VIR Practice: Cole Morgan Leads the Way

Following Morgan on the time sheets in the second practice session were rookie Daniel Erickson, less a tenth off Morgan, Remy Audette and Alegra Motorsports teammates Fabio Orsolon and Victor Carbone. Last year’s pole time was 1:54.708.

“It was a good session since we were able to get out first and had five clear laps,” commented Audette, who set the track record here last season. “The team is doing a great job. We made some changes on the car to make it better and now we have to find some more time.”

Andy Greene, who oversees Alegra’s F2000 program, commented: “Today is practice, we’ll have to see tomorrow. We had debris on the track take Victor’s front wing off and damage the rear wing as well. Now it’s time to get ready for tomorrow, talk to the drivers, debrief and try to find a few more tenths.”

Rounding out the top ten in the second practice session were Rob Nicholas, 2008 Masters Class Champion Tim Minor, Tim Kautz, Jonathan Scarallo and Tom Fatur.

Rob Nicholas set the fast time in the first session at 1:56.785, in a practice split up by black flags. He was closely followed by newcomer Daniel Erickson, Cole Morgan, Canadian Remy Audette and returning 2009 Masters Class Champion Tom Fatur.

It was Erickson’s second day ever in an F2000 car. His #02 is being fielded by Primus Racing and he is driving the same chassis that took the 2007 F2000 title with Cole Morgan, and finished second in last year’s title fight with Matthew Inge at the wheel.

“The track was pretty green from the rain last night,” said the Australian, Erickson. “There wasn’t so much grip so we didn’t get the setup perfect, and the session was also split up a bit with the black flags.”

The first practice session saw the throttle stick on Al Guibord Jr’s #95 Van Diemen, sending him in a spin that took off the front wing. Jonathan Scarallo went off as well, losing his rear wing. Additionally, Chirs Gumprecht continued to battle fuel pickup issues in his St. Clair #97. SMR will not field the #14 for Blake Teeter after losing an engine yesterday.

Chris Livengood, the only Pinto powered car at VIR, was 12th fastest in the first session, out of 33 cars. Livengood has John Walko engineering his Van Diemen this weekend.

The F2000 Championship Series at VIR continues tomorrow, Saturday April 10 with a morning qualifying session followed by race one of the 2010 championship. Sunday has a similar schedule with a morning qualifying session followed by an afternoon 30-minute or 14-lap race. Fans and competitors can follow live updates, news and photos on www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com or on Twitter @F2000.

Practice 2 Results:

Pos No. Name Class Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 1 Cole Morgan F2 1:55.651 101.789 4 - - 2 02 Daniel Erickson F2 1:55.746 101.705 5 +0.095 +0.095 3 21 Remy Audette F2 1:55.939 101.536 9 +0.288 +0.193 4 26 Fabio Orsolon F2 1:56.211 101.299 6 +0.560 +0.272 5 23 Victor Carbone F2 1:56.345 101.182 8 +0.694 +0.134 6 89 Rob Nicholas/M F2 1:56.583 100.975 4 +0.932 +0.238 7 88 Tim Minor/M F2 1:57.156 100.481 4 +1.505 +0.573 8 36 Tim Kautx F2 1:57.289 100.367 6 +1.638 +0.133 9 22 Jonathon Scarallo F2 1:57.440 100.238 6 +1.789 +0.151 10 70 Tom Fatur/M F2 1:57.622 100.083 4 +1.971 +0.182 11 7 Brent Gilkes/M F2 1:57.699 100.018 7 +2.048 +0.077 12 57 Billy McLaughlin F2 1:57.756 99.969 7 +2.105 +0.057 13 97 Chris Gumprecht F2 1:57.936 99.817 3 +2.285 +0.180 14 80 Bobby Caldwell F2 1:57.950 99.805 6 +2.299 +0.014 15 11 Jesse Yorio F2 1:58.151 99.635 9 +2.500 +0.201 16 95 Al Giubord, Jr. F2 1:58.497 99.344 7 +2.846 +0.346 17 3 Phil Lombardi/M F2 1:58.589 99.267 2 +2.938 +0.092 18 37 Chris Livengood F2. 1:58.924 98.988 4 +3.273 +0.335 19 27 Craig Clawson/M F2 1:59.231 98.733 10 +3.580 +0.307 20 8 Mark Defer/M F2 1:59.418 98.578 9 +3.767 +0.187 21 25 Jeff McCusker/M F2 1:59.549 98.470 3 +3.898 +0.131 22 16 Peter Gonzalez/M F2 2:00.248 97.898 5 +4.597 +0.699 23 90 Robert Wright/M F2 2:00.257 97.890 9 +4.606 +0.009 24 42 Bill Jordan/M F2 2:00.563 97.642 6 +4.912 +0.306 25 83 Charles Finelli/M F2 2:00.947 97.332 8 +5.296 +0.384 26 06 Tim Paul F2 2:01.046 97.252 6 +5.395 +0.099 27 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M F2 2:01.635 96.781 2 +5.984 +0.589 28 03 Tim Walsh F2 2:01.757 96.684 3 +6.106 +0.122 29 33 Len Amato/M F2 2:03.195 95.556 4 +7.544 +1.438 30 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M F2 2:03.553 95.279 6 +7.902 +0.358 31 69 Paul Farmer/M F2 2:03.815 95.077 9 +8.164 +0.262 32 94 Al Guibord,Sr./M F2 -.--- - 0 - - 33 5 Keith McCrone/M F2 -.--- - 0 - -