 16 16 97 Chris Gumprecht F2 1:26.605 93.861 4 +2.148 +0.022 17 17 27 Craig Clawson/M F2 1:26.791 93.659 9 +2.334 +0.186 18 18 90 Robert Wright/M F2 1:26.925 93.515 5 +2.468 +0.134 19 19 20 Caitlin Johnston F2 1:27.005 93.429 5 +2.548 +0.080 20 20 70 Tom Fatur/M F2 1:27.025 93.408 9 +2.568 +0.020 21 21 51 Dan Denison/M F2 1:27.063 93.367 7 +2.606 +0.038 22 22 96 Alejandro Munoz F2 1:27.298 93.116 11 +2.841 +0.235 23 23 56 Ted Sahley F2 1:27.508 92.892 12 +3.051 +0.210 24 24 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M F2 1:28.201 92.162 3 +3.744 +0.693 25 25 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M F2 1:28.296 92.063 7 +3.839 +0.095 26 26 4 Chris Camadella/M F2 1:28.310 92.048 2 +3.853 +0.014 27 27 95 Blake Teeter F2 1:30.295 90.025 11 +5.838 +1.985 28 28 94 Al Guibord, Jr. F2 1:30.418 89.902 3 +5.961 +0.123
Practice 2 Results
Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 85 Chris Miller 1:25.111 95.508 9 - - 2 21 Remy Audette 1:25.228 95.377 4 +0.117 +0.117 3 10 Benjamin Searcy 1:25.498 95.076 10 +0.387 +0.270 4 23 Victor Carbone 1:25.547 95.021 8 +0.436 +0.049 5 31 Jerry Szykulski/M 1:25.625 94.935 11 +0.514 +0.078 6 02 Matthew Inge 1:25.712 94.839 2 +0.601 +0.087 7 17 Slade Miller 1:25.792 94.750 5 +0.681 +0.080 8 88 Tim Minor/M 1:25.907 94.623 6 +0.796 +0.115 9 20 Caitlin Johnston 1:26.141 94.366 5 +1.030 +0.234 10 97 Chris Gumprecht 1:26.256 94.240 2 +1.145 +0.115 11 26 Fabio Orsolon 1:26.259 94.237 10 +1.148 +0.003 12 8 Mark Defer/M 1:26.269 94.226 7 +1.158 +0.010 13 22 Jonathon Scarallo 1:26.307 94.185 6 +1.196 +0.038 14 5 Keith McCrone/M 1:26.403 94.080 10 +1.292 +0.096 15 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:26.547 93.924 6 +1.436 +0.144 16 90 Robert Wright/M 1:26.548 93.922 5 +1.437 +0.001 17 11 Jesse Yorio 1:26.572 93.896 5 +1.461 +0.024 18 95 Al Guibord, Jr. 1:26.703 93.755 8 +1.592 +0.131 19 89 Rob Nicholas/M 1:26.822 93.626 3 +1.711 +0.119 20 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:26.865 93.580 2 +1.754 +0.043 21 25 Jeff McCusker/M 1:27.174 93.248 7 +2.063 +0.309 22 27 Craig Clawson/M 1:27.557 92.840 4 +2.446 +0.383 23 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 1:27.742 92.644 4 +2.631 +0.185 24 4 Chris Camadella/M 1:27.773 92.612 10 +2.662 +0.031 25 51 Dan Denison/M 1:27.995 92.378 6 +2.884 +0.222 26 56 Ted Sahley 1:28.787 91.554 5 +3.676 +0.792 27 96 Alejandro Munoz 1:28.988 91.347 2 +3.877 +0.201 28 94 Blake Teeter 1:36.042 84.638 3 +10.931 +7.054