Auto Club Speedway Results Round 11
Round 11 Sees De Silva Leads from Green to Checker to Claim Eighth Victory. </SPAN>
Fontana, Calif. (October 29, 2016) – Round Eleven of the Pacific Formula F2000/F1600 Championship presented by Primus Racing Parts returned to Auto Club Speedway where ten months ago the season kicked off the thirteenth campaign on the 2.88 mile road course inscribed within the two mile oval. Since then Tim De Silva has taken the series by storm winning races and setting lap records at Willow Springs, Buttonwillow, Mazda Raceway and Sonoma Raceway on his way to clinching the series title in the last round and this weekend began no different with De Silva claiming pole position, setting the fastest race lap and winning the race leading from flag to flag in the race held during the California Sports Car Club hosted Pacific Coast Road Racing Championship weekend.
In the three months since Tim De Silva clinched the series title and with it his entry into the Mazda Road to Indy Scholarship Shootout he also became one to the six finalists for the Team USA Scholarship for an opportunity to race in England and thus arrived in Fontana in very high spirits.
After a morning practice, qualifying was held later in the morning under partly sunny skies with temperatures in the low to mid seventies. Timothy De Silva; #1, TLP Racing, DRF Van Diemen, assumed his now customary position at the head of the pack as he claimed another pole position turning in a lap of 1 minute 39.541 seconds and was the only driver to break the 1 minute 40 second barrier. Occupying the front row with De Silva was Mitch Egner; #4, Van Diemen RF02, down from British Columbia with a fine performance in his first visit to this venue. On the second row were two drivers who made their returns to the series, Alex Kirby; #81, Fast Forward Components, Piper Race Cars, Piper DL7 and Ira Fierberg; #27, LDF Pro Fitness, Injury Law, Sparco USA, DFR Van Diemen RF05. Next up were Harin De Silva; #96, DFR, Van Diemen RF 06 and Tom Hope; #18, Primus Racing Parts, Dart, H+M Racing Van Diemen RF03 followed by Bob Negron; #8, Terri Negron Web Design, Rosy’s at the Beach, Negron Racing Van Diemen RF99 and Peter West; #99, Racing Optics, Kodenko Jeans, Malibu Health, Frank Monise Motors, DFR Van Diemen RF05 to fill out the first half of the grid. The remainder of the grid was filled out with Scott Vreeland; #51, Redhorse Constructors, Porter Racing, BV Training Van Diemen RF01, Justice Lepe; #6 Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen, Les Phillips; #09, Swiss Implants, Porterfield Racing Brakes, Van Diemen RF05, back after a two season absence, Sterling Ellsworth; #22, That’s My Juice Racing, LLC, Van Diemen RF01, Jim Bryant; #4, Van Diemen RF02, John Fabijanic; #46, Piper DF5 and Paul MacFarlane, #37, Magtax, Horse Track Software, Van Diemen RF94/Pinto.
The field took off on their pace lap leaving Tom Hope stranded on the grid unable to get his engine fired and when they came by for what should have been the green, Hope was poised at pit out ready to join the fray however the start was aborted and the field proceeded to take another lap at pace car speed followed by Hope. Sadly Vreeland was unable to start due to a broken clutch.
The next time around the green flag waved and the field headed off in earnest with Tim De Silva leading Egner, Harin De Silva, Kirby, Fierberg, West, Negron, Phillips, Lepe, Ellsworth, Bryant, Hope, already making his way through the field, Fabijanic and MacFarlane.
Lap two saw Hope really progress up the ladder having passed Ellsworth, Bryant, Phillips, Lepe and West to take over seventh place while Kirby moved by H. De Silva for third place and Egner hung on to T. De Silva in the lead, the two barely feet apart.
Hope continued his charge demoting Fierberg on the next lap and then Negron and H. De Silva to move into fourth place and begin his pursuit of Kirby in third place and with barely a third of the race complete had plenty of opportunity to continue his charge to the front.
Meanwhile it was T. De Silva closely followed by Egner, the Canadian putting in a fine showing considering his lack of knowledge of this track, Kirby losing ground to the leaders with Hope closing in, Fierberg, Negron having passed H. De Silva for sixth, H. De Silva, West, Lepe, Phillips, Ellsworth, Bryant, Fabijanic and MacFarlane. This order continued until Phillips spun on lap 6, lost oil pressure and retired from tenth place.
