Season 11 - Laguna Seca

  The race was short again at Laguna Seca as 5 cars, 3 DP & 2 GT cars took the green flag for a 30 minute race. Andrew Steppat takes top step again in the DP class. Matthew Smith takes top honors in GT. 

 Matt Smith also takes the lead in the series points in the GT class heading into the final event at Road Atlanta on Feb. 6th.

DP Class:

Andrew Steppat - 50 points

Ethan Maestri - 40 points

Travis Billingsley - 35 points

GT Class:

Matthew Smith - 50 points

Tony Tyree - 40 points

Points After 7 of 8 events:

DP Class 

Travis Billingsley - 295 points

Ethan Maestri - 290 points

Andrew Steppat - 217 points

Andrew Stouffer - 120 points

GT Class

Matt Smith - 222 points

Bryan Dean - 220 points

Paul Maestri - 210 points

Tony Tyree - 162 points

Nicholas Hargrove - 80 points

Blake Wild - 80 points

Seth Jensen - 65 points

Adam Casselman - 30 points

Brandon Adkins - 28 points

Season 11 - CoTA

 DP Class:

Andrew Steppat - 50

Travis Billingsley - 40

Ethan Maestri - 35

GT Class:

Blake Wild - 50

Points After 6 or 8 Events:

DP Class:

Travis Billingsley - 260 points

Ethan Maestri - 250 points

Andrew Steppat - 167 points

Ghabe Stouffer - 120 points

GT Class:

Bryan Dean - 220 points

Paul Maestri - 210 points

Matt Smith - 172 points

Tony Tyree - 122 points

Nicholas Hargrove - 80 points

Blake Wild - 80 points

Seth Jensen - 65 points

Adam Casselman - 30 points

Brandon Adkins - 28 points

Season 11 Results - Road America

  Here are the results from the just concluded Season 11 FRL race at Road America.

DP Class 

1.) Andrew Steppat - 50 points

2.) Travis Billingsley - 40 points

3.) Ethan Maestri - 35 points

GT Class

1.) Paul Maestri - 50 points

2.) Bryan Dean - 40 points

3.) Matt Smith - 35 points

4.) Tony Tyree - 32 points

5.) Adam Casselman - 30 points

Points After 5 of 8 Events

DP Class

1. Travis Billingsley - 220 points

2. Ethan Maestri - 215 points

3. Ghabe Stouffer - 120 points

4. Andrew Steppat - 117 points

GT Class

1. Bryan Dean - 220 points

2. Paul Maestri - 210 points

3. Matt Smith - 172 points

4. Tony Tyree - 122 points

5. Nicholas Hargrove - 80 points

6. Seth Jensen - 65 points

7. Blake Wild - 30 points

8. Adam Casselman - 30 points

9. Brandon Adkins - 28 points

 Andrew Steppat makes his presence felt once again as he puts the rest of the DP field down by more than 40 seconds to take the class win, his first of the season. Paul Maestri does the bump-n-run on Bryan Dean to move into the lead in the late stages of the race to pick up the victory, and narrows the points gap to just 10 in their championship battle. Travis moves into the points lead, with Ethan Maestri just 5 points behind. 

 We break until mid-January, where we'll pick up racing action again at Circuit of the Americas on January 16th, 2022. 

Series 11 Results - Long Beach

 It was, as expected, a crazy time in LA as the FRL visited the street circuit of Long Beach for round three of the series. In the DP class, Andrew's return to racing would be a short one as connectivity issues quickly took him off the track. This left the racing to Ethan and Travis as the two remaining cars in the class. Ethan looked to have things well in hand. But with about 6 minutes left, a sideways GT car obstructed his path and brought him to a standstill. The resulting battle would fall Travis' way and he scores his second race victory of the series. 

 Bryan Dean continues to dominate at the front of the field, despite starting P3 in the class. He scores his second victory here in the streets of Long Beach. Paul Maestri earned pole to start the race but fell victim to poor braking and a tire wall, forcing him to fight from the back of the field, but would come back to claim P3. Matt Smith had a strong race and finished on the podium in P2. 

Results:

DP Class

1. Travis Billingsley - 50 points

2. Ethan Maestri - 40 points

3. Andrew Steppat - 35 points

GT Class 

1. Bryan Dean - 50 points

2. Matt Smith - 40 points

3. Paul Maestri - 35 points

4. Tony Tyree - 32 points

5. Blake Wild - 30 points

6. Nicholas Hargrove - 28 points

Points Standings after 3 Events

DP Class

1. Travis Billingsley - 140 points

2. Ethan Maestri - 130 points

3. Ghabe Stouffer - 85 points

4. Andrew Steppat - 35 points

GT Class

1. Bryan Dean - 140 points

2. Paul Maestri - 110 points

3. Matt Smith - 102 points

4. Nicholas Hargrove - 80 points

5. Seth Jensen - 65 points

6. Tony Tyree - 60 points

7. Blake Wild - 30 points

8. Brandon Adkins - 28 points

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

 

Series 11 Results - Daytona

 It has been a busy week to start the eleventh season of the FRL. The final prep for and the running of the first race in the series at Daytona was as frenetic as could be expected. Behind the scenes though, much hand-wringing and discussion was taking place due to an unusual set of circumstances. Fortunately, all was able to be sorted in due order and since the checkered flag flew over the 45 minute event, some significant changes have transpired.

