Race of America - Results

Heat 1 Results			Heat 2 Results
Driver:	Fastest Lap (Bonus):		Driver:	Fastest Lap (Bonus):		Team Points:
Ethan Maestri	2:09.983		Andrew Steppat	2:10.477		Apex Racing	348
Bryan Dean	2:10.343 (+1)		Bryan Dean	2:10.555		Millenium Motorsports	65
Andrew Steppat	2:09.771 (+2)		Ethan Maestri	2:09.598 (+3)
Paul Maestri	2:10.868		Travis Billingsley	2:10.418		Privateer Points:
Travis Billingsley	2:10.827		Matthew Smith	2:12.876		Eight Six Racing	105
Matthew Smith	2:13.859		Nicholas Hargrove	2:18.384		Independant Racing	98
Nicholas Hargrove	2:16.927		Tony Tyree	2:15.288		Option 13 Racing	90
Tony Tyree	2:14.742		Paul Maestri	2:12.958		Matthew Smith	40
						Nicholas Hargrove	35
						Daniel Fleischman	21
						Allen Ruff	4
						Rookie Points:
* = lap infraction (dirty)						Matthew Smith	40
						Nicholas Hargrove	35
						Tom Henderson	2
						Owen Henderson	2
Points Totals:	* - Bonus		Series Points Overall:
Driver:	Points:		Driver:	Points:		Heat Wins:
Ethan Maestri	28*		Andrew Steppat	185		Andrew Steppat	7
Andrew Steppat	20*		Travis Billingsley	163		Travis Billingsley	3
Bryan Dean	16*		Ethan Maestri	146		Ethan Maestri	3
Travis Billingsley	12		Bryan Dean	135		Paul Maestri	1
Matthew Smith	10		Paul Maestri	105		Bryan Dean	1
Paul Maestri	8		Drew Dilbeck	59
Nicholas Hargrove	6		Tony Tyree	42

Rolex 24 One Off Challenge Details

The Rolex 24 One Off Challenge will be a 24 lap event at the Daytona Sports Car circuit - at night - on January 26th around 9 PM. This will be a rather quick race, so for those wanting to stick around, we'll find some other 'heads-up' races to add to the mix. 

 Remember that this event kicks off a points series that will track points over all One-Off events throughout the year. 

 This event will feature Prototype legends from yesteryear:

R-limit will be R-998. Cars can use any tune, community or otherwise, so long as it does not exceed the R-limit.

 We look forward to another season of racing and the Rolex 24 will kick it all off!

The Takeaway - Alps Festival

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!  

Race of Switzerland - Recap

The sound of yodeling in the alpine air was briefly replaced by the resplendent noise of racing engines as the FRL makes it’s 7th stop at the Festival Racecourse in scenic Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.

Qualifying went well for driver Ethan Maestri as he scored his first pole of the season and led the field of 10 cars around to set the grid for Heat 1. But a good qualifying effort was poorly managed as the green flag waved and Ethan was passed on the line by several drivers at the start. Andrew Steppat took the lead into Turn 1 and would not look back as the rest of the field spread out and settled into a relatively clean race. Bryan Dean and Travis Billingsley would vie for P2 early, but Bryan made a brash move into the esses toward the end of the first lap. Both the #808 Audi and the #18 Volvo tried to occupy the same space and the inevitable result was both cars careening through the most dangerous part of the track. Bryan slid hard but recovered, Travis did not have room to begin with and would bounce off the railing. He would suffer no damage, but his precarious position on the track meant having to let the rest of the field pass before he could get underway again.

Ethan Maestri was able to capitalize on the altercation in front of him and close the gap on Bryan, leading to several laps of exciting nose-to-tail action at 130+ mph! Ethan would peel off on lap 5 starting a long cycle of pit stops for most of the field. Drew Dilbeck, Matthew Smith, and Tony Tyree would spend the first half of the race running very close together, fighting hard for P6. Drew Dilbeck would lead a good bit of the heat before sliding out in Turn 4. Matthew and Tony would pass cleanly, but Ethan would have to check up hard to avoid a larger collision.  As pit stops cycled, Travis Billingsley was able to advance up the leaderboard once more due to his Volvo’s exceptional fuel mileage. Andrew would hold to the top spot, but Travis advanced up to P2 briefly before getting passed by Bryan and Ethan once more.

While the top spot was never really in jeopardy, P2 was hotly contested. It looked as though Ethan would just not be able to slide by Bryan, until the penultimate lap, Bryan slid out wide in Turn 7 opening the door for Ethan to pass and take P2. Paul Maestri would ride out the race quietly in P5. Matthew Smith would win-out in the battle for P6, with Drew Dilbeck and Tony Tyree finishing P7 & 8 respectively. Nicholas Hargrove would run lap times comparable to those in front of him, but could not close the gap and ends up in P9. Newcomer Nate Turner makes his second start for this event and places P10.

