New Car Rules for Indy 200

The new 2019 Indy cars released on Forza 7 have upgradeable restrictor plates and a wing configuration specific for Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With those options the FRL Board of Directors feel it necessary to make a few rule changes for the cars. The upgraded wing will be mandatory and the upgraded restrictor plate which gives a 10hp bump will be allowed but not mandatory.

2019 Indy 200 Anouncment

The 4th annual Indianapolis 200 will be held Sunday June 2nd

Resent Forza updates have giving us the new 2019 Indy cars to race with this year, cars once again will be  ran at stock PI  X999.

Qualifying starts at 8:45 central time with the race beginning at 9:00, 80 laps.

Road Atlanta Postponed Until Sunday May 12th

 The FRL body decided late yesterday to postpone the FEC Endurance race at Road Atlanta. Low participation and scheduling were cited as reasons for the move. Qualifying next week will take place at 8:45 pm with race start slated for 9:00.

 The season is winding down with only two events left. Road Atlanta next weekend and Watkins Glen as the finale on May 19th.

Steppat Back On Top At Road America

 It looked to be an extension of Laguna Seca when the FRL field of 6 cars took to the track at Elkhart Lake last Sunday night. Ethan Maestri set the fastest time in qualifying and early indications were that the two MBR drivers present for the event at Road America stood a good chance of making an interesting race at the front of the field.

 Once the green flag waved, things quickly equalized and the status quo returned to normalcy. Ethan Maestri suffered a stall at the line while the rest of the field got to speed. Andrew Steppat in the #001 Merkur and the #18 RX7 of Travis Billingsley quickly negated the Pole Position of the #3. Ethan would fight past Travis in the second lap and soon set his sights on Andrew, who struggled in the early laps of the race. Ethan would line up to pass under the bridge at Turn 6 but couldn't quite make the pass stick. Then a warning light appeared on Ethan's dash that spelled possible disaster for his race. Another battery failure loomed on the #3's horizon. Ethan would try to nurse the Mazda around to at least lap 5 of the 21 lap event, but several lock-up's and a last turn off track venture assured he would lose the front of the field for the rest of the night.

Early indications were for a tight battle at the front

 Back in P4-P6, a most interesting race developed early on. Drew Dilbeck, Tony Tyree and Ghabe Stouffer traded positions and kept nose-to-tail for many of the early laps. Tony would eventually take P4 when Drew had an off on Turn 11. Drew would pit early and utilized his fresh tires to gain back ground on Tony Tyree. Meanwhile, Tony had his rear-view mirror full of a hard charging Ghabe Stouffer. Ghabe would do a fair job maintaining contact with Tony's #47 Mustang throughout, and at the end of the night he was able to pounce on a stricken Tony Tyree to steal P5 in a last lap pass when Tyree slipped off the track.

Ultimately, the real entertainment for the race was to see who would get P4

 Travis would fail to capitalize on a shaky start for Andrew, eventually falling some 10 seconds off the leader. Andrew, for his part, found his rhythm late in the race setting fastest lap of the event and claiming his fourth win of the season. The series moves to the penultimate round at Road Atlanta on May 5th.

Road America Results:
1. Andrew Steppat - 21 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 18 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 16 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 14 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 12 points
6. Tony Tyree - 10 points


Series Standings after 5 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 102 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 84 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 79 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 62 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 56 points
6. Paul Maestri - 46 points
7. Tony Tyree - 36 points
8. Nicholas Hargrove - 22 points
9. Matthew Smith - 12 points

Ethan Maestri Takes #3 To Victory At Laguna Seca

 The FEC made its way to the West coast of North America for a showdown in the dry riverbed that is Laguna Seca. In practice leading up to the event, many a driver spent time out in the sand just off track, learning where the limit was and realizing the line between just inside and just outside the limit was a very thin line indeed.

 Qualifying was lead by Ethan Maestri, setting a pole position time nearly a half second faster than team mate Travis Billingsley. Owing to his Pole Position was the fact that series points leader Andrew Steppat was late for the event, failing to set a qualifying time at all. Andrew would start from the back of the grid.

Green flag and the field of 7 cars sweeps into the Andretti Hairpin on Lap 1

 However, as the green flag dropped, Andrew got an incredible start and quickly rocketed up the order and into third position by the time he reached Turn 1. Ethan Maestri would maintain the lead from the start, quickly followed by Travis in the #18 RX7. Both of the MBR cars would set the pace from the start, and would even be joined by the #33 of Paul Maestri as he would take over P3 from Andrew Steppat in the early laps. This would setup a ferocious battle for P3 contested by Paul, Andrew and RBR driver Drew Dilbeck. These three would run nose to tail for the better part of 9 laps, trading paint and jockeying for position. Finally, Andrew was able to creep alongside Paul after catching him in the corkscrew. Once Andrew was clear, Drew quickly tried to make a move but was boxed out by Paul. Drew checked up hard and Paul careened into the tire barrier at Turn 11, seriously damaging the #33 Mazda and ending his race.

