WAMPUM, Pa. — Another busy weekend was on deck last weekend at Pittsburgh Int’l Race Complex, where I was scheduled to race in the F2000 and F1000 divisions.
Going into the weekend I felt pretty confident about my ability to run up front in the F1000 car and compete for podium finishes. The same couldn’t be said for the F2000 car, but I was going to try to learn the car quickly and get up to speed.
The F1000 car got quicker and quicker during the course of the weekend thanks to the hard work of the Arrive Drive Motorsports team, which was able to convert feedback into positive setup changes.
That led to a fifth-place qualifying run, though, we could have been faster were it not for an issue that left me out of gas before the session ended. That left me stranded on track in need of a tow back to the pits.
We didn’t have the start to the weekend we wanted in the F1000 car. It rained and that led to varying tire strategies, but it was a challenge to keep up with the conditions. My lack of comfort with the rain tires and the car’s extreme braking efficiency made things difficult and I faded to fifth after getting up to third early in the race.
Unfortunately, bad luck got us when one of the relay wires in the engine came loose, touched the engine block andcaused the engine to lose power. We managed to get the car running again after a tow to the pits and finished eighth, multiple laps down.
Moving on to the first F2000 race, my main goal was to get as comfortable with the car as possible. The shifting is different as you have to manually upshift the car by lifting off the throttle and downshift the car by blipping the throttle.
We qualified fourth after an issue with the fuel plugs in the car cut the session short. That ultimately didn’t matter as just like the F1000 race, the F2000 race was run in the rain. Again, there were strategy choices with rain tires and we made the wrong call. It didn’t help that we only had three firing engine cylinders instead of four. We finished sixth, which wasn’t bad given the circumstances.
On the second day of racing, the weather looked to be a lot better so we wouldn’t have to worry about different tire strategies. I had a great run during F1000 qualifying and sat on the pole, four-tenths faster than four-time F1000 champion Alex Mayer. I’d never outqualified a field of cars strictly on pace before, so that felt pretty darn good.
My heart rate was up the minute I sat in the car to start the race and things got intense right away. Going into turn one, Mayer immediately passed me for the lead, which I attributed to my inexperience with being on the pole. I lacked confidence going into the braking zones, which allowed Shane Prieto to pass me in the final corner on the first lap.
A few turns later, I made a mistake while defending my position and went into the grass at the exit of turn three. By then I was down to fifth, but I found my rhythm again and caught third and fourth.
I was 13 seconds behind Mayer at that point, so there was a lot of work to do. I quickly got back up to third and then the second-place car retired with an engine problem. That elevated me back to second, behind Mayer.
During the next seven laps the gap decreased quickly as I clicked off laps 1.5 to two seconds faster than Alex. The final three laps were intense and among the best I’d ever run as we battled for victory.
My inexperience showed as it took me too long to find a passing opportunity and when I did, I couldn’t execute. Mayer won the race and I finished second, but I learned a lot during the race, including what it feels like when the air is taken off the front wing, reducing the front grip and downforce.
During qualifying for the second F2000 race, I experienced one of the most frustrating things possible and was the most upset I’ve ever been in or out of a race car. My right foot kept getting stuck on the chassis whenever I would lift off the throttle, causing me to miss multiple braking points because I couldn’t get lift off the gas.
I also had issues downshifting into the low-speed corners. I kept messing up my downshifts and getting stuck in neutral while trying to come out of the corners. Between that and the issue with my foot getting stuck, I was angry.
I got out of the car and slammed my fist on my left-rear tire and stormed off. It was definitely not my best moment and I’m not proud that I let my temper get the best of me. Up to this point in my racing career, I really haven’t had much reason to get upset about a qualifying result or race result, but now I’m at the point where I have certain expectations and that’s probably why I was so upset.
The goal after that was to run a clean race, but I failed to do that after only one lap. I passed for third going into turn three on the first lap, but going into the final corner I missed another downshift to first gear and while I was trying to get the car back into gear, it came back into gear and immediately looped me around.
At that point, I had to wait for the entire field to pass me until I could get going again. After mowing the grass a bit for the PittRace landscapers, I was back on track and rolling. I managed to go from 12th to seventh at the finish.
Overall, it was a frustrating result knowing that I had the pace for a comfortable third-place finish, potentially even second. However, I did gain some experience passing slower cars in a confident manner and it gave me some much-needed practice laps to get more comfortable with the car.
The weekend taught me a lot about myself and a lot about racing, which is about the best I can really hope for out of a weekend with as many highs and lows as this one. Now, I’m even more determined than ever to head into the next Formula Race Promotions round at Road America and challenge for wins in both series.
I want that quadruple podium weekend and I want it now.