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.