Heat 2 would have a far more interesting start as several drivers had to make wild evasions to avoid other cars. This lead to a tight group of 5 cars at the front coming out of Turn 1. The stragglers left behind had to extricate themselves from a tight furball that began

with Andrew Steppat trying to shoot the gap between Matthew Smith and Bryan Dean. Instead of slipping toward the front, Andrew’s BMW would get pinballed between the #12 Mercedes and #808 Audi. Others would swing wide to avoid the fracas, stringing out the back end of the field. As the group headed around Turn 3 and down the long hill toward Turn 4, Bryan would catch up to Nicholas Hargrove, but created a dangerous situation as he spun Hargrove’s #5 Toyota. The Avensis careened off one wall and shot across the track to slam heavily into the outside barrier, effectively ending Nicholas’ run. Apex teammates Travis Billingsley and Tony Tyree were closest to the action and narrowly avoided a similar bad fate. Bryan escaped unscathed by the altercation and would begin his move toward the front with Ethan Maestri closely in tow.

Paul Maestri would hold down P1 for a couple of laps before pulling the #86 Coca-Cola Audi S3 to the side and letting Bryan and Ethan pass and continue their battle for the lead. On the next lap, Ethan would pull ahead around Turn 1 but Bryan was right there at his door. Around Turns 2 & 3 they ran with Bryan edging Ethan for the lead, Ethan had the momentum into the straight heading to Turn 4 but had to check up to keep from getting into the #808 Audi, allowing Bryan to pass for the lead again. Finally after several laps, Ethan would come in for the early pit. Once the pits had cycled through, Bryan and Ethan found themselves once more nose-to-tail with Travis Billingsley just in front of them. Closing on the #18 Volvo in the esses, Ethan would start to check up to give the slower Apex car some room but would instead get hit from behind by Bryan. With his car pushed low into the corner and no where to maneuver, Ethan tapped Travis’ rear bumper causing suspension and brake damage to his #85 Audi, hobbling his car and allowing Bryan and Travis to get away. A few laps later, Bryan would again make a bold move to try and pass Travis going into the esses but hit Travis bumper and did nearly identical damage to his car as Ethan had. Both would pit again, leaving Andrew Steppat to lead unchallenged, and giving him his 6th heat win this season. Travis Billingsley would stay out the entire heat and secured P2. Paul Maestri benefited from keeping his nose clean and brought his #86 home in P3.

Once again, Drew, Matthew and Tony would run close together for this heat at times too. Swapping positions, sliding and passing. But in the end, they all wound up in the same finishing positions as the previous race, Mathew in P6, Drew with P7 and Tony in P8. Nicholas Hargrove suffered terrible damage in his tangle with Bryan Dean. The damage left him stranded on the track for much of the heat. Nate Turner took advantage of Nicholas’ misfortune and brings his Toyota home in P9.

The WTCC has been nothing short of an exciting season of racing from the very start. But now the series heads to the final round in North America at Road America on December 25th.

Race of Switzerland - Results

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Heat 1 Results			Heat 2 Results
Driver:	Fastest Lap (Bonus):		Driver:	Fastest Lap (Bonus):		Team Points:
Andrew Steppat	1:43.085 (+2)		Andrew Steppat	1:43.186		Apex Racing	316
Ethan Maestri	1:43.455		Travis Billingsley	1:44.885		Millenium Motorsports	65
Bryan Dean	1:43.632		Paul Maestri	1:44.537
Travis Billingsley	1:45.326		Bryan Dean	1:43.576 (+1)		Privateer Points:
Paul Maestri	1:44.406		Ethan Maestri	1:42.986 (+3)		Eight Six Racing	97
Matthew Smith	1:47.068		Matthew Smith	1:45.718		Independant Racing	82
Drew Dilbeck	1:49.217		Drew Dilbeck	1:49.133		Option 13 Racing	62
Tony Tyree	1:48.279		Tony Tyree	1:46.626		Matthew Smith	30
Nicholas Hargrove	1:48.831		Nate Turner	3:06.524		Nicholas Hargrove	29
Nate Turner	2:10.340		Nicholas Hargrove	1:51.550		Daniel Fleischman	21
						Allen Ruff	4
						Rookie Points:
* = lap infraction (dirty)						Matthew Smith	30
						Nicholas Hargrove	29
						Tom Henderson	2
						Owen Henderson	2
Points Totals:	* - Bonus		Series Points Overall:
Driver:	Points:		Driver:	Points:		Heat Wins:
Andrew Steppat	27*		Andrew Steppat	165		Andrew Steppat	6
Travis Billingsley	18		Travis Billingsley	151		Travis Billingsley	3
Ethan Maestri	18*		Bryan Dean	119		Ethan Maestri	2
Bryan Dean	13*		Ethan Maestri	118		Paul Maestri	1
Paul Maestri	10		Paul Maestri	97		Bryan Dean	1
Matthew Smith	8		Drew Dilbeck	59
Drew Dilbeck	6		Tony Tyree	38
Tony Tyree	4		Matthew Smith	30
Nicholas Hargrove	2		Nicholas Hargrove	29
Nate Turner	1		Daniel Fleischman	21
			Allen Ruff	14
			Carter Merkling	4
			Tom Henderson	2
			Owen Henderson	2
			Nate Turner	1