Mazda Powered Formula Car Drivers Put On An Epic Show For The IndyCar Fans at Sonoma
September 19th, 2017
Sonoma, CA
The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear was a featured series during the GoPro Grand Prix alongside IndyCar at Sonoma this past weekend. The event served as the season finale for the IndyCar 2017 schedule, and Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud took the IndyCar Series win, while his teammate Josef Newgarden secured the 2017 Championship. This was the seventh time that the Formula Car Challenge was paired with the Verizon IndyCar® Series, and the FCC had featured races on Friday and Saturday.
Pole Positions for Round 11:
Pro FM: Patrick O'Neill
FormulaSPEED: Colin Mullan
Formula Mazda: Dutch Shultz
When the green flag dropped the Mazda powered rockets charged towards Turn Two in an amazing show of skill and determination. Overall pole winner O'Neill took a commanding lead, leaving Stan Kohls and Jay Horak battling for second. Horak was close to Kohls the entire race and kept the pressure on. Kohls made no mistakes and held onto the second spot until the finish with Horak close behind him.
In the FormulaSPEED class, pole sitter Colin Mullan took a commanding lead, and left the other FS cars to battle amongst themselves. At lap 8 Mullan's car began to have an issue that was slowing down his lap times, and he eventually retired to pit lane. Carter Williams inherited the lead. "I didn't want to win this way, stated Williams "Colin has been really fast and he'll be back tomorrow for a rematch which will be fun."
Bill Weaver, got an incredible start and took the lead from pole sitter Dutch Shultz. Stew Tabak was turning some faster laps that Shultz late in the race but was too far back to catch him by the checkered flag. The closest race on track was the incredible five lap battle for fourth place between Derry O'Donovan and Brad Drew. O'Donovan kept the 4th slot by the end of the race, and Bruce Carpenter was able to get by Drew for Fifth.
ROUND 11 Podium Pro Mazda:
Winner - Patrick O'Neill
Second - Stan Kohls
Third - Jay Horak
ROUND 11 Podium FormulaSPEED:
Winner - Carter Williams
Second - Courtney Crone
Third - Tao Takaoka
ROUND 11 Podium Formula Mazda:
Winner - Bill Weaver
Second - Dutch Shultz
Third - Stew Tabak
The grid for Round 12 was set by fastest time in the Round 11 race. O'Neill, Williams, and Weaver started on the pole for their respective classes.
Round 12 got off to a clean start, but that didn't last very long. Bill Weaver and Tao Takaoka tangled in turn 7, bringing out a yellow flag. Weaver was out, but Takaoka was able to continue. The top three in the FormulaSPEED class were within tenths of a second of each other all weekend, and there was some very close racing action in the class. Colin Mullan, who retired from Friday's race due to an engine pulley failure was back on Saturday with a new engine. Round 12 was the first opportunity for the #72 FS to get back on track, and after a few laps Mullan was called to the pit lane for the team to inspect the install. Mullan was checked and released quickly, but was now at the tail of the entire field. "Colin's results this weekend were definitely not indicators of his performance," noted Mullan's Engineer and Coach Jan Trojan. "He qualified on pole and was leading in yesterday's race when we had an issue, and today when we got him back on track he ran the fastest lap of the race. Carter Williams led wire-to-wire in FS, as did Patrick O'Neill. Dutch Shultz led the FM class from the restart to the checkered flag.
ROUND 12 Podium Pro Mazda:
Winner - Patrick O'Neill
Second - Stan Kohls
Third - Jay Horak
ROUND 12 Podium FormulaSpeed:
Winner - Carter Williams
Second - Courtney Crone
Third - Tao Takaoka
ROUND 12 Podium Formula Mazda:
Winner - Dutch Shultz
Second - Stew Tabak
Third - Brad Drew
This event saw additional support from
Molecule Sports, and Goodyear. "We really couldn't make this event what it is without the support of our partners," noted Series Communications Director Mark Milazzo. Really this was such a fabulous event, and it provided fun and opportunity to everyone who attended. Once the Formula Car Challenge races were over, the racers were able to enjoy watching some really great entertainment. The World Challenge Series, the Patriot Jets Air Show, and of course the final IndyCar race of the season."
The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is the premier open-wheel motorsports series on the west coast and is an Official Feeder Series to the Mazda Road to Indy. It was founded in 2005 to develop future motorsports teams, drivers, engineers and crew members. The series offers a platform in which costs can be carefully controlled, creating a level playing field for drivers. The concept has been fully realized as multiple graduates have made it to IndyCar and other top level positions in motorsports. The FCC features three different classes inside of the championship. All three classes are on track at the same time, but compete for points and championships only within their respective classes. All classes are powered by Mazda, and equipped with Goodyear Racing tires. The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear heads to Southern California next for the Pacific Coast Road Racing Championships at Auto Club Speedway on October 28-29.
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