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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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Follow live updates online at www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com or on Twitter @F2000. |
www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com Gooden Grabs Road Atlanta Pole
For Gooden, it is his first pole after narrowly missing out in Virginia last month by just thousandths of a second to La Rocca. Gooden will start his third F2000 race on Friday after graduating from the F1600 Formula F Championship Series, where he won all four races he entered in 2011. “We went out again at the last second, and we knew there was more in the car,” said the American. “I gave it one lap and that was it.” While Gooden had never seen Road Atlanta, he did add that he has more than enough laps around the 12-turn road course in iRacing. Meanwhile, La Rocca couldn't make it three poles in a row, despite pacing the morning practice in the HP-Tech Van Diemen. “We had to go around a slower car on our quickest lap,” said La Rocca, hinting at the fact there is more in the No. 10. “The car went well, though, and the team is doing a great job, however, the track wasn't as fast as this morning.” Fabio Orsolon will start third in the No. 77 Radon from GTP Motorsports, having finished on the podium with the chassis at VIR. “We were leaking water during the session from the radiator, and that caused us to miss some laps,” the Brazilian noted. “But, the car is really good and it’s tight at the front of the field.” Connery will line up fourth, becoming the story of the day after ditching his No. 91 RFR after three morning sessions and jumping in the car he won six races in last season, including both at Road Atlanta, a Van Diemen. “That wasn't bad for only one session,” Connery said. “The chassis was off a bit but we’ll get there, it will also be interesting to see the race pace of everyone. Overall, we are very pleased based on where we were this morning.” Multiple F2000 race-winner Chris Livengood rounded out the top five, bouncing back for John Walko Racing in the No. 37 RFR after a rough VIR weekend attributed to electrical gremlins. Another RFR followed in sixth, Niki Coello, with Tim Minor seventh fastest, and first of the Masters Class competitors. Then it was Gerald Kraut, for JDC Motorsports, Tim Paul and Zach Craigo, all in Van Diemens, for positions eight through 10. Nathan Morcom qualified 14th following a last minute car and team change, as the young Australian now pilots the No. 1 Van Diemen for Momentum Motorsports. After a 8:00am warmup on Friday, F2000 cars will race at 10:50am for 18 laps, and Saturday concludes the weekend with a 8:00am qualifying session followed by a 11:15am race. Qualifying and races will feature live audio on www.livestream.com/F2000. News, results, social media updates and photos will be available on www.F2000Series.com throughout the weekend. Qualifying Order:
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Rookie
Wyatt Gooden, who had never driven at Road Atlanta prior to today, took
pole by a tenth of a second for round three of the 2012 F2000
Championship Series season, setting a lap of 1:24.907 to break the track
record in the No. 6 Quantum Racing Services Van Diemen. Robert La Rocca,
who leads the points coming off two wins at VIR, lines up second ahead
of Fabio Orsolon, Kyle Connery and Chris Livengood. The top four cars
were separated by less than three tenths of a second.