Round 3 of Winter Rivals - Stauffer Moves Ahead In Points

  Round three at Grand Oak - Club circuit concludes with Ghabe Stauffer at the top of the chart and moves him ahead of Andrew Steppatt for sole control of the series in points. It was a lights-out battle at the top between Ghabe, Andrew and Niko Smith. In the end, Ghabe squeaked out a 58.394. Andrew followed in P2 with a 58.437 and P3 went to Niko with a 58.537. Travis Billingsley coaxed a 58.982 out of a Ford Mustang and Ethan Maestri brought up the rear of the field with a 59.659 in an AMC Javelin. 

 Round 4 is underway at Hockenheim Short!

Grand Oak - Club Points
Ghabe Stauffer	25
Andrew Steppat	18
Niko Smith	15
Travis Billingsley	12
Ethan Maestri	10
Series Totals
Ghabe Stauffer	68
Andrew Steppat	61
Niko Smith	45
Ethan Maestri	34
Travis Billingsley	28
Joey Lamothe	14
Seth Jensen	12
Preston Liberatore	10
Gabe Fast	5
Tony Tyree	2

Round 2 of Winter Rivals Completed

 Virginia International Raceway hosted the second round of the FRL's Winter Rivals Challenge series. Andrew Steppat set the bar early in his ZR-1 and never took his foot off the pedal, setting a 1:11.387 early on and then dropped that to a 1:11.274 by the time the board closed. Ghabe Stauffer made great strides after hitting and sitting on a 1:11.690 for most of the 2 week challenge. He made a late charge for Andrew, dropping his best time to 1:11.418. Niko Smith languished in the 1:12's for most of the 2 week session, but a late charge in his Ford Falcon netted him a 1:11.542 officially, though he did post a 1:11.29x after the leaderboard officially closed. He'll be one to challenge the top two going forward.

 With just a few days to go, Ethan Maestri and Travis Billingsley started a back-and-forth swap of P3 that saw them both drop their times into the 1:11.5xx's. Seth Jensen showed late in the session, posting the sole 1:12 on the board. Joey Lamothe scores a 1:13.188 in a land barge 69' Dodge Daytona. Gabe Fast posts a final official time of 1:19.226, improving from an initial time of 1:21.188!

 

 The festivities ended with two heats run by four participants. Technical difficulties scrubbed results from the first session, but a lively race developed in the second heat with Niko Smith taking the win over a close second by Travis Billingsley. The next track is Grand Oak Club and the board goes live on Monday, December 30th & runs until January 12th.

VIR - South Points
Andrew Steppat	25
Ghabe Stauffer	18
Niko Smith	15
Ethan Maestri	12
Travis Billingsley	10
Seth Jensen	8
Joey Lamothe	6
Gabe Fast	4
Series Totals
Ghabe Stauffer	43
Andrew Steppat	43
Niko Smith	30
Ethan Maestri	24
Travis Billingsley	16
Joey Lamothe	14
Seth Jensen	12
Preston Liberatore	10
Gabe Fast	5
Tony Tyree	2

Round 1 of Winter Rivals Challenge Complete

 Round one of the FRL Winter Rivals series has concluded. Ghabe Stauffer posts the top time of the leaderboard with a blistering 42.641 seconds, manhandling all 17.3 ft. of his 69' Dodge Charger, like a boss. Andrew Steppat makes a late showing, but secured P2 with an equally impressive 42.808 in a 69' Chevy Camaro. Niko Smith rounds out the podium, taking his 73' Holden across the line in 43.021 seconds. 

 The bulk of the field toiled in the 43's along with him. Positions 4-8 were only separated by 0.378 seconds! The two week challenge period was finished with a meet-up at the selected track, Maple Valley Short, for some 6-12 lap shootouts. Ghabe continued his domination of the field by winning all three heats. Seth Jensen was able to capitalize on some small mistakes by Ethan Maestri, taking his 73' Pontiac across the line in P2 in the main heat of 12 laps. The final heat of the night featured a barn-burner of a duel between Seth and Travis Billingsley, both crossing the line with less than .020 between them, Seth getting the better of Travis at the line. 

 The Challenge series moves on this week to Virginia International Raceway - South. This event will conclude on December 29th, another concluding meet-up is being planned to close-out this event as well. Points have been awarded and shown on the table below. 

