Monday August 23 @ 8pm - Monday August 30 @ 8pm.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Silverstone: I should have done better here, I started 3rd on the grid but fell very far back because I somehow got it in my head that Turn 3 (which is very hard braking) was coming right up at the start of the race, so everyone screamed by me flat out through Turns 1 and 2 as I had braked for no reason. Then I spun going into The Loop (Turn 4) on lap 6 as I was close to running down the driver ahead of me. I ended up finishing 5th, which is better than I deserved for my mistakes. [No Video]
Monday August 9 @ 8pm - Monday August 16 @ 8pm.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Long Beach: This may be my best Formula Renault 2.0 race so far. I started 2nd and finished 3rd, and the driver who finished ahead of me was the top-ranked driver in the race and has consistently been one of the best in the series this season. For the first time in a "top split" race, I set the fast lap of the race, on lap 5, a 1:18.8 (the next best lap was the race winner, who ran a 1:19.0 near the end). I never made a competitive pass in this race -- I was in 4th for a lot of the race until the 3rd place driver spun and got car damage. Only 3 of us finished on the lead lap, and quite a bit of traffic re-enters the race from the pits and I have to work my way by a few cars. [Video]
ARCA at Charlotte: This was a fun race and I did well, starting 3rd and finishing 2nd. I led several laps in the middle of the race, until I slowed to safely get by a car that had spun ahead of me, and got passed by several cars after I lost momentum. (It takes a long time to get back up to speed if you slow down just a little on these fast tracks.) A few laps before the end, it looked like I might be able to catch the leader, but after getting pretty close once at the start of lap 32, I never made a credible run at the lead again. For the last 4 laps of the race, I ran an inside line all the way around the track to defend against the 3rd place car right behind me -- if that car wanted to pass me, I wanted to force it to go around the outside. [Video]
ARCA Crash at Charlotte: In another race that didn't go so well, I was involved in the largest crash I've ever been part of up to now. [Video]
Monday August 2 @ 8pm - Monday August 9 @ 8pm.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Suzuka: Another race in the Formula Renault 2.0 in which nothing happens. I started 3rd, for once did not give up any spots at the start, and finished in 3rd. I kept the car ahead of me within range for most of the race, and then eventually dropped back to 4-5 seconds behind in the last half. (The car who finished ahead of me got a black flag on the final lap of the race, and was given a time penalty of 45 seconds after the race, so in the scoring, I finished 2nd, even though I was 3rd on the track. When I reviewed the race, I can't find anything that looks like it should be a penalty on that driver, so I don't know what happened.) [Video]
Monday July 26 @ 8pm - Monday August 2 @ 8pm.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Mid-Ohio: I ran a solid race on this difficult track, starting 4th and finishing 5th as the 6th ranked driver. I gave up one position at the start of the race, dropping from 4th to 5th, and that's how the race finished. I can't remember an FR2.0 race where everyone ahead of me drove a clean race all the way to the end, usually I pick up a position or two when people wreck themselves. What makes this race interesting is that as the back of the field has problems, they re-enter the track from the pits after getting repaired, so there is quite a bit of lapped traffic I had to pass in this race, which kept things entertaining. [Video]
ARCA at New Hampshire: In the first half of this race, I had a good fight with the number 1 car, who was trying to pass me. It took him half the race to get by, but he finally did. And it turned out that I completely burned up my front tires overdriving into the turns to hold him off running the high line, so once he got by, I couldn't compete anymore and the rest of the field slowly made their way past me. By the end, I was at the tail end of the line of competitive cars in the main group. In retrospect, I should have let the 1 car pass sooner, and run a clean line to save those front tires. [Video]
Monday July 19 @ 8pm - Monday July 26 @ 8pm.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Spa: This was a fun race in which I made two passes for position, one going into Les Combes at the end of the long front straight, and the other in a battle for position throughout the final lap of the race. [Video]
Indy Pro at Hockenheim: I entered this race late in the week, but took a line going into the second turn of the race that I thought was a safe way to stay out of traffic, but turned out to be a bad way to be in an unexpected place on the track at the apex of the turn, and I caused a wreck with another car. I sent the driver a note apologizing for the incident, and he graciously said we can both learn from it. [No video.]
