The team trailers have long ago rolled out of the paddock area and taken their respective cars to the garages in order to get them prepped for the final event of the FRL’s WTCC series. With Round 7 done and dusted, let’s see what we can take away from the Race of Switzerland and look ahead to the final round in a few days.
Andrew Steppat leaves the European continent with a commanding lead over Travis Billingsley. Anything can happen, but if Andrew secures anything above the bottom spot in the next round, he’ll secure his 6th FRL Season title. Bryan Dean and Ethan Maestri engaged in a fierce battle in the Alps that was directly in proportion to their points battle they are waging here in the final stretch for third place in the points. No longer a threat to the top two positions, but with only one point separating them, these two will be gunning for the best position on track possible in order to secure the P3 podium spot for the series. While Paul Maestri does have a mathematical chance at P3, it would take a miracle, or disaster depending on perspective, to get him that far up the board. However, he heads into the final round with a fairly secure lead in the privateer points.
Drew Dilbeck and Tony Tyree find themselves in that middle ground in the points race. Their positions are fairly secure, not really anywhere further up or down to go. They’ve ran well at some tracks, but have also taken some fairly big lumps at others. Their run at Road America might not have any drama associated with it, but they are certainly players in how things will shake out for others.
A key battle that will come down to the final checkered flag at Road America will be for the Rookie Championship. Matthew Smith had a rough start to his campaign but has come on very strong in the last few events. Now he comes away from Alps Festival with a 1 point lead over Nicholas Hargrove. Nicholas early success in his campaign has led into several less than stellar results in the last few races, the mirror opposite of Matthew’s efforts. Now with the finale in view, the question will be who can capitalize on the winner-take-all nature of this particular points battle and come away with the Rookie title?
We also take a moment to make mention a driver that has very recently began his FRL driving career. Nate Turner makes his second start in the FRL here in Switzerland, and while his performance might not be described as a ‘head-turner’, certainly he is gaining the experience to be a future contender in the FRL.
The finale of the FRL’s sixth season of racing moves on to the Race of America at Elkhart Lake on December 25th!
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