Maple Valley Points
Ghabe Stauffer	25
Andrew Steppat	18
DrMibbz	15
Ethan Maestri	12
Preston Liberatore	10
Joey Lamothe	8
Travis Billingsley	6
Seth Jensen	4
Tony Tyree	2
Gabe Fast	1
Series Totals
Ghabe Stauffer	25
Andrew Steppat	18
DrMibbz	15
Ethan Maestri	12
Preston Liberatore	10
Joey Lamothe	8
Travis Billingsley	6
Seth Jensen	4
Tony Tyree	2
Gabe Fast	1

Forzday Racing League Winter Rival Challenge

 As we head into the winter months the racing will heat up on a variety of short tracks this season in some very hot cars! The FRL is pleased to announce the schedule and car class for this winters assortment off Rival Challenges.

This season of racing will proceed as follows:

December 1-15 - Maple Valley Short

December 16-29 - Virginia International Raceway - South

January 5-19 - Grand Oak Club

January 19-February 2 - Hockenheim Short

February 3-16 - Road Atlanta

This seasons cars we'll be racing will be from the exciting Vintage Muscle Class. Each of these cars will be eligible to tune up to, but not to exceed, B-600. Open tuning, so prep your favorite muscle car however you wish (again, not over B600)! Below is the full list of eligible cars:

Points will be awarded and a top 3 podium will be announced based on points at the end of the season. We hope to see another great turnout similar to the GT Rival Challenge over this past summer.

FRL Announces "The Race For the Chase For the Cup For the Thing" Rivals Challenge - Summer 24'

 

 Starting July 4th, a new challenge is issued for all FRL drivers to spend some time further developing their GT skills in the Rivals section of Forza Motorsport. This summer, three tracks have been selected for drivers to focus on to see what further development can be made for an upcoming GT series that is in the works. 

 So, now is the chance to post your best time in your favorite GT (make sure it is within the desired regulations first) whip. Or, if you don't like that time, maybe try a different GT and beat your own leaderboard score. At the end of each tracks featured month, the Leaderboards will be posted here and top drivers can crow about it to others on Discord! It's all for fun and for a good cause as it is helping out the BoP boffins in race control. Watkins Glen is first up, go to it drivers! 

Offical announcement with regulations and schedule below:

Libertore Liberates a Victory At Le Mans

 

 It's summertime and the off season in the FRL is at its peak with a one-off running of a motorsports classic. The FRL staged this endurance event on the famed race course at Le Mans in a powerful lineup of GT3 race whips. The disappointment of the previous week's delay of the actual running of the race was long forgotten as nine drivers turned up for this Friday night event. 

 Due to the length of the race, a random grid was selected for expediency and at 8:45 PM Eastern, the green flag was dropped. The start off the line was skittish for some and Turn 1 would be a bit of a bumper-fest for a few, but the field soon stretched its legs on Mulsanne and the fastest cars were quickly to the sharp end of the field. 

 The #18 AMG Mercedes of Travis Billingsley & #62 Ferrari driven by Joey Lamothe would lead from the start, through Dunlop and onto Mulsanne. However, Lamothe's car was setup for shorter stints and much faster steeds quickly relegated him to P6. Travis would lead the first lap, but was soon caught up by the #001 Corvette driven by Andrew Steppat. The #001 would lead for a time before an incident damaged his drivetrain and sent him backwards in the field. The #54 Aston Martin Vantage, wheeled by Preston Liberatore would assume P1 and never look back, enduring the 24 laps and 1.75 hours of the event to take the win. Travis Billingsley secured a P2 podium spot and takes the "Soundtrack of the Night" award by bringing a lovely V8 note to the party. Seth Jensen brings home a personal best P3 and should be thanked for organizing a great one-off event for the league. 

 The off-season continues and the next event in the league is still 'TBD'. 

Results:

P1 - Preston Libertore - Aston Martin

P2 - Travis Billingsley - AMG

P3 - Seth Jenson - AMG

P4 - Gabe Stouffer - Ferrari

P5 - Andrew Steppat - Corvette

P6 - Joey Lamothe - Ferrari

P7 - Ethan Maestri - Porsche

P8 - Paul Maestri - Porsche

P9 - Brandon Tretsven - Porsche

ROUND 2 - FRL Season 12: Technical Difficulties and the Return of the 3

 

Ghabe Stouffer #2

The FRL takes to the grid for the second time this season! Despite it being the second race of the season, the race was full of firsts! Hakone is a brand new host to the FRL and what a beautiful track it was. It was also the seasons first night race and first Heat Series on the calendar! It has been a month since the FRL's last event so this gave the racers plenty of time to relax or extra time to run simulations. Who would come out the most prepared? After a few technical issues resulting in a delayed start, we found out.