Monday July 12 @ 8pm - Monday July 19 @ 8pm.
Indy Pro at Watkins Glen: I started 9th and finished 6th as the 8th ranked driver in this race, and had a good battle for position from laps 8-11. [Video]
Formula Renault 2.0 at Oulton Park: I started 5th and finished 6th as the 7th ranked driver in the field of 24. On lap 3, I got hit from behind going into the "keyhole" turn at the far end of the track, but the car was not damaged and I continued on, and the race was uneventful after that. [Video]
ARCA at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: I was in a group of about 6 cars toward the back of the field that had some nice racing among ourselves. At the end of lap 16 and start of lap 17, I made the best move of my ARCA career up to now, passing 2 cars on the front straight by getting between them and beating them to turn 1. [Video]
Monday July 5 @ 8pm - Monday July 12 @ 8pm.
Indy Pro at Red Bull Ring (Spielberg, Austria): I had the best race ever in an Indy Pro car when I entered this for my first attempt, but as I was running in 6th place and catching the two cars ahead of me by nearly a second per lap, one of them spun on lap 15 and I went off track to avoid him, and got suspension damage that ended my race. [Video]
Formula Renault 2.0 at Interlagos (São Paulo, Brazil): I did pretty well in this race after spinning on lap 2 when I suddenly had to brake too hard to avoid a car that slowed more than expected going into turn 4 at the end of a long straight. The dropped me to the 22nd position, but I came back to finish 12th in the field of 25. [Video]
Monday June 28 @ 8pm - Monday July 5 @ 8pm.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Imola: I was one of the last cars in the top split for this race, 11th in a field of 15, and elected to start from the pits to avoid getting tangled up in a first lap fiasco. The first 12 of 16 laps went pretty well, but then someone spun in front of me on lap 13 and wrecked me, and I ended up finishing 10th one lap down.
ARCA at Nashville Superspeedway: I started 8th and finished 7th at this track that can be pretty hard on tires. I passed a couple of cars in the last few laps. I'm getting better at staying on my line and preserving tires in these ARCA races so that I can still compete in the closing laps. That's a welcome change from past seasons. [Video]
Monday June 21 @ 8pm - Monday June 28 @ 8pm.
Indy Pro at Okayama: This was my first Indy Pro race on a track I wasn't all that comfortable on, and it went well. For some reason I qualified much higher than I should have, but wasn't comfortable starting 4th on the grid and stayed in the pits for the start, and went on to finish 9th out of 18, which is about as well as I expected to do.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Laguna Seca: I finally completed a race at Laguna Seca using only the track as my driving surface. Every race I've ever run here, I've either spun out or gone wide off the track at some point. This was a boring race in a good way. I started 7th and finished 6th. [Video]
ARCA at Iowa: I was almost the lowest-ranked driver in this race, and spent the whole race battling the group of 5 cars at the back. It was a good race with good competition among us. I passed a car for position on the final lap, which is always a nice way to finish a race. [Video]
Monday June 14 @ 8pm - Monday June 21 @ 8pm.
Indy Pro at Road America: I qualified 15th in a field of 23 that was loaded with drivers who regularly drive in the series, then started from the pits to avoid incidents in the first couple of turns, and finished 13th. In the last few laps, I caught someone and passed him, but then gave that spot and one more back when I went off track watching my mirrors too much.
Formula Renault 2.0 at Hockenheim: I qualified 5th as the 6th ranked driver in a field of 16, and finished 6th without any incidents. I had a bit of a rough start, I seem to be in a phase where I'm uncomfortable with race starts. Race starts are always uncomfortable, but 6 months ago I was doing well in them and felt confident I could control my destiny. Lately I'm not in good mental shape for race starts, something I have to figure out how to overcome.
ARCA at Chicagoland: I ran this four times, and finally got a good run in on the fourth try. I finished 4th after qualifying 5th. At the end, I was faster than the car right ahead of me for the last 5 laps, and any other driver but me would have for sure either passed or wrecked that car, but since I couldn't get it done safely and cleanly, I ended up finishing right behind him. But it was good, hard, fun race. [Video, about 20 mins]
VRS Data Packs
IMSA C GT4: Audi RS3 LMS;
BMW M4 GT4;
McLaren 570S GT4;
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4