Series 11 Results - Sebring

 

The FRL's 11th season makes another stop at the famed Sebring raceway for round 2 of this multi-class season. The qualifying results in the DP Prototype class would be a foretaste of what was to come. The #18 and #2 Corvette's would post times in the low 1:52's, with the advantage going to Travis Billingsley, giving him his second Pole starting position in this FRL season. In the GT class, Bryan Dean set the pace with a class leading 2:06.520 to start in P1 in class. 

 With the grid set and pace lap completed, the DP's rolled across the Start/Finish line and took the green flag for the 40 minute event. Travis and Ghabe gave each other a wide berth heading into Turn 1, which Ethan Maestri in the #3 Ford DP took immediate advantage of, passing both Chevy's to take the lead early. For the next 20 minutes, an intense battle would unfold for these three DP cars. While Travis hunted for a line around Ethan, Ghabe sniffed for a similar opportunity to sneak around Travis. At times, a blanket would have covered all three cars on track. Ghabe was able to take advantage of a slight bobble from Travis and passed for P2.  On lap 8, Ghabe got a massive jump out of Le Mans and powered around Ethan on the Ullman Straight but held off on the brakes just a smidge too long into Sunset Bend, allowing Ethan to undercut him and power into Turn 1 to retake the position. That would prove to be the only other pass for the lead in the race. But the place swapping for P2 and P3 would continue, ultimately leading to further errors (and the eventual lag-out by Ghabe) which allowed Ethan to eventually win the race.  

 In the GT class, Bryan would set sail from the green flag, leaving four other drivers to sort P2 out amongst themselves. Matt Smith, in his #12 RSR held onto that P2 spot tightly for several laps. But an eventual off-track excursion opened the door for others to snatch the position from him. Paul Maestri in the #7 BMW M6 would spend the early laps stalking Seth Jensen's #6 Ford GT, eventually passing him and both he and Jensen where able to quickly overtake Matt. Seth would hang onto Paul's bumper for most of the race, however, the jumble from the overtaking DP class caused him to lose his grip on Paul. For his part, Paul set about slowly closing the gap Bryan initially enjoyed. But time ran out before a battle could develop. In the end, Bryan took his first class victory in the #808 Porsche RSR. 

 The series heads for the California sun for Round 3 at Long Beach on November 14th.

Results:

DP Class

1. Ethan Maestri - 50 points

2. Travis Billingsley - 40 points

3. Ghabe Stouffer - 35 points

GT Class

1. Bryan Dean - 50 points

2. Paul Maestri - 40 points

3. Seth Jensen - 35 points

4. Matt Smith - 32 points

5. Nicholas Hargrove - 30 points

Points Standings after 2 events:

DP Class

Travis Billingsley - 90

Ethan Maestri - 90

Ghabe Stouffer - 85

GT Class

Bryan Dean - 90

Paul Maestri - 75

Seth Jensen - 65

Matt Smith - 62

Nicholas Hargrove - 52

Tony Tyree - 28

Brandon Adkins - 26