Steppat Gaps Points Lead After Sublime Sebring Race

 The FEC series makes its stop at the storied Sebring Race Circuit. The field of 8 cars took to the track for qualifying with problems for the #3 & #33 MBR cars. Both drivers would drop out of the qualifying event without posting flying laps and would start near the back of the field. More worrying was whether or not they would make it through the 22 lap event. Andrew Steppat would score Pole Position.

 From the moment the green flag dropped, battles erupted through the field. Travis would make an early lunge into Turn 1 of the first lap, taking advantage of the tussle between the #29 of Drew Dilbeck and the #001 of Andrew Steppat. Both Travis and Paul would have to check-up and allow the front runners to sort themselves out. This allowed Ethan Maestri to close on the top of the order, quickly passing his team mates and setting sights on Drew and Andrew.

 Further back, the #4 of Ghabe Stouffer would struggle to get past Nicholas Hargrove. But Nick was fighting an ill handling Mercury Cougar and came off the track at Turn 10, allowing Ghabe a clean pass. Nick's woes would continue, allowing Matt Smith to close the gap. Matt himself was struggling with his recent switch from a Mustang to an RX7, but when Nick got crossed-up at Tower Turn, Matt was able to complete the pass, only narrowly avoiding a major collision. Nick ended up square in the wall and the damage was devastating. He would drop nearly two laps off the lead in the time it took him to limp back to the pits for repair.

 At the front, Andrew would hound Drew, but couldn't quite get the pass. Then on lap 8, Andrew would make a stunning move around the outside of Drew at Le Mans turn, he then made the most of his Merkur power, running away down Ulman Straight. Behind them, Ethan Maestri and Travis Billingsley ran nose-to-tail for much of the first half of the race. At times they could close on the battling front runners, but then they would lose ground as inconsistent laps slowly allowed the front two to pull away. Left to themselves, the two MBR drivers would trade places until Ethan made for the pit lane. Travis would pit several laps later, relinquishing the lead to Andrew Steppat, and emerged from the pit lane just behind the #3 RX7 of Ethan Maestri. They would resume their cat and mouse game, but Ethan eventually gaped Travis, securing the final podium position.

 Ghabe Stouffer would gather himself up from a less than stellar start and eventually closed on the #33 of Paul Maestri. These two would hound each other for nearly the entire race. Eventually the FRL veteran would make one too many mistakes, opening the door just wide enough for Ghabe to step through, allowing him to take a position in the Top 5. At the flag, Andrew Steppat proved to be too much for the hard charging Drew Dilbeck to handle. Andrew takes his 3rd straight victory of the season at Sebring. The series heads to Laguna Seca on April 7th.

Sebring Results:
1. Andrew Steppat - 21 points
2. Drew Dilbeck - 18 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 16 points
4. Travis Billingsley - 14 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 12 points
6. Paul Maestri - 10 points
7. Matthew Smith - 8 points
8. Nicholas Hargrove - 6 points

Series Standings after 3 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 63 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 50 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 42 points
4. Paul Maestri - 38 points
5. Drew Dilbeck - 34 points
6. Ghabe Stouffer - 32 points
7. Nicholas Hargrove - 22 points
8. Tony Tyree - 16 points
9. Matthew Smith - 12 points

Andrew widens the gap at the top after Sebring. Ethan passes Paul to take over the third spot in the order. A nice points battle develops in the mid-field for P3, with 4 drivers in the hunt for the position, separated by only 10 points.

Steppat Takes Second Victory At Lime Rock

 The FEC took to the track at Lime Rock on the South chicane circuit on March 10th. With a victory at Daytona, Andrew Steppat looked to take another step toward making quick work of the series points battle by taking it back to back wins. He started off in the right way, scoring pole position in qualifying. However, it would not be an easy run for him. With MBR locking out the next three positions, he would have to fend off an early challenge by the #3 of Ethan Maestri. Ethan would have trouble on the 2nd lap however and quickly faded to the rear of the field. This left the #33 of Paul Maestri to stalk his rear view mirror for several laps. Paul would yield his position to team mate Travis Billingsley a few laps later and the #18 Mazda would shadow the #001 Merkur all the way to the checkered flag.

 Ethan, after a very early mistake and pit stop, would climb to P6 before being forced to make a second pit stop with a battery issue. Nicholas Hargrove looked to be in for a good run, starting the race in P5. However, the #5 Cougar proved to be less than nimble in the corners and faded back to P8. Tony Tyree and Matthew Smith, both in Mustangs, had the toughest of races. The #47 of Tony Tyree would finish P8, just ahead of Matthew.

 The biggest surprise of the night would come from Rocket Boys Racing. RBR drivers Drew Dilbeck and Ghabe Stouffer would start at the back of the field but moved quickly forward and established a dominant position throughout the event. Drew placed his #29 RX7 into P3 with a late charge on the #33 of Paul Maestri. Ghabe would pilot his #2 RX7 home in P5, ahead of many of the veterans in the field. While Drew's podium likely paints a target on his back as far as Driver BoP is concerned, the addition of a new name to the top echelon's of the series is a welcome one.

 In all, MBR had a very strong hand at the start of the night. But niggling problems and mistakes cost them a strong result. The #18 solidifies his right to challenge the series leader. RBR had a coming out party of sorts here, but it will remain to be seen if they can maintain the momentum going to far more challenging tracks in the coming weeks.

 The series moves on to Sebring on March 24th. 

Sebring Results:
1. Andrew Steppat - 21 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 18 points
3. Drew Dilbeck - 16 points
4. Paul Maestri - 14 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 12 points
6. Ethan Maestri - 10 points
7. Nicholas Hargrove - 8 points
8. Tony Tyree - 6 points
9. Matthew Smith - 4 points

Series Standings after 2 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 42 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 36 points
3. Paul Maestri - 28 points
4. Ethan Maestri - 26 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 20 points
6. Nicholas Hargrove - 16 points
7. Tony Tyree - 16 points
8. Drew Dilbeck - 16 points
9. Matthew Smith - 4 points