The battle royale for P3 was the contest to watch

 Pit stops would muddy the waters for a few laps, but once cycled through, Ethan retained the lead. Travis was still in second, but Andrew was closing the gap fast on them both. With eight laps to go, Andrew would finally catch and pass Travis and set sail to try and run Ethan down at the front. He would close to within just a few seconds of the #3 Mazda, but not before the checkered flag waved, giving Ethan his first endurance series victory since Road America in 2017.

Lap 5, Ethan nearly loses it all coming out of Turn 6 

 The series now heads to Road America for the fifth event of the series, a 33 lap event in the hills near Elkhart Michigan.

 Andrew's second place finish virtually assures him another series title. Travis and Ethan now appear locked in a points battle for second place. Fourth, fifth and sixth place are hotly contested by Paul, Drew and Ghabe.

Laguna Seca Results:
1. Ethan Maestri - 21 points
2. Andrew Steppat - 18 points
3. Travis Billingsley - 16 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 14 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 12 points
6. Tony Tyree- 10 points
7. Paul Maestri - 8 points

Series Standings after 4 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 81 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 66 points
3. Ethan Maestri - 63 points
4. Drew Dilbeck - 48 points
5. Paul Maestri - 46 points
6. Ghabe Stouffer - 44 points
7. Tony Tyree - 26 points
8. Nicholas Hargrove - 22 points
9. Matthew Smith - 12 points

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.

Steppat Takes Second Victory At Lime Rock

 The FEC took to the track at Lime Rock on the South chicane circuit on March 10th. With a victory at Daytona, Andrew Steppat looked to take another step toward making quick work of the series points battle by taking it back to back wins. He started off in the right way, scoring pole position in qualifying. However, it would not be an easy run for him. With MBR locking out the next three positions, he would have to fend off an early challenge by the #3 of Ethan Maestri. Ethan would have trouble on the 2nd lap however and quickly faded to the rear of the field. This left the #33 of Paul Maestri to stalk his rear view mirror for several laps. Paul would yield his position to team mate Travis Billingsley a few laps later and the #18 Mazda would shadow the #001 Merkur all the way to the checkered flag.

 Ethan, after a very early mistake and pit stop, would climb to P6 before being forced to make a second pit stop with a battery issue. Nicholas Hargrove looked to be in for a good run, starting the race in P5. However, the #5 Cougar proved to be less than nimble in the corners and faded back to P8. Tony Tyree and Matthew Smith, both in Mustangs, had the toughest of races. The #47 of Tony Tyree would finish P8, just ahead of Matthew.

 The biggest surprise of the night would come from Rocket Boys Racing. RBR drivers Drew Dilbeck and Ghabe Stouffer would start at the back of the field but moved quickly forward and established a dominant position throughout the event. Drew placed his #29 RX7 into P3 with a late charge on the #33 of Paul Maestri. Ghabe would pilot his #2 RX7 home in P5, ahead of many of the veterans in the field. While Drew's podium likely paints a target on his back as far as Driver BoP is concerned, the addition of a new name to the top echelon's of the series is a welcome one.

 In all, MBR had a very strong hand at the start of the night. But niggling problems and mistakes cost them a strong result. The #18 solidifies his right to challenge the series leader. RBR had a coming out party of sorts here, but it will remain to be seen if they can maintain the momentum going to far more challenging tracks in the coming weeks.

 The series moves on to Sebring on March 24th. 

Sebring Results:
1. Andrew Steppat - 21 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 18 points
3. Drew Dilbeck - 16 points
4. Paul Maestri - 14 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 12 points
6. Ethan Maestri - 10 points
7. Nicholas Hargrove - 8 points
8. Tony Tyree - 6 points
9. Matthew Smith - 4 points

Series Standings after 2 events:
1. Andrew Steppat - 42 points
2. Travis Billingsley - 36 points
3. Paul Maestri - 28 points
4. Ethan Maestri - 26 points
5. Ghabe Stouffer - 20 points
6. Nicholas Hargrove - 16 points
7. Tony Tyree - 16 points
8. Drew Dilbeck - 16 points
9. Matthew Smith - 4 points