Pacific formula F2000 round 1

Peter West Claims First Victory in 12th Season Opener

Buttonwillow, Calif. (January 17, 2015) – The Pacific Formula F1600/F2000 Championship opened its twelfth season on the 2.88 mile infield road course at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California with an impressive victory by Peter West, his first in the series. The series is beginning with a non-points two-race weekend run with Cal Club as part of the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour.



This weekend the series drivers competed within run groups made up of several different classes due to a revised series format designed to allow drivers to compete in the series and SCCA sanctioned events simultaneously. The run groups will be determined by the sanctioning club and therefore vary from region to region. This weekend using the 2.88 mile infield road circuit, the Formula 2000 group ran in FC and was grouped with FA, FM and the sports racer groups P1 and P2.



A twenty-five minute practice session was held on Friday morning followed the first of two qualifying sessions set to began 1:45pm. The first session was twenty-five minutes in duration which allowed plenty of time for the drivers to get in a clear lap with an entire field of 28 cars. The session was well underway when Yufeng Luo; #13, DFR Van Diemen, set his fastest lap, at 1:41.387, good for provisional pole position, final positions to be determined by the best lap of either session. Luo was closely followed by Tom Hope; #10, H+M Racing Van Diemen and Peter West; #99, Racing Optics, Ken Partch, Frank Monise Motors, DFR Van Diemen both also in the 1 min. 41 sec. range with Harin DeSilva; #96, DFR Van Diemen and Robert Armington; #11 Cypress Lane Racing, Hoosier Tires, Premium Power Systems, Inc. Van Diemen rounding out the field.



The cooler temperatures and 8:40am start allowed all but Tom Hope to improve their times from Friday and the final starting order was Luo, West, Hope, DeSilva and Armington for the race to be held at 12:50pm.



At the green flag it was Armington who made the best start and led the first two laps ahead of DeSilva, West, Luo having been shuffled behind several of the other competitors and Hope.



Lap two saw West get by DeSilva, Luo make up two of his lost positions and the retirement of Hope with a camber bolt having broken in the front suspension ending his day on the apron between turns 1 and 2.



West passed Armington for the lead, a lead he would not relinquish throughout the race. This lap also had DeSilva beginning to drop back as his Dave Freitas Racing teammate Luo continued his march forward.



Luo’s efforts were undone on lap 4, when he collided with DeSilva, breaking the cars nose and front wing while damaging DeSilva’s wheel. DeSilva pitted and continued after a brief inspection, however now a long way behind the battle at the front.



West and Armington now circulated nearly as one they were so close until on lap 9, coming around turn 9, one of the slowest corners on the track, the tail of Armington’s Van Diemen came around dropping several positions and then to make matters worse the car would not re-fire and he had to reset the electronics and finally got going again losing more places while the car was stationary but still maintaining second place among the F2000 competitors and giving West the precious breathing room needed to run to the end.



Peter West drove one of his best races and won by a comfortable margin over Robert Armington, a strong second place finisher and Harin DeSilva, who brought his Van Diemen home in third place. West claimed the trophy for the Master Class victory while Armington took the Expert Class honors.



Round two will commence at 10:55 on Sunday the 18th.



F2000 Qualifying: 1. Yufeng Luo, (Van Diemen-A), 1m40.435s; 2. Peter West, (Van Diemen-A), 1m40.643s; 3. Tom Hope, (Van Diemen-A), 1m41.761s; 4. Harin DeSilva, (Van Diemen-A), 1m41.945s; 5. Robert Armington, (Van Diemen-H), 1m42.226s. Tires: A-Avon, C-Cooper, GGoodyear, H-Hoosier.



F2000 Round 1 (16 laps): 1. West; 2. Armington; 3. DeSilva, +2 laps; 4. Luo, +13 laps; 5. Hope, +15 laps.



Fastest race lap: West, 1m42.138s.

Expert class winner (over 35): Armington.

Master class winner (over 50): West.

Points: No points awarded, non-championship event.



The series can be followed at http://ift.tt/1kHupu2 and http://ift.tt/1kHupu4.



For more details go to www.pacificf2000.com or contact Peter West at 310-363-9444, or by email, pacificf2000@hotmail.com.