*Updated* - Laguna Seca 66 Presented by Age of Geek - Results/Recap 4/24/16

 It would be an historic event at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway as 12 drivers made the grid to start the 5th FEC event of the season. Not since August 2013 at the 1.2 hours of Sebring had there been an FRL sanctioned event with at least 10 drivers entered. The entry list last night shatters that old record and put the biggest field of drivers on the shortest, tightest course on this year's FEC circuit. How did things shake out in the hills outside Monterey, CA?

                                              Field of 12 sets off at the start of the Laguna Seca 66

 First lap action looked to be intense, but instead of mayhem, it was a quiet and clean rolling start. Into Turn 1, there was a little bumping and jockeying, but no major catastrophe's. The #3 Porsche of Ethan Maestri did bump into the back of the #001 Corvette of Andrew Steppat. The bump opened the door for Daniel Fleischman, making his debut in the FRL here, to move his #43 Ferrari 458 into P3. Further back, The #303 McLaren driven by Chris Rader carved a clean line through the turn only to have the #9 Porsche  of Chris Dilbeck get into his right rear quarter panel on exit. This resulted in an incident that put both cars off track and at the back of the field. Chris would collect himself and go on to make a solid run, climbing as high as P5 at one point, before settling into P7 for the finish. Dilbeck would have a little more trouble than Rader and brings his car home P9.

                                    Chris Dilbeck (Porsche) and Chris Rader (McLaren) tangle in Turn 1

 There was some serious battling taking place toward the front of the field here. The tight confines of the track made passing difficult. Bryan Dean, driving the #81 Aston Martin DBR9, made as much use of the close quarters to run some very fast laps and kept Andrew Steppat at bay in the early going. At around lap 6, Andrew got a good run coming out of Turn 11, but Bryan was able to get the power down faster and retook the lead diving down into Turn 1. A couple of laps later though, Andrew would again make a run for the position. As both drivers braked into Turn 5, Bryan would drift wide and allow Steppat the preferred line. Bryan tried to move in close and possibly scrub some speed off Andrew, but the contact resulted in Bryan slipping up the berm and into the sand, dropping him from P1 back to P4 as Daniel and Ethan were right there to take advantage of Bryan's off.

 Ethan Maestri and Daniel Fleischman, already embroiled in a hotly contested battle for P3, set their sights on P2 from this point on. While Daniel led early, eventually he would get off Turn 11 a little more slowly than Ethan. This allowed the 911 RSR to plant the power down and get alongside Fleischman's Ferrari in a few places. Around lap 8, Daniel got a little wide in the corner and dragged the tires on the sand allowing Ethan to move into P2. He'd hold onto that position until pitting on lap 13. Daniel was there to pass him in Turn 1 and the battle was joined again, until Ethan was once again able to take advantage of a wide corner and take back P2, this time for good.

                        Battles could be found all over the track, but P1 thru P6 were most hotly contested throughout

 Travis Billingsley and Paul Maestri had a strong battle developing early on for P5, but glitch-contact getting into Turn 11 forced Travis to pit the #18 BMW early for repairs. Despite going from front to back, and having to pit extra in two consecutive races, Travis fought back hard and climbed into P6 before the checkered flag waved. Paul would bring the Porsche across the line to round out the top 5.

 Mikey Collins in the #7 Corvette had not been on the track since the January opener at CotA, despite a rough start to the race, he was able to pilot his C7.R to P8. Allen Ruff, Tony Tyree and Andrew Capshaw would round out the field at the flag. Tyree's #47 Bentley, though not placing high on the list, did turn in the last full point score for fast lap in the field with a 1:28.859.

 Not a lot of shakeup in the points standings. Most positions held, with some extending leads and some drawing a little tighter. the rookie Fleischman makes a big splash with 21 points in his race debut, and joins Bryan Dean in being one of only two rookie drivers to podium in their first FRL event. The manufacturer points battle heats up to a boil as Aston Martin now holds a very narrow lead over Chevrolet, and Porsche closes to just under 50 points from the top spot. Bentley and McLaren are separated by only 3.5 points and Ferrari makes its debut in the series with 21 points, immediately putting it over Nissan and within striking distance of the British duo.

 We are off to France for the 1 Hour of Le Mans on May 15th.

Results:

Position:	Driver:	Points:	Lap Time:	Lap Points:	Total:
1	Andrew Steppat	25	1:25.075	10	35
2	Ethan Maestri	18	1:25.519	8	26
3	Daniel Fleischman	15	1:26.065	6	21
4	Bryan Dean	12	1:25.294	9	21
5	Paul Maestri	10	1:26.851	5	15
6	Travis Billingsley	8	1:25.849	7	15
7	Chris Rader	6	1:27.751	4	10
8	Mikey Collins	4	1:28.095	2	6
9	Chris Dilbeck	2	1:27.880	3	5
10	Tony Tyree	1	1:28.859	1	2
11	Allen Ruff	0.5	1:30.490	0.5	1
12	Andy Capshaw	0.5	1:30.568	0.5	1

 Points:

Position:	Driver:	Points:
1	Andrew Steppat	165
2	Ethan Maestri	140
3	Bryan Dean	110
4	Paul Maestri	84
5	Travis Billingsley	69
6	Allen Ruff	39
7	Tony Tyree	38
8	Chris Rader	34
9	Andy Capshaw	23
10	Mikey Collins	23
11	Daniel Fleischman	21
12	Carter Merkling	11
13	Chris Dilbeck	9

Manufacturer Points:	Points:
Aston Martin	189
Chevrolet	188
Porsche	141
Dodge	88
BMW	56
Bentley	38
McLaren	34
Ferrari	21
Nissan	11