 

In qualifying we saw a few noticeable call outs! To start was the youngest driver of the grid, Ghabe Stouffer #2, who took pole position in qualifying Sunday night... but unsurprisingly, multi-season champ  Andrew Steppat reclaimed his spot at the top during the final hours. Joey Lamothe #23 secured 3rd and also the highest of his Rookie season career. Another rookie who caught the eye of many was Ace Wethan #99 who also set a personal best of 6th. Now for the races! Heat 1 was an intense race to say the least. Ghabe and Andrew would fight each other for first but Ghabe proved victorious taking the first win of the night! Joey Lamonthe #23 didn't just perform well in qualifying but proved he can fight for his spot as he battled with Steppat and also Preston Liberatore #54 to take 3rd. Sunday we got to enjoy having a longtime familiar face rejoin the grid, Ethan Maestri #3, where he would fight for 7th against his brother, Paul Maestri #8. On the final lap, after exchanging positions throughout the heat, Ethan leaned a bit too hard on his brothers bumper, sending him into the wall. Travis Billingsly would fight for position but in his efforts to avoid contact, he hit a curb that removed all of his downforce, thus causing his car to spin hard into the wall. Fortunately, Travis didn't need medical attention but his car suffered drastically. He then pitted where his crew fixed the damage from the chaos. This resulted in a finish out of the points.  

 

Heat 2 had some shakeups! Preston Liberatore was slated to secure 3rd in a fight with Paul Maestri but due to fuel miscalculations, the car of #54 would begin to stutter and lose power around the hairpin but would maintain enough momentum to cross the line in 4th place. Ace Wethan #99 nabbed 5th again, setting himself up for a solid and consistent race from the rookie! Joey Lamothe #23 tumbled down the standings in this heat after an unforeseen collision with #99. Joey showed excellent poise to fight his way back up to 8th to salvage 4 points for the heat series. 

 

Heat 3 showed a strong and consistent race from all the drivers. Brandon Tretsvan #92 would attain a personal highest by finishing 10th! While not much happened in the standings, there was a 3 way battle for 3rd between Travis Billingsly #18, Preston Liberatore #54, and Joey Lamonthe #23. This battle went on for the final 3 laps of the race all the way up to the finish line! Preston Liberatore #54 made a pass to early in the last lap before the long straight where both Travis and Joey would make their pass on the #54 car. Joey sensed that Travis was playing nice that night and would stick his elbows out to keep Travis behind him up to the finish line! Travis Billingsly #18 did accumulate .70 seconds worth of penalties which was all the Preston Liberatore #54 would need to overtake Travis and secure 4th in the final heat. Paul Maestri, despite having car troubles during the heat, gained two spots after starting behind the field. 

We hope all can make it for the next round of FRL action in South Africa!

FINAL SERIES: Driver Points / Result Points 

P1 Ghabe Stouffer #2 75/25 

P2 Andrew Steppat #001 54/18 

P3 Preston Liberatore #54 36/15 

P4 Joey Lamothe #23 34/12 

P5 Paul Maestri #8 23/10 

P6 Ace Wethan #99 20/8 

P7 Travis Billingsly #18 18/6 

P8 Ethan Maestri #3 18/4 

P9 Matt Smith #12 14/2 

P10 Trent Daniel #15 9/1 

 

Season Standings: Driver Points 

P1 Ghabe Stouffer #2 - 37 

P2 Andrew Steppat #001 - 33 

P3 Preston Liberatore #54 - 33 

P4 Travis Billingsly #18 - 31 

P5 Paul Maestri #8 - 20 

P6 Joey Lamothe #23 - 13 

P7 Ace Wethan #99 -  8 

P7 Matt Smith #12 - 8 

P8 Seth Jensen #6 -  8 

P10 Ethan Maestri  #3 - 4 

P10 Jonah Vines #22 - 4 

P12 Aaron Vines #89 - 2 

P13 Trent Daniel #15 - 1

P14 David Dodson #86 - 0