MBR Diversifies Garage - Handed Grid Penalty By FRL

 Maestri Bros. Racing's Ethan Maestri announced today that MBR will become a two manufacturer effort for the remainder of Season 8 of the FRL, beginning at Mugello on Oct. 7th. Ethan says about the change:

 "I felt the need to return to Porsche, simple as that. I had wanted to partner with Stuttgart from the moment the car list was released for S8. MBR has had a great partnership with Porsche over the past few years with wins at Le Mans and Sebring. It was a go-to early, but quickly had to move on a partnership with Mercedes due to some early performance reviews. In light of some of the imbalances in this GT Series for S8, I felt we could still fulfill our obligation to Mercedes by allowing Paul to head that effort and I could take a step back and work at keeping Porsche in the FRL. I know it puts me at a disadvantage to some of the other cars but I'm willing to accept that."

 The FRL was quick to hand down sanctions to the #3 team for the change to its car, leveling a grid-start penalty on them in effect for the next three heats.

 "I knew we would incur some kind of penalty for the switch. I honestly expected to be docked points, so I'm happy to take the grid penalty instead. I look forward to the challenge and hope to make the racing a bit more interesting for the chaps further in the field...at least until I get a better handle on the new car."

 The #3 Laws Whiskey House Porsche 911 GT3 will make its debut at Mugello Circuit on October 7th.

FRL Season 8 - Sonoma Recap

 It was a longer wait than anticipated to see whether or not the Vipers would dominate the field at Sonoma. Scheduling for some of the FRL's drivers necessitated a delay of an extra day to allow for as many to participate as possible. A devastating hardware failure led to one drivers conspicuous absence though, Brandon Adkins would not be present to challenge teammate Tony Tyree for a Top 5 spot in the series points.

 Despite the off night, nine drivers did turn up for qualifying. D&S Performance didn't wait to answer the performance question and locked-out the front row in qualifying. Travis Billingsley settled into a P3 start position to round out the Top 3.

 At the drop of the green flag, Andrew Steppat wasted no time in running out to a sizable lead, though a bit less impressive than at Yas Marina. Bryan Dean maintained second place over Travis' #18 Noble, but only just. He had to defend his position at several places throughout the first heat. Several bobbles by Bryan kept Travis close to the #808 Viper, but the power kept the Dodge out of serious trouble.

 Further afield, Drew Dilbeck made his first race in Season 8, running a McLaren. He did quite well, qualifying and maintaining a mid-pack position. He would lose a place to Ethan Maestri and Tony Tyree, but kept good pace over Paul Maestri, Nicholas Hargrove and Matt Smith.

 Heat 2 would begin with both Matt Smith and Paul Maestri exiting early for the night. The reverse field took the green flag, but mayhem soon ensued as Ethan tried to execute a pass around the outside of Tony's #47 Corvette but ended up clipping Tony's front nose, sending both spinning into the run-up the hill toward Turn 2. Travis tried to check-up and bumped into Bryan's door, upsetting the Noble and spinning it deep into the weeds. Bryan looked to make it through cleanly but the Corvette of the #47 tagged the left rear of Bryan's Viper and sent him into the grass as well. Four of Heat 1's Top 5 were now stricken, with Drew's McLaren and Nicholas' Corvette skampering off into the hills. Andrew Steppat was the sole survivor of the scrum and went on to charge into the lead. The field sorted itself for a mad dash toward the front. Ethan got the #3 AMG righted first and stormed on. Bryan Dean was in hot pursuit while Tony and Travis gingerly got themselves underway as well.

 Bryan and Ethan made their way past Nicholas first, then Drew. As Bryan tried to execute a move around the outside of Drew's McLaren, Drew clipped the inside of the wall on the last corner before the start/finish line. This sent him careening into the side of Bryan's Viper and caused extensive damage to the #808's front right suspension and brakes as Bryan scrapped the outside wall. This opened the door for both Travis and Tony to advance ahead of Bryan, a lap later the #808 would have to pit for repairs.

 Travis would catch Ethan and for several laps looked for an opportunity to pass. A slight bobble into the grass staved off one pass, but a later off by Ethan would open the door for Travis to take P3. In the end, the night belonged to Andrew Steppat as he took both heat wins, further extending his championship lead. Travis Billingsley would find his way to P2 on the night and in the series points as well. Ethan Maestri finds himself on the third step of the podium for the night as well.

 Bryan took a hit in the series, gaining only P4 on the night. Tony Tyree keeps his stranglehold on a Top 5 position. Drew Dilbeck makes a very respectable debut for this season in P6. Nick Hargrove takes P7. And Paul Maestri and Matt Smith rounded out the field respectively on short nights.

 The series moves on to Mugello for Round 3 on October 7th.

SONOMA RESULTS

1) Andrew Steppat	21
2) Travis Billingsley	18
3) Ethan Maestri	16
4) Bryan Dean	14
5) Tony Tyree	12
6) Drew Dillbeck	10
7) Nick Hargrove	8
8) Paul Maestri	6
9) Matt Smith	4

Second heat chaos at turn 1 

FRL Season 8 - Yas Marina Results

1. Andrew Steppat

2. Bryan Dean

3. Travis Billingsley

4. Ethan Maestri

5. Paul Maestri

6. Tony Tyree

7. Brandon Adkins

8. Matt Smith

9. Chris Rader

10. Micah Davis

FRL Season 8 - Yas Marina Recap

Pre-season testing gives way to race day as the FRL kicks off its eighth season of racing. This year things kicked off under the lights at Yas Marina circuit. With a variety of different cars in action, the field of ten drivers that took the green flag found a fair bit of excitement on the hard twists and turns of this Middle Eastern F1 circuit.

