Homestead-Miami Speedway hosted the opening rounds of the 2010BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda as part of its Grand Prix of Miamiweekend. With the Handford device in use on the Formula Skip Barber race cars, the racing wasgoing to be close on the 2.21 road course that combines a tight infield with half of the oval track.The first race was won by .018 of a second; the second was even closer.
Round 1Qualifying was a classic example of youth and exuberance defeating old age and treachery as 16year-old MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver Spencer Pigot bested the sophomoretrio of 19 year-old Isaac Lyons, 18 year-old Dennis Trebing and 18 year-old Ashley Freibergwith a 1:30.670 sec. lap to secure his first Skip Barber National pole.
At the start the top four qualifiers were joined by Luis Michael Dörrbecker and Felix Serralles tomake a six-car drafting pack. Like a NASCAR restrictor plate race, of the countless passes andre-passes for the lead, only the 11 that were recorded at the start/finish line during the 13 lapsprint were captured. Trebing and Pigot swapped the lead for the early part of the race beforeSerralles took his turn at point. Dörrbecker and Lyons also took their turns at the top as the draftallowed the drivers in the lead pack to circulate from the front to the back and back to the frontof the train. Late in the race the lead pack was going five-wide on the approach to Turn 1, eachdriver trying to set up the other for the run through the infield in order to take advantage of thelong period at full throttle once they exited Turn 8 onto the speedway.
The only incident of the race affected the podium and may have longer term ramifications on thepoints. Felix Serralles set up and passed Luis Michael Dörrbecker going into Turn 1 on Lap 14.Dörrbecker stuck his nose in going into Turn 2, and while Serralles left some room on the inside,Dörrbecker thought better of it before trying the same late move in Turn 3. This time howeverSerralles wasn’t as generous with the space, they locked wheels, with Dörrbecker’s car going upand over the back of Serralles’. Neither driver was injured in the incident, with Serralles drivinghis damaged car back to the pits and Dörrbecker returning to the paddock after a precautionaryvisit to the infield medical center.
The incident brought out the checkered flag a lap earlier than anticipated during the time-certainevent, and by Skip Barber Race Series rules, timing and scoring reverted to the last green flag lapfor the finishing order. Leading the 13th lap was Dennis Trebing, the second-year driver pickingup his first career BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda win. Isaac Lyons camein second with MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver being credited with third.
Ashley Freiberg got her second National season off to a strong start with a fourth ahead ofrookies Nick Andries, Nicolas Costa and Scott Anderson. Luis Michael Dörrbecker, originallycredited with third, was along with Felix Serralles assessed a penalty for the avoidable contactthat ended the race early, was credited with eighth ahead of Daniel Lloyd while Kevin Tittlebrought his car home in tenth.
Round 2(Relative) old age and treachery had its revenge in qualifying for Round 2 with Race 1 winnerDennis Trebing beating MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver Felix Serralles for polewith a 1:30.632 sec. lap. At the drop of the green flag, Trebing got the jump, leading into Turn 1.What ensued was a classic example of the drafting that the Formula Skip Barber race car iscapable of, with the top eight never separated by more than a few tenths of a second. SpencerPigot led first before surrendering the lead to Nick Andries. Pigot picked up the lead again onLap 7, then Andries a lap later... you get the picture.
Lap after lap, the leader coming out of Turn 8 would be swallowed by the field going throughNASCAR 3 and 4. Popping and flaring, the field would come to the stripe each lap five or sixwide. With 11 lead changes at the stripe alone over 16 laps. The closeness of the lead packallowed Danilo Estrela to come from his 14th starting position to the lead on Lap 12 beforesurrendering it himself to Andries.
Estrela reclaimed the lead at the white flag, but misjudged his braking going into the criticalTurn 8, dropping him from the lead as the pack screamed onto the superspeedway. Coming outof NASCAR 4 for the final time, the pack once again flared, going five wide across the stripewith Spencer Pigot picking up his first Skip Barber National victory by the slightest of margins,.013 sec. over Nick Andries, with an out of no where Nicolas Costa, who was seventh at the startof the last lap, .037 sec. back of the leader. Danilo Estrela recovered from his braking error onthe last lap to grab fourth ahead of Isaac Lyons and Felix Serralles. Ashley Freiberg brought hercar home in seventh ahead of pole sitter Dennis Trebing and Mukul Sud while Danny Lloydrounded out the top ten. The top five in Round 2 was only .078 sec. back and the top eight wascovered by less than three tenths.
