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Audette to Pole on Home Turf

Championship leader Remy Audette bagged three more F2000 points by taking the Afterburner Pole at Mosport for the first of two F2000 Championship Series races this weekend in the #21 Audette Racing Van Diemen.

Audette, who set a fast lap of 1:21.317, will be joined on the front row by rookie Kyle Connery, who is coming off a win at Mid-Ohio, and trying to track down Audette from second in the points.

It was Audette’s first pole since VIR in April, and the Canadian was able to just notch Connery, setting a lap just under a tenth of a second up on the American.

Audette won at Mosport in the rain last year, but admitted the track requires a much different approach in the dry as he looks for his first win since Watkins Glen in June, when he swept the weekend.

Connery, meanwhile, had never been to Mosport before Thursday practice, and is coming off a dominating win at Mid-Ohio. The driver of the #91 CC Autosport and James Lee Racing Van Diemen, like Audette, is looking for his fourth win of the year as he tries to track down the Canadian from a 70 point deficit.

One hundred ten points are on hand this weekend with three already going to Audette.

Chris Livengood, Robert La Rocca and Tim Minor completed the top five, with the first four cars separated by under three tenths of a second. La Rocca sits third in the points’ race, followed by Minor and Livengood.

La Rocca’s HP-Tech squad made major changes on his #10 entry over the course of Thursday, and said they did more tweaks overnight.

The Venezuelan rookie is on the hunt for his first race win and was just over a tenth of a second slower than Livengood, who is in his second year in the F2000 Series.

Matt McDonough was sixth fastest in the quickly-getting-faster Radon chassis, followed by Brent Gilkes, Angel Benitez, Dan Denison and Zach Craigo.

Today’s race starts at 12:55 p.m local time, and is scheduled for 18 laps or 30 minutes. Saturday July 23 sees the F2000 grid qualifying at 9:45 a.m. and conclude their weekend with a 6:05 p.m. scheduled race start. Follow live on www.F2000Series.com and on Twitter @F2000.

Qualifying Results:

Minor and Livengood Pace Mosport Practice

Coming off a win at Mid-Ohio, Chris Livengood, along with Masters Class veteran Tim Minor paced two long practice sessions on a very hot day at Mosport. Minor edged Livengood early in the morning for fastest time before Livengood went a few hundredths slower on a very hot race track in the afternoon ahead Championship leader Remy Audette, Robert La Rocca, Minor and Alegra Motorsports teammates Gustavo Rizzo and Angel Benitez.

Livengood’s fast afternoon time checked in at 1:22.337, while Minor posted a fast time of 1:22.302 in the morning session.

“The car feels good,” said Minor, driving the #88 Ski Motorsports Van Diemen. “There is more speed and in the first session we were mainly on old tires before scrubbing in some slicks. The balance is good and we are just making some minor changes.”

Audette, who had an uncharacteristic weekend off the podium at Mid-Ohio, did not set an official time in the morning session due to a transponder problem, but showed speed in the afternoon, posting the second fastest time. Audette won at Mosport in the rain in 2010.

HP-Tech Motorsport, representing the only RFR cars in the field in Canada, made drastic setup changes between sessions, vaulting Robert La Rocca to third quick. La Rocca is looking for his first F2000 win of the year after multiple podiums and is joined this weekend by fellow Venezuelan rookie and teammate Giancarlo Potolicchio.

Following a rough weekend at Mid-Ohio, Alegra Motorsports bounced back nicely putting Gustavo Rizzo in the top five, with teammate Angel Benitez sixth quick in the afternoon session. The teammates were separated by four hundredths of a second.

As the season starts its end swing, with two races at Mosport followed by doubleheaders at Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen International, Kyle Connery, who sits second in points, must start to finish consistently ahead of points leader Audette.

On his first visit to Mosport, Kyle Connery ended up 12th on the time sheets on his Mid-Ohio race tires.

Connery, who is coming off his third win of 2011, added: “In the first session we had the left front rotor locking up, but I have much more respect for this track after actually turning some laps. Hopefully we can spice things up racing on Remy’s home turf.”

The word of the day in the paddock seemed to be ride height, as most teams spent the few hours between the practice sessions on a scorching hot day in Ontario changing front heights.

As for the new Radon chassis debut, Matt McDonough got a handful of laps in during the morning session, and also hopped in the car for half of the afternoon before surrendering driving duties to Blake Teeter. Teeter will take over for the rest of the weekend. The car turned a fast lap of 1:25.674 in the hands of McDonough, the 2006 F2000 Champion.

Tim Paul, in the new look #06 Van Diemen for SMR/GTP Motorsports, was 15th quick on his first day ever on the Canadian road course. The new paint scheme has earned him the nickname of “Taco Tim” for the time being.

Another big concern as the weekend gets going is the five other series racing at Mosport, including the American Le Mans Series, and various rubber compounds being put down on the track which may effect car setup and handling.

The weekend continues with Friday, July 22, featuring a 8:00 a.m. qualifying session with a race following 12:55 p.m. Saturday July 23 sees the F2000 grid qualifying at 9:45 a.m. and conclude their weekend with a 6:05 p.m. scheduled race start

Practice 2 Times:

Pic:  Valet  

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