Skip Barber 2k World Cup – Nassi Wins Again at Oran Park

After the long and challenging circuit at VIR Grand West, the Skip Barber 2k World Cup moved on to Oran Park, Moto this past weekend. Oran Park is a completely different challenge to VIR. The lap time is just 1:16 compared to almost three minutes at VIR. However Oran also is a tough place to pass and the difficult turn one and two combination is a challenge to survive every lap.

Complete standings and results can be found at http://2kworldcup.com/.

Qualifying:

With passing always being a challenge at Oran Park qualifying was critical if you wanted to finish at the top of the field. After the first lap, Mikko Nassi lead the field with a lap of 1:16.260. Paul Grillo and Philippe Leybaert followed in second and third. On the second lap Nassi improved down to 1:16.047 to take pole position. Grillo also improved to take second position. Lionel Gamet jumped up to third and Ricardo Faria jumped to fourth. Behind them Leybaert fell into fifth position and Arjan de Vreede, Fahim Antoniades, David Stefanini, Emmanuel Menendez and Dekota Fripp rounded out the top ten.

Race:

Mikko Nassi leads the field early in the race.

The whole field got a way cleanly with Nassi and Grillo leading the way. Behind them Faria passed Gamet to move into third. One the second lap, Gamet and de Vreede came together, ending Gamet’s day. This moved Leybaert into fourth place. Behind them Antoniades spun coming out of turn one and was shuffled back in the field. All of this introduced gaps to the front of the field. Nassi was pulling a small gap to Grillo and Faria. Then there was another gap back to Leybaert and de Vreede. Behind them was another gap to a group of three including Stefanini, Fripp and Paul Malokas.

An early incident splits the field as people use the chicane to navigate safely by.

As the race settled down, Nassi continuted to pull away. Faria overtook Grillo on lap seven but Nassi was already out of draft range. Behind them Leybaert had gapped a slightly damaged de Vreede. Malokas moved up into sixth when Fripp spun through turn one and touched Stefanini. This sent Stefanini down the field and created a gap between Malokas and Fripp. Behind Fripp, Tom Ward had moved up into eighth with Daniel Schwonek and Menendez chasing in ninth and tenth.

Philippe Leybaert and Arjan de Vreede battle for fourth place.

This is where the field remained leading into the pit stops. Nassi pitted cleanly on lap 18. Faria and Grillo followed together on lap 19 and came out in the same position. Leybaert pitted a lap later and came out in fourth with a small gap to Faria and Grillo. Behind them de Vreede and Malokas maintained fifth and sixth. Ward, Schwonek, Menendez were in seventh through ninth positions and Brian Doell had moved up into tenth position.

Paul Grillo and Ricardo Faria battle for second position.

The gaps and positions stayed steady until the final laps. Nassi continued to pull away and completed another dominate win. Faria and Grillo battled until the final corners when Faria ran out of fuel and Grillo came through to finish second. Faria was able to hold onto third. Leybaert, de Vreede and Malokas all finished individually in fourth, fifth and sixth. Ward and Schwonek battled until the final lap when Ward ran out of fuel and slowed. This allowed Schwonek, Doell, Matt Dafoe and Frank Winter to get by and complete the top ten. Ward fell all the way to 17th.

Mikko Nassi crosses the line for his third win of the season.

With his third win of the season, Nassi has positioned himself as a huge threat to Leybaert at the top of the championship. However, he has not left himself much margin for error. For now Nassi has moved into second position 27 points behind Leybaert. Leybaert continues with the consistent finishes and is still positioned well for the championship. Behind them is a group consisting of Malokas, de Vreede, Grillo and Doell. All of these racers have a legitimate spot at the final podium position.

Race Results:

Championship Standings:

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