Results, BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by MazdaMarch 6, 2010, round 1 of 14, BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by MazdaHomestead-Miami Speedway, 10-turn, 2.21-mile road course
(Starting position in parentheses)1. (3) Dennis Trebing, Cape Coral, Fla., 13 laps, 86.767 average mph2. (2) Isaac Lyons, Northern Ireland, 133. (1) Spencer Pigot, Windermere, Fla., 134. (4) Ashley Freiberg, Homer Glen, Ill., 135. (9) Nick Andries, Pinellas Park, Fla., 136. (8) Nicolas Costa, Brazil, 137. (12) Scott Anderson, Fort Collins, Colo., 138. (5) Luis Michael Dörrbecker, Mexico, 139. (10) Danny Lloyd, England, 1310. (11) Kevin Tittle, South Pasadena, Calif., 1311. (6) Felix Serralles, Haines City, Fla., 1312. (17) Brian Skinner-S, Philadelphia, Pa., 1313. (16) Mukul Sud, India, 1314. (13) Brandon Newey, Indianapolis, Ind., 1315. (15) Wilson Philippe, Key Biscayne, Fla., 1316. (14) Jim Norman-S, Tampa, Fla., 1317. (7) Danilo Estrela, Long Branch, N.J., 1318. (18) John Giddens-S, Orlando, Fla., 13Race length: 13 laps of 2.21-mile road course for 28.73 milesTime of race: 19 minutes, 52.024 secondsConditions: Sunny and warmMargin of victory: 0.018 sec.Lap leaders: Dennis Trebing 1; Spencer Pigot 2; Trebing 3 - 4; Pigot 5; Trebing 6; Felix Serralles7; Trebing 8; Luis Michael Dörrbecker 9; Isaac Lyons 10; Dörrbecker 11; Trebing 12 - 13Cautions: NoneFastest qualifier: Pigot, 1:30.670 / 87.747 mphFastest race lap: Serralles, 1:30.343 / 88.065 mph, lap 6
March 7, 2010, round 2 of 14, BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by MazdaHomestead-Miami Speedway, 10-turn, 2.21-mile road course
(Starting position in parentheses)1. (4) Spencer Pigot, Windermere, Fla., 16 laps, 85.350 average mph2. (6) Nick Andries, Pinellas Park, Fla., +.013 secs.3. (8) Nicolas Costa, Brazil, +.0374. (14) Danilo Estrela, Short Hills, N.J., +.0655. (3) Isaac Lyons, Northern Ireland, +.0786. (2) Felix Serralles, Haines City, Fla., +.1587. (9) Ashley Freiberg, Homer Glen, Ill., +.1928. (1) Dennis Trebing, Cape Coral, Fla., +.2919. (7) Mukul Sud, India, +1.52910. (11) Danny Lloyd, England, +1.63711. (15) Al Carter-S, Greenville, Del., +2.86512. (10) Brandon Newey, Indianapolis, Ind., +2.93313. (12) Scott Anderson, Fort Collins, Colo., +4.05214. (13) Wilson Philippe, Key Biscayne, Fla., +12.27515. (5) Luis Michael Dörrbecker, Mexico, +12.29416. (18) Jim Norman-S, Tampa, Fla., +12.30517. (16) Kevin Tittle, South Pasadena, Calif., +14.39218. (17) Brian Skinner-S, Philadelphia, Pa., +23.16819. (19) John Giddens-S, Orlando, Fla., +1 lapRace length: 16 laps of 2.21-mile road course for 35.36 milesTime of race: 24 minutes, 51.467 secondsConditions: Sunny and warmMargin of victory: .013 sec.Lap leaders: Spencer Pigot 1 - 3; Nick Andries 4 - 6; Pigot 7 - 8; Andries 9; Isaac Lyons 10;Pigot 11; Danilo Estrela 12; Andries 13; Pigot 14; Estrela 15; Pigot 16Cautions: NoneFastest qualifier: Dennis Trebing, 1:30.632 sec. / 87.784 mphFastest race lap: Felix Serralles, 1:31.214 / 87.223 mph, lap 9
2010 Skip Barber National points standings after 2 of 14 rounds, top 10 drivers:1. Spencer Pigot, 66 points2. Dennis Trebing, 593. Nick Andries, 583. Isaac Lyons, 585. Nicolas Costa, 556. Ashley Freiberg, 527. Felix Serralles, 458. Danilo Estrela, 449. Danny Lloyd, 439. Scott Anderson, 432010 Skip Barber Cup points standings after 2 of 14 rounds, top 3 drivers:1. Brian Skinner, 672. Jim Norman, 623. John Giddens, 58
