- 09 May 2013
Braselton, GA – Aaron Telitz edged ahead in a late afternoon qualifying session to take pole position at Road Atlanta, marking his first pole in three attempts and the first for WISKO Race Engineering’s F1600 Formula F Championship Series program. Teltiz clocked in at 1:30.126 in the No. 13 Mygale/Honda ahead of a similarly configured car for Adrian Starrantino from Bryan Herta Autosport.
Teltiz ran strong in the season opener in Virginia last month, often challenging for the lead but failing to score a podium. Now the Wisconsin native and aspiring racer will lead the F1600 field to the green for Friday’s first race of the F1600 doubleheader weekend.
“That was good, the first pole of the year and hopefully we get some more,” said Teltiz. “Adrian pushed me down the back straight on that lap and we were going so fast we missed the apex at turn 10, so the lap should have been better. The WISKO car was awesome. The plan for the race is to stay out front, but there should be a lead pack so if we stay out front we will control our own destiny.”
2012 marked a season dominated by two teams – Herta and Cape Motorsports – and 2013 was looking very similar, but Telitz ran well at VIR and has now delivered a breakthrough pole position for the WISKO squad. The driver was greeted in post-session impound with high-fives from the crew.
Championship leader and Virginia winner Starrantino missed out on pole by just a tenth of a second after showing speed early in the morning and battling through a big crash in turn one.
“I can’t thank the team enough for getting the car back together,” said the Mygale/Honda driver, pointing to a car covered in tape and non-matching body panels. “We qualified second with one practice session.”
Jake Eidson was third quick for Cape Motorsports following a dominant practice showing, but could not match his lap time on a slower Road Atlanta race track in the late afternoon.
“It’s not too bad. Between the weather and the drift rubber in turn 10, the track was slower,” added Eidson, in the No. 10 Spectrum/Honda.
“The plan for the race is to keep doing what we’re doing and be consistent,” continued Eidson, who finished second twice at VIR in April.
After quick times were set early, the 12-turn road course appeared to get slower in the afternoon sun, with qualifying lasting 30 minutes and ending at 5:00 p.m. sharp.
In fourth position was Steve Bamford, doing double duty and also racing in the F2000 Championship Series, while getting faster every weekend. Fifth quick was Ayla Agren, who started from pole in Virginia in the No. 96 Bryan Herta Autosport Mygale/Honda.
Joe Colasacco was sixth ahead of Slade Miller, the third Herta car of Sam Chastain, Scott Rubenzer, and F1600 Series race winner Jim Goughary.
All those drivers and the complete 18-car field were all sent to technical inspection following qualifying where Series officials looked at every car.
Friday continues with an early 8:30 a.m. warm-up for the F1600 field followed by race one of the weekend and round three of the 2013 season at 12:00 p.m. Stay tuned to www.F1600Series.com for the latest.
Qualifying Results
Pos | No. | Name | Class | Best Tm | Best Spd | In Lap | Diff | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 13 | Aaron Telitz | F16. | 1:30.126 | 101.458 | 4 | - | - |
2 | 98 | Adrian Starrantino | F16. | 1:30.204 | 101.370 | 6 | +0.078 | +0.078 |
3 | 10 | Jake Eidson | F16. | 1:30.272 | 101.294 | 7 | +0.146 | +0.068 |
4 | 07 | Steve Bamford/M | F16. | 1:30.913 | 100.580 | 18 | +0.787 | +0.641 |
5 | 96 | Ayla Agren | F16. | 1:31.266 | 100.191 | 6 | +1.140 | +0.353 |
6 | 3 | Joe Colasacco/M | F16. | 1:31.473 | 99.964 | 12 | +1.347 | +0.207 |
7 | 16 | Slade Miller | F16. | 1:31.510 | 99.924 | 3 | +1.384 | +0.037 |
8 | 97 | Sam Chastain | F16. | 1:31.902 | 99.497 | 5 | +1.776 | +0.392 |
9 | 31 | Scott Rubenzer/M | F16. | 1:32.057 | 99.330 | 13 | +1.931 | +0.155 |
10 | 7 | Jim Goughary | F16. | 1:32.076 | 99.309 | 11 | +1.950 | +0.019 |
11 | 5 | Dan Oseth | F16. | 1:32.674 | 98.668 | 17 | +2.548 | +0.598 |
12 | 66 | Paul Alspach | F16. | 1:32.877 | 98.453 | 9 | +2.751 | +0.203 |
13 | 0 | Lewis Cooper III/M | F16 | 1:33.517 | 97.779 | 4 | +3.391 | +0.640 |
14 | 21 | Art Foster/M | F16. | 1:33.696 | 97.592 | 7 | +3.570 | +0.179 |
15 | 75 | Don Baggett | F16 | 1:33.710 | 97.578 | 6 | +3.584 | +0.014 |
16 | 2 | Mike Scanlan/M | F16. | 1:33.826 | 97.457 | 18 | +3.700 | +0.116 |
17 | 06 | Austin McCusker | F16. | 1:34.058 | 97.217 | 8 | +3.932 | +0.232 |
18 | 26 | Wes Allen | F16. | 1:35.960 | 95.290 | 10 | +5.834 | +1.902 |