Lap seven saw Fabijanic disappear having collided with another class competitor, losing his rear wing in the process while MacFarlane lasted to lap nine before retiring.
The battle at the front raged on for several laps before T. De Silva managed to pull out a small gap which grew to a little over 5.5 seconds at the checker enabling Tim De Silva to take his eighth victory of the season and again take maximum points having also set the fastest race lap.
Mitch Egner finished a fine second for his first run in the series making worthwhile his long trek.
Alex Kirby, back in his Piper after skipping the Sonoma round did well to withstand the pressure of Tom Hope running just inches off his gearbox for the final third of the race to claim third place.
Tom Hope did well to finish fourth having put in the drive of the race starting from pit lane and moving through the field albeit aided by the aborted first start a performance to be proud of.
Fifth place went Ira Fierberg after not having been in a car in over a year, drove a measured race to the end enabling him to claim the Master Class victory.
Sixth place went to Bob Negron followed by Harin De Silva, Peter West, Justice Lepe, Sterling Ellsworth, Jim Bryant and retirees MacFarlane, Fabijanic and Phillips.
This season the Pacific Formula F2000 Championship Series is included in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200k Scholarship Shootout. The winner of the knockout style shootout will be provided with a $200k Scholarship to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in 2017 – the first rung in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder sanctioned by INDYCAR.
The Mazda Road to Indy is the only driver development program of its type in the world offering a clear, scholarship-funded path to the Verizon IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.
The Pacific F2000/F1600 series has a rich history and includes among its alumni drivers J.R. Hildebrand, 2011 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the year and Dane Cameron, Weathertech Series Prototype and GTD winning driver along with Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires 2016 runner-up Patricio O’Ward and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda drivers Nikita Lastochkin and Yufeng Luo the 2015 SCCA FC champion.
F2000 Qualifying: 1. Timothy de Silva (Van Diemen RF01), 1m39.541s; 2. Mitch Egner (Van Diemen RF02), 1m40.750s; 3. Alex Kirby (Piper DL7), 1m40.997s; 4. Ira Fierberg (Van Diemen), 1m41.063s; 5. Harin De Silva (Van Diemen RF06), 1m41.109s; 6. Tom Hope (Van Diemen RF03), 1m41.191s; 7. Bob Negron (Van Diemen RF99), 1m41.551s; 8. Peter West (Van Diemen RF05), 1m42.509s; 9. Scott Vreeland (Van Diemen RF01), 1m42.897; 10. Justice Lepe, (Van Diemen RF01), 1m44.198s; 11. Les Phillips, (Van Diemen RF05), 1m44.784s; 12. Sterling Ellsworth, (Van Diemen RF01), 1m45.452s; 13. Jim Bryant (Van Diemen RF00), 1m47.566; 14. John Fabijanic (Piper DF5), 1m49.105s; 15. Paul MacFarlane (Van Diemen RF94/Pinto), 1m57.476s. All cars run on Ford Zetec engines, unless noted and Pirelli Tires.
F2000 Round 11 (13 laps): 1. T. De Silva, 2. Egner, +5.580s; 3. Kirby, +14.827s; 4. Hope, +16.092s; 5. Fierberg, +22.867s; 6. Negron, +24.165; 7. H. De Silva, +33.832s; 8. West, +41.733s; 9. Lepe, +42.008s; 10. Ellsworth, +1m5.165s; 11. Bryant, +1m34.764s; 12. MacFarlane, +4 laps; 13. Fabijanic, +6 laps; 14. Phillips, +8 laps. DNS; Vreeland.
Fastest race lap[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]: [/SIZE][/FONT]T. De Silva, 1m40.203s.
Master class winner (over 50): Fierberg.
Points: 1. T. De Silva, 308; 2. Hope, 237; 3. Huffaker, 228; 4. Hakewill, 142; 5. West, 134; 6. H. De Silva, 132; 7. Funk, 119; 8. Kirby, 104; 9. Vreeland, 100; 10. Armington, 97; 11. Negron, 81; 12. Fierberg, 71; 13. Kodenko, 54; 14. Ellsworth, 52; 15. Fabijanic, 39; 16. Egner, 25; 17. Lepe, 12; 18. MacFarlane, 10; 19. Phillips, 1.
The series can be followed at https://www.facebook.com/pacificf2000racing and https://www.twitter.com/PacificF2000.
For more details go to http://www.pacificf2000.com or contact Peter West at 310-363-9444, or by email, pacificf2000@hotmail.com.
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