Photo: FR Americas
There was chaos, and more Kyffin Simpson success, in the second Formula Regional Americas event of 2021 at Road America.
The weekend began with a super-close qualifying session topped by Velocity Racing Development’s Hunter Yeany. He took pole by just 0.056 seconds over TJ Speed’s Simpson, with Newman Wachs Racing’s Jordan Missig and Team Crosslink’s Joshua Car a further 0.006s behind and the second Newman Wachs car of Ian Rodriguez only a tenth off.
Of those five it was Car that did the best job in race one, quickly fighting with Yeany for the lead and then falling to third after their battling got too close but recovering to track down team-mate Dylan Tavella and Rodriguez to take his first win.
Missig was fourth, and round one dominator Simpson came fifth after stalling at the start. Yeany finished a lowly ninth after his battle with Car went sour.
Car came short of making it a double in race two, held on Monday, as he finished just behind Simpson. Varun Choksey came from ninth on the grid to earn his first car racing podium in third, and Yeany came fourth.
The fastest laptimes from race two set the grid for race three, and it meant Car started on pole with Simpson alongside.
A dramatic opening lap included Choksey stalling, Yeany spinning and Rodriguez and TJ Speed’s Cusson colliding, while Jay Howard Driver Development’s Christian Bogle and Missig didn’t even make the start due to previous crash damage.
Car and Simpson fought for the lead until there was a full course yellow caused by Future Star Racing’s Ernie Francis Jr striking the barriers, and was then extended when Cusson crashed out of third place.
Racing resumed with a few laps to go, and it looked like Car could hold off Simpson until he spun out of the lead on the final lap and gifted victory to the championship leader. Rodriguez inherited second, Choksey finished third and Yeany just claimed fourth ahead of the despondent Car.
Results round-up
Race 1 (17 laps)
1 Joshua Car Team Crosslink 36m01.241s
2 Dylan Tavella Team Crosslink +4.287s
3 Ian Rodriguez Newman Wachs Racing +9.166s
4 Jordan Missig Newman Wachs Racing +10.534s
5 Kyffin Simpson TJ Speed +14.403s
6 Christian Bogle JHDD +19.916s
7 Varun Choksey TJ Speed +22.830s
8 Baptiste Berthelot TJ Speed +29.050s
9 Hunter Yeany Velocity Racing Development +34.553s
10 Logan Cusson TJ Speed +36.753s
Pole: Yeany, 2m05.306s
Fastest lap: Simpson, 2m06.069s
Race 2 (14 laps)
1 Simpson 35m31.232s
2 Car +0.291s
3 Choksey +1.493s
4 Yeany +3.053s
5 Ernie Francis Jr Future Star Racing +3.295s
6 Cusson +3.658s
7 Bethelot +5.072s
8 Tavella +7.037s
9 Bogle +8.247s
10 Rodriguez +8.719s
FL: Car, 2m05.864s
Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Simpson 36m54.750s
2 Rodriguez +1.895s
3 Choksey +2.220s
4 Yeany +22.961s
5 Car +23.137s
Ret Tavella
Ret Berthelot
Ret Cusson
Ret Francis Jr
DNS Missig
FL: Simpson, 2m06.818s
Championship standings
1 Simpson 135 2 Car 86 3 Choksey 62 4 Missig 57 5 Tavella 50 6 Yeany 50 7 Cusson 44 8 Rodriguez 34 9 Francis 20 10 Bogle 15