The Eighth round of the FRL’s WTCC series was held at Elkhart Lake at Road America. The serendipitous field of eight drivers took to the track at 8:45 for a 15 minute qualifying session. Andrew Steppat secured another pole starting position for his BMW 125i for the final event of the season.
Andrew Steppat starts from pole in Heat 1 of the Race of America
At race start, Bryan Dean stumbled badly off the line and fell back early. Ethan Maestri also had a slow start in his Audi and was bumped from behind by Travis Billingsley in the #18 Volvo Polestar. Instead of damage, the low speed punt kicked Ethan forward and he was able to fall into line behind Andrew’s #001 BMW. Bryan would recover well in the opening stages of the race, he was able to close on Travis in P3 and when the Volvo went wide through Turn 8 and into the tire barrier, Bryan was able to put the S3 within striking distance of the leaders.
Through the carousel
Ethan spent the early laps shadowing Andrew, looking for an opportunity to pass. On lap 4, the #85 Audi carried a bit more momentum through the carousel and into Turn 8, allowing him to pull alongside Andrew’s door on the backstretch. Into Turn 9 Ethan late-braked and made the pass through the corner, taking the lead. In the later stages of the race, Bryan would close on Andrew and pass just before the checkered flag closed the heat, keeping Bryan in the race for the points podium. Paul Maestri ran a solid heat, eventually closing on the ill-handling Volvo of Travis Billingsley. He was able to pass the #18 Apex car and secure P4 for the heat. Matthew Smith ran a clean race too, though he was battling with Tony Tyree and Nicholas Hargrove at times. He would prevail and bring his Mercedes across the line in P6, inching closer to a rookie points win over Nicholas. Tony Tyree would suffer connection issue and would retire early.
Heat 2 started cleanly off the line for everyone. Turn 1 unfolded without incident, but with nearly all 8 cars trying to move through Turn 2 at the same time, things got a bit crowded. Bryan’s #808 Audi and Ethan Maestri’s #85 S3 got together as traffic checked-up. Ethan would spin into the grass, Bryan would roll on and quickly advance up the grid.
Tony Tyree reconnects and leads off Heat 2
As the lead group rolled through Turn 5, Tony Tyree in the #47 BMW would slip up the track a bit in the corner, he would collect himself but pulled down into the lane of a hard charging Paul Maestri. The resulting collision spun both cars hard into the grass on either side of the track. Tony would collect and continue the rest of the race, Paul would suffer damage and would need to pit, effectively ending his run for the night.
Bryan and Travis would battle early on for P2, even trading paint on occasion. However, Bryan was able to pass Travis and a later spin by the #18 Volvo secured Bryan in the P2 position. As the laps ticked down, Bryan continued to try and close on Andrew Steppat in the lead. He would need a win to elevate himself in the points to hold third place over rival Ethan Maestri. For his part, Ethan was working his way through traffic steadily, but looked like he may have a challenge ahead to get around Travis cleanly and into P3. However, recognizing how quickly Ethan was able to close on him, Travis allowed Ethan a lane to move around him, giving him P3.
Andrew Steppat was able to hold his lead, keeping Bryan in P2 at the checkered flag, chalking up an impressive 7 heat victories on the season and securing his 6th FRL title. Bryan would finish in P2, Ethan would cross in P3, and there would be a three-way tie for the win at this event. Post race results would have to be examined to determine fastest laps and tie-breakers would be administered.
Once the results were in, Ethan Maestri would carry the night and claim the win at Road America with a fastest lap on the night at 2:09.598. His 28 point haul would be more than enough to take P3 in the points race from Bryan. Andrew Steppat would post the second fastest lap and would claim P2 overall on the night. Bryan Dean, despite a solid night and valiant effort, would have to settle for the third rung on the podium for the night. Paul Maestri, despite a rough 2nd Heat, would post a P7 and 8 points that secured the Privateer Championship points race. Apex Racing won the Team points battle going away with over 300 points to their tally. Matthew Smith would finish the second heat here with his first top 5 finish. He would finish the event with a P6 and 10 points added to his total, giving him the Rookie Points win.
Thus concludes a fantastic season of racing. We congratulate all the participants that have made this WTCC series an exciting and fun FRL season to remember.