 For the race, in the DP class, all unfolded as expected. As the green flag waved, Travis Billingsley was able to secure his pole position and quickly began extending his lead over the only other car in the class, Ethan Maestri's #3 Ford. Travis' #18 Chevy was able to run cleanly throughout the event and crossed the line nearly 20 seconds ahead of his competitor. 

 In the GT class, the Porsche's had their day on a circuit well suited to their speeds. Bryan Dean was able to finish with a P2 in class despite several hairy moments on track. Paul Maestri was looking good for a P2 finish, but instead had to pit late and yield that position to Bryan. He would finish on the podium in P3. Ghabe Stouffer truly dominated the event, leading from pole and finishing P1. Less fortunate drivers like Nick Hargrove's #5 Corvette would experience bad internet and was disconnected early in the race. Brandon Adkins in his #8 Ford GT would suffer from a bought of narcolepsy and crashed out later. 

 Post race, the FRL made the decision to move Ghabe Stouffer from the GT class into the DP class, partly due to his dominating performance, but mostly in order to preserve the entry list at four. His points from the Daytona race are unaffected and places him alongside Travis after this first event at 50 points apiece. The next race will take place October 31st at Sebring.

Daytona Results:

DP Class 

1. Travis Billingsley - 50 points

2. Ethan Maestri - 40 points

GTLM Class

1. Ghabe Stouffer - 50 points

2. Bryan Dean - 40 points

3. Paul Maestri - 35 points

4. Matt Smith - 32 points

5. Seth Jensen - 30 points

6. Tony Tyree - 28 points

7. Brandon Adkins - 26 points

8. Nicholas Hargrove - 24 points

Series Points:

DP Class 

1. Travis Billingsley - 50 points

2. Ghabe Stouffer - 50 points

3. Ethan Maestri - 40 points

GTLM Class

1. Bryan Dean - 40 points

2. Paul Maestri - 35 points

3. Matt Smith - 32 points

4. Seth Jensen - 30 points

5. Tony Tyree - 28 points

6. Brandon Adkins - 26 points

7. Nicholas Hargrove - 24 points

FRL Season 11 Announcement

  Sept. 4, 2021 - Today the FRL Board of Directors is please to roll out the announcement for Season 11 of the FRL. This season promises to bring some big changes to the series. First off, the schedule itself is being shifted from a fall schedule to a winter schedule. Starting in October and running into December. After a break during the holiday season, the action resumes with three more events, with the series champions being crowned in February. 

 Yes, you read that right, champions will be crowned at the end of the series. For the first time in FRL series history, two classes will take to the track at all 8 scheduled events. The first class will run the P-rated Ford and Chevrolet DP prototypes from 2015 and the 2014 Lola B12 chassis, powered by Mazda. The second class will feature some of the GTLM cars from the IMSA series as well. Those selected are the 2014 Corvette C7.R, the 2017 Porsche 911 RSR and the 2011 Ferrari 458 GTC. For both classes, each car will run its preset 'homologated' setup. This dictates what updates and weights are used on each car to balance them for their respective class. The P-rated prototypes will homologate to P949 at most while the GTLM cars will homologate between R829-R835. Each driver will be able to adjust tuning to suit their preferences. 

 The Prototype class for the FRL 2021-2022 Winter Season 11.

 The class competitors will be as follows:

Prototype:

Andrew Steppat               Preston Liberatore

Travis Billingsley            Ethan Maestri

The GTLM class for the FRL 2021-2022 Winter Season 11

The GTLM class competitors will be as follows:

Paul Maestri     Nicholas Hargrove    Blake Wild             

Seth Jensen          Tony Tyree             Ghabe Stouffer

Additionally, other participants not listed will be classed in the GTLM field. 

Full schedule as follows:

October 17th - Daytona International (Day) - 45 minutes

October 31st - Sebring - 40 minutes

November 14th - Long Beach - 30 minutes

November 28th - Watkins Glen - 40 minutes

December 12th - Road America - 40 minutes

January 16th - Circuit of the Americas - 35 minutes

January 30th - Laguna Seca - 40 minutes

February 13th - Road Atlanta - 45 minutes

 An additional chance for this series will be that the race events themselves will be true timed endurance events and not "goal-lap" events as we have run before. Endurance will be the aim here and the furthest traveled car will be declared the winner for its class. 

The prospect of having two points series in progress has the opportunity to create some great championship battles to watch as this season progresses! We hope to see you all on the track in October.