 The first heat was full of the usual first run jitters and mishaps. Several drivers bumped into each other at various points of the track. The most serious of which was Brandon Adkins and Chris Rader colliding into the sweeping Turn 3. Brandon's Z06 seemed to shrug it off but Chris' McLaren did not react well to being upset in the corner and spun out, dropping him to the rear early on. Ethan Maestri had to start from the back of the grid and picked his way forward, eventually settling into fourth position. In the Top 3, Andrew Steppat started his season off right by securing the lead early, and then stretching it out to several seconds over hard charging teammate Bryan Dean. Both drivers showed an alarming amount of pace from their near 1000 horsepower Vipers. Near to, but unable to advance on them, was Travis Billingsley in his #18 Noble M600. These three would dominate the podium on the night.

The fireworks were in the air and on the track into Turn 1 in the second heat.

 Heat 2 began with a little more flair as the reverse grid put the fast moving Vipers coming up through the three-wide field into Turn 1. Bryan was late on the brakes and smashed into the #12 Noble driven by Matthew Smith. Matt did a good job collecting himself, but was still trying to pick his line as he exited the turn and he made contact with an already upset Chris Rader. The woes for Chris had started with contact on the other McLaren driven by Micah Davis. Matt and Paul Maestri in the #33 AMG made heavy contact with the #92 McLaren and sent the rest of the field scattering. With the order sufficiently jumbled, this allowed Travis to take the #18 out to an early lead, with the #8 Corvette of Brandon Adkins in P2. Brandon's hold on P2 would end quickly though as Bryan gathered steam and railed around Brandon into Turn 3. Brandon would steadily loose positions as the rest of the field queued behind and eventually passed him. Eventually he would drop down to P7. Although Matt would not spin in his altercation with Chris, he would end up with severe brake and suspension damage that would force him to pit at the end of lap 1. He would make up ground on Chris, eventually catching up to him at the line, but finishing P9. 

 Bryan Dean would catch Travis fairly quickly and put a bold move on Travis, diving his Viper hard into the corner. Sensing that he would be clear by the next turn, he closed up the lane that Travis thought he would have. The two made contact at the apex but Bryan was slightly ahead at that point anyway and would secure P1. Andrew Steppat would catch Bryan just a few laps later, but the two ran nose-to-tail to the finish, a full 2 seconds ahead of P3 Travis Billingsley. Steppat had secured fastest lap, and by extension, top step on the podium for the night. Heat 2 largely became a battle of team garages, with D & S Performance dominating at the front, MBR racing for P4 & 5 and 4 of 7 Racing settling P6 & 7 between themselves. 

 Despite the distance gap between the best and the rest, there was some solid racing taking place around the track. Parity between some of the vehicles means that this could be an excellent season of racing further afield of the front. We will have to wait and see how the complexion of the season develops as we head to Sonoma on September 23rd.

The Pre - Race Run Down

Sunday night will mark the start of the FRL's 8th season, with drivers taking to the beautifully lit track of Yas Marina Circuit located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The paddocks have been a buzz or rather a roar of engines as drivers and teams ready their cars for the season opener, here's what we know so far...

Bryan Dean was the first to make his car choice known, going with the Viper GTS. Then came the announcement from the Maestri brothers with their choice of the Mercedes AMG GTR. Chris Rader then followed up with his teaming with McLaren. Tony Tyree was next to make his selection, choosing the Corvette Z06 as his ride for the season, he would also latter on reveal the signing on of Brandon Atkins to the newly re branded team of 4of7 Racing. Matt Smith would choose the Noble for his entry. Dead Peddle Racing fronted by Travis Billingsley brings on Nick Hargrove as team mate, driving the Noble and Corvette Z06 respectively. So that brings us to Andrew Steppat of Steppat Racing, after keeping a low profile for the majority of the preseason he has finally reveled that he will be driving the Viper GTS and forming a partnership D&S Performance with Bryan Dean of Boostdog Designs.  When asked for a comment on the new partnership Bryan had this to say..."I look forward to this coming season. Emerging from several failed attempts to podium the past years has left me eager to prove my abilities to run in the top 3. I've made a concerted effort in my choice of vehicle and feel that the viper is the best choice for my driving style. I was approached by steppat racing on a partnership and we will be collaborating on some ideas for the viper and a program with Mopar. It'll be fun working with a highly skilled FRL veteran and hope to learn a lot from Andrew. I feel like we have already positioned ourselves for success but I know the competition is going to be fierce."




Mr. Steppat has once again set the pace on the leaderboard with a blistering time of 2:10.969 followed by Travis with a 2:13.737 and Bryan posting a dirty time of 2:12.871 Could the dirty time just be a cloak to hide his real time who's to say? But what is clear, when it comes down to go time, a time like that is bound to land him a spot on the podium. The rest of the field come in a couple of seconds behind Travis, with Ethan being the closest with a 2:15.916.




The night will start with lobby invites going out at 8:30p.m. CT and qualifications starting at 8:45p.m. CT and the race starting at 9:00p.m.CT

We look forward to seeing all drivers on the track.