April 10, 2010
Daniel second in F2000 debut photo-finish!
Daniel Erickson (left) is outjumped at the start by fellow front-row qualifier and eventual Round 1 winner Victor Carbone.
Photo courtesy of F2000 Championship Series (Janice Eakin).
Lack of experience at rolling starts was all that stood between Daniel Erickson and a 'wings and slicks' debut race victory at Virginia International Raceway today.
The young Sydney driver lined up on pole position for the rolling start of the first round of the American F2000 Championship Series, but he was outjumped at the green flag by second and sixth qualifiers Victor Carbone and Tim Kautz.
Daniel soon regained second place after Kautz spun off the track, and caught Carbone by mid-race, but he discovered that overtaking in F2000 is harder than in his previous category, FF1600. Loss of downforce behind Carbone's car, coupled with the Brazilian's defensive driving and a series of yellow flags at crucial points, kept Daniel's Primus Racing Van Diemen in second place.
In a photo-finish, the final margin was just 0.213 seconds.
"It was my first rolling race start from pole position, and I didn't time it as well as the drivers around me," Daniel confessed afterwards. "When I caught up to Carbone, my car started understeering badly. I had to drop back for a few laps to save my front tyres, but when I tried to dive past him under brakes there were yellow flags waving every time. On the last lap he shut the door on me going into Old Tree Corner before the back straight."
Daniel stunned the F2000 paddock by taking pole position for Round 1 with a new qualifying record lap.
Photo courtesy of F2000 Championship Series (Janice Eakin).
Despite Daniel's disappointment at not winning the race, he was pleased to finish on the podium in his first race in the highly competitive national F2000 Championship Series. He was especially satisfied with his 1m 54.496s pole position time, which was 0.344s clear of Carbone and set a new F2000 qualifying record at VIR.
"I didn't have a lot of time to find a clear lap, because there were some stoppages early in the qualifying session to recover cars that had gone off the circuit," Daniel said. "At the end I managed three or four quick laps together, and with the changes that the team made to the car overnight it was enough to get pole."
Daniel will have an opportunity to make amends for his poor start in Sunday's second round of the F2000 Championship Series.
Virginia International Raceway is one of America's finest road racing circuits.
RESULTS
2010 F2000 Championship Series - Virginia International Raceway
SATURDAY, APRIL 10
Round 1
Qualifying
1. Daniel Erickson (AUS) Van Diemen 1min. 54.496sec. - new record
2. Victor Carbone (BR) Van Diemen 1min. 54.840sec.
3. Remy Audette (CDN) Van Diemen 1min. 54.986sec.
Race (14 laps, 73.7km)
1. Victor Carbone (BR) Van Diemen 27min. 14.900sec.
2. Daniel Erickson (AUS) Van Diemen 27min. 15.113sec.
3. Fabio Orsolon (BR) Van Diemen 27min. 19.338sec.
VIR TIMETABLE
SUNDAY, APRIL 11
Round 2
Qualifying
12:15-12:45 USA EDT / 02:15-02:45 Monday, Australian EST
Race
15:30-16:00 USA EDT / 05:30-06:00 Monday, Australian EST
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