Starrantino By a Nose at VIR

For Starrantino, it was his second win to sweep the weekend for Bryan Herta Autosport in the No. 98 Mygale/Honda, and he was able to hold off a charging Eidson at the start/finish line by less than a nose, as the two crossed under the checkered flags side-by-side.

“I knew Jake had a good pace and I also knew it was a chess game here today,” said the Californian, who also passed Eidson for the win on Saturday, on the last lap. “It was no fear.”

Eidson drove the Cape Motorsports Spectrum/Honda from last to second after he qualified third, but hit a deer on a flying lap late in qualifying, also being sent to the back of the grid with a tire declaration sheet issue.

The team put the car together during the three hour break, replacing the rear suspension.

“That deer came out of nowhere,” said Eidson. “We started at the back and I was able to make up quite a few spots with the chaos in turn one.”

Eidson was referring to an incident on the opening lap that involved Jeremy Grenier and brought out a full-course caution.

Agren finished third for Bryan Herta Autosport in the No. 96 Mygale/Honda, starting from the pole and becoming the first female to stand on the podium in the F1600 Series.

“Adrian got by me on the start and I slotted in behind,” said the Norwegian. “On the restart, Jake got past and then Aaron (Telitz) came up. We had a great battle and I was able to get past on the last lap going into turn 14 with a run down the back straight.”

Agren spent most of the 12-lap race battling the 21-year-old WISKO driver, Telitz, in a similar Mygale/Honda. Telitz settled for his second-straight fourth place result and his WISKO team will expand to two Mygales come the next rounds of the Championship at Road Atlanta in May.

Tim Kautz rounded on the top five in his Piper/Honda, taking the Masters Class victory ahead of Polestar’s Lewis Cooper in a Van Diemen/Ford. Cooper held on after being checked into the pit wall at the start of the race.

The Spectrum/Honda of Art Foster was seventh, with Jim Goughary in eighth after a morning engine change for the Raceworks driver. Dan Oseth and Joe Colasacco rounded out the top ten.

The season continues with rounds three and four, of 12, at Road Atlanta, May 9-11.

Race Results:

PosNo.NameClassLapsTotal TmDiffGapAvg. SpeedBest Tm 1 98 Adrian Starrantino F16. 12 26:23.134 - - 89.231 2:00.793 2 10 Jake Eidson F16. 12 26:23.190 +0.056 +0.056 89.227 2:00.688 3 96 Ayla Agren F16. 12 26:25.616 +2.482 +2.426 89.091 2:01.055 4 13 Aaron Telitz F16. 12 26:25.624 +2.490 +0.008 89.090 2:00.962 5 88 Tim Kautz/M F16. 12 26:34.588 +11.454 +8.964 88.590 2:01.820 6 0 Lewis Cooper III/M F16 12 26:39.424 +16.290 +4.836 88.322 2:01.063 7 21 Art Foster/M F16. 12 26:47.182 +24.048 +7.758 87.895 2:02.917 8 7 Jim Goughary/M F16. 12 26:47.634 +24.500 +0.452 87.871 2:02.797 9 5 Dan Oseth F16. 12 27:02.852 +39.718 +15.218 87.047 2:04.716 10 3 Joe Colasacco/M F16. 12 27:05.997 +42.863 +3.145 86.878 2:03.665 11 97 Sam Chastain F16. 12 27:09.285 +46.151 +3.288 86.703 2:02.929 12 06 Austin McCusker F16. 12 27:13.123 +49.989 +3.838 86.499 2:03.845 13 2 Mike Scanlan/M F16. 12 27:26.727 +1:03.593 +13.604 85.785 2:05.280 14 76 Jim Lee F16 12 27:27.124 +1:03.990 +0.397 85.764 2:05.535 15 18 Dan Pyanowski/M F16 12 27:47.404 +1:24.270 +20.280 84.721 2:05.893 16 31 Scott Rubenzer/M F16. 10 27:09.063 2 Laps 2 Laps 72.262 2:02.578 17 16 Haru Tanaka F16. 7 17:16.795 5 Laps 3 Laps 79.480 2:05.533 DNF 07 Steve Bamford/M F16. 0 5.114 12 Laps 7 Laps - -.--- DNF 12 Jeremy Grenier F16. 0 5.213 +0.099 +0.099 - -.--- DNS 9 Franklin Futrelle F16. 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 55 Ray Phillips/M F16. 0 -.--- - - - -.---