Steppat Back On Top At Road America

 It looked to be an extension of Laguna Seca when the FRL field of 6 cars took to the track at Elkhart Lake last Sunday night. Ethan Maestri set the fastest time in qualifying and early indications were that the two MBR drivers present for the event at Road America stood a good chance of making an interesting race at the front of the field.

 Once the green flag waved, things quickly equalized and the status quo returned to normalcy. Ethan Maestri suffered a stall at the line while the rest of the field got to speed. Andrew Steppat in the #001 Merkur and the #18 RX7 of Travis Billingsley quickly negated the Pole Position of the #3. Ethan would fight past Travis in the second lap and soon set his sights on Andrew, who struggled in the early laps of the race. Ethan would line up to pass under the bridge at Turn 6 but couldn't quite make the pass stick. Then a warning light appeared on Ethan's dash that spelled possible disaster for his race. Another battery failure loomed on the #3's horizon. Ethan would try to nurse the Mazda around to at least lap 5 of the 21 lap event, but several lock-up's and a last turn off track venture assured he would lose the front of the field for the rest of the night.

Early indications were for a tight battle at the front

 Back in P4-P6, a most interesting race developed early on. Drew Dilbeck, Tony Tyree and Ghabe Stouffer traded positions and kept nose-to-tail for many of the early laps. Tony would eventually take P4 when Drew had an off on Turn 11. Drew would pit early and utilized his fresh tires to gain back ground on Tony Tyree. Meanwhile, Tony had his rear-view mirror full of a hard charging Ghabe Stouffer. Ghabe would do a fair job maintaining contact with Tony's #47 Mustang throughout, and at the end of the night he was able to pounce on a stricken Tony Tyree to steal P5 in a last lap pass when Tyree slipped off the track.

Ultimately, the real entertainment for the race was to see who would get P4

 Travis would fail to capitalize on a shaky start for Andrew, eventually falling some 10 seconds off the leader. Andrew, for his part, found his rhythm late in the race setting fastest lap of the event and claiming his fourth win of the season. The series moves to the penultimate round at Road Atlanta on May 5th.

Road America Results:
1. Andrew Steppat - 21 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 18 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 16 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 14 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 12 points
6. Tony Tyree - 10 points


Series Standings after 5 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 102 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 84 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 79 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 62 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 56 points
6. Paul Maestri - 46 points
7. Tony Tyree - 36 points
8. Nicholas Hargrove - 22 points
9. Matthew Smith - 12 points

Ethan Maestri Takes #3 To Victory At Laguna Seca

 The FEC made its way to the West coast of North America for a showdown in the dry riverbed that is Laguna Seca. In practice leading up to the event, many a driver spent time out in the sand just off track, learning where the limit was and realizing the line between just inside and just outside the limit was a very thin line indeed.

 Qualifying was lead by Ethan Maestri, setting a pole position time nearly a half second faster than team mate Travis Billingsley. Owing to his Pole Position was the fact that series points leader Andrew Steppat was late for the event, failing to set a qualifying time at all. Andrew would start from the back of the grid.

Green flag and the field of 7 cars sweeps into the Andretti Hairpin on Lap 1

 However, as the green flag dropped, Andrew got an incredible start and quickly rocketed up the order and into third position by the time he reached Turn 1. Ethan Maestri would maintain the lead from the start, quickly followed by Travis in the #18 RX7. Both of the MBR cars would set the pace from the start, and would even be joined by the #33 of Paul Maestri as he would take over P3 from Andrew Steppat in the early laps. This would setup a ferocious battle for P3 contested by Paul, Andrew and RBR driver Drew Dilbeck. These three would run nose to tail for the better part of 9 laps, trading paint and jockeying for position. Finally, Andrew was able to creep alongside Paul after catching him in the corkscrew. Once Andrew was clear, Drew quickly tried to make a move but was boxed out by Paul. Drew checked up hard and Paul careened into the tire barrier at Turn 11, seriously damaging the #33 Mazda and ending his race.

The battle royale for P3 was the contest to watch

 Pit stops would muddy the waters for a few laps, but once cycled through, Ethan retained the lead. Travis was still in second, but Andrew was closing the gap fast on them both. With eight laps to go, Andrew would finally catch and pass Travis and set sail to try and run Ethan down at the front. He would close to within just a few seconds of the #3 Mazda, but not before the checkered flag waved, giving Ethan his first endurance series victory since Road America in 2017.

Lap 5, Ethan nearly loses it all coming out of Turn 6 

 The series now heads to Road America for the fifth event of the series, a 33 lap event in the hills near Elkhart Michigan.

 Andrew's second place finish virtually assures him another series title. Travis and Ethan now appear locked in a points battle for second place. Fourth, fifth and sixth place are hotly contested by Paul, Drew and Ghabe.

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

Series Standings after 4 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 81 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 66 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 63 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 48 points
5. Paul Maestri - 46 points
6. Ghabe Stouffer - 44 points
7. Tony Tyree - 26 points
8. Nicholas Hargrove - 22 points
9. Matthew Smith - 12 points