Photo: Skip Barber Racing School
Ivan Machado Perez leads the Skip Barber Formula Race Series at the season’s halfway point following two rounds at Virginia International Raceway.
Round three ran on the circuit’s South course on May 13-14, and round four used the longer North course which incorporates the pit straight on June 11-12.
Machado Perez was the driver to beat throughout the first trip to VIR, leading both practice sessions by over half a second then setting a 1m12.556s in qualifying to claim pole by 0.556 seconds over Naim Saleh. Chris Spada trailed by 0.743s in third, and Alan Orzyinski was 1.2s off the pace in fourth. The seven-car field was split by 1.912s on pace.
It was not a surprise to see Machado Perez quickly adapt to the circuit, since the Mexican earned his place on the grid by winning the Skip Barber iRacing Formula Shootout around VIR.
Pole position was easily converted into a maiden victory in race one by Machado Perez, who opened up a six-second gap at the front. John O’Donnell came through from sixth on the grid to finish second, and there were far closer battles behind.
Brazilian rookie Saleh made it onto the podium by beating Spada in a dice at the end, and Ethan Booher was not far behind them.
Race two panned out far more dramatically, but Machado Perez did not see any of it as he romped to a 17.7s win over Saleh.
Booher was 24.9s behind in third, then Orzynski would have been six tenths of a second behind him if not for two one-minute penalties. The first was for causing a collision, and the second was for failing to report to pitlane when instructed to following that clash.
Spada was the driver on the other side of that contact, and got a one-minute penalty as he too ignored the signal to pit. He crossed the line 2.2s behind Orzynski, but instead it was Keagan Day who finished a distant fourth.
The round on the North course played out similarly for Machado Perez, who topped both practice sessions and had a 0.267s gap to the next best driver. In qualifying, he improved his pace to 1m30.327s and that earned him pole by 0.86s over Spada.
Orzysnki had actually gone second fastest, setting a 1m31.062s, but had a four-place grid penalty for missing practice.
Saleh was 1.184s slower than Machado Perez but qualified third, and Day was 1.33s off the pace to take fourth on race one’s grid.
Machado Perez faced more of a challenge than previously in race one, but still won by 2.655s. Orzysnki made quick work of his rivals to get into second, a second clear of Saleh. There was a big gap to Spada in fourth, hurting his title ambitions.
The mid-week round concluded with another Machado Perez victory, and he now leads the centrally-run Formula 4 series by 36 points.
Saleh finished second, and Orzynski came out on top of a squabble with Day and Spada for third.
Results round-up
Round 3 race 1
1 Ivan Machado Perez
2 John O’Donnell +6.102s
3 Naim Saleh +10.233s
4 Chris Spada +10.455s
5 Ethan Booher +12.268s
6 Alan Orzynski +32.494s
7 Keagan Day +36.250s
Pole: Machado Perez, 1m12.556s
Fastest lap: Machado Perez, 1m13.293s
Race 2 (19 laps)
1 Machado Perez 22m58.828s
2 Saleh +17.699s
3 Booher +24.900s
4 Day +48.024s
5 Spada +1m27.770s
6 Orzynski +2m25.523s
Ret O’Donnell
FL: Machado Perez, 1m11.851s
Round 4 race 1 (16 laps)
1 Machado Perez 24m20.503s
2 Orzynski +2.655s
3 Saleh +3.820s
4 Spada +14.302s
5 Logan Anderson +38.844s
6 Grant Mitchell +1m02.785s
7 Day +2 laps
P: Machado Perez, 1m30.327s
FL: Orzynski, 1m30.193s
Race 2 (16 laps)
1 Machado Perez 24m37.558s
2 Saleh +3.296s
3 Orzynski +8.854s
4 Day +8.995s
5 Spada +9.583s
6 Anderson +31.971s
7 Mitchell +57.696s
FL: Machado Perez, 1m31.027s
Championship standings
1 Machado Perez 268 2 Spada 232 3 Orzynski 225 4 Saleh 225 5 Booher 178 6 Day 156 7 Anderson 144 8 O’Donnell 104 9 Trevor LaTourrette 96 10 Mitchell 93