Norman, D’Addario and Ming Win at Sebring
Sebring, FL – The F1600, F2000 and Atlantic Championship Series closed the second and final event of the Formula Race Promotions (FRP) Winter Exhibition with Sunday races at Sebring. In the F1600 Series, Calvin Ming took the win with lead changes happening by the corner, while Davy D’Addario won in F2000 and Ryan Norman took his second win in the Atlantic Championship Series.
F1600:
After an exciting start at Sebring, the Team Pelfrey duo of Phillippe Denes and Kaylen Frederick led the first lap of the 30-minute race.
Similar to the race at Palm Beach earlier in the month, the lead battle quickly turned into a K-Hill versus Pelfrey affair, with K-Hill teammates Calvin Ming and Neal Verhagen challenging at the front of the field in a tight race that came down to the wire.
The four swapped the lead back and forth, with Ming cycling to the front at the 10-minute mark of the race, ahead of Frederick, Verhagen and Denes.
On lap seven, the halfway point of the race was marked with a lead differential of .245 seconds with Ming over Verhagen as the lead changed multiple times per lap.
Those four continued to battle, with Frederick taking the white flag first as .585 seconds separated the lead four cars.
That last-lap battle came down to Ming coming outon top, with Ming’s No. 4 passing for the lead and taking his second F1600 win in a row for K-Hill Motorsports, just .036 seconds and a few inches ahead of teammate Verhagen. The top four cars were separated by .182 seconds at the checkered flags.
Elsewhere, Cameron Das and Will Harvey had a duel for the final top five spot, which went to Harvey.
F2000/Atlantic:
At the drop of the green in the F2000 race, Davy D’Addario led from pole early, going on to take the eventual victory. A bit further back, contender Skylar Robinson was forced to start considerably behind the field after an issue on the grid
D’Addario was able to control the pace early in the No. 37 Van Diemen as Robinson moved through the field in the No. 90 ADSA/Wright Racing Radon.
D’Addario continued to lead while K-Hill’s Blake Mount, who won at Palm Beach, ran about four seconds behind in the early stages of the race as the two drivers lapped consistently around the iconic Sebring facility. Mount went on to finish second ahead of the No. 16 of Peter Gonzalez.
While Robinson caught the lead group, he was sidelined on lap four, pitting with an apparent car issue and rejoining the field later on, but a number of laps down.
D’Addario’s fast time during the race was 2:09.626, while Robinson was able to set the fastest time overall in F2000 at 2:07.665.
In the Atlantic Championship Series, Ryan Norman led flag-to-flag for K-Hill Motorsports from pole in the No. 48 Swift 016/Mazda.
It marked the second straight strong performance from Norman, who mimicked his drive at Palm Beach last weekend. Norman is an early favorite to challenge reigning Series Champion Keith Grant when the season starts at Road Atlanta in April.
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com, www.F2000Series.com and www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.
Formula Race Promotions next heads to Road Atlanta, April 7-10, for the opening weekend of the 2016 seasons for F1600, F2000 and Atlantic.
Photos:
1. Calvin Ming
2. Davy D’Addario
3. Ryan Norman
On the Web:
F1600: www.F1600Series.com | Facebook | Twitter
F2000: www.F2000Series.com | Facebook | Twitter
Atlantic: www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com | Facebook | Twitter
About Formula Race Promotions:
Formula Race Promotions (FRP) operates the F1600, F2000 and Atlantic Championship Series. Starting with F2000 in 2006, FRP added F1600 in 2011 and Atlantic in 2012. The Series’ philosophy is to offer a vertical integration between club and professional racing, while offering some of the best race tracks and significant amounts of track time in single-class running. The 2016 schedule is composed of two winter events and seven-points paying weekends. FRP is privately owned and sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.
Sources: Monty Mathisen/MathisenMedia