Monterey, Calif. – The scenic Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was again the site of a round of the Pacific Formula F2000/F1600 Championship Series presented by Primus Racing Parts with round eight being held on Sunday and again it was Timothy De Silva in a Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen who duplicated his Saturday performance to take another race victory from pole position while setting the races’ fastest lap. The race, held with the San Francisco Region of the SCCA in their SFR Championship Series Double Regional.

A 9:00am qualifying, with the early morning fog clearing, set the field and as it has been for the past five events, Timothy De Silva, #3, TLP Racing, DRF Van Diemen, put up the fastest lap time with a lap of 1m26.349s, faster than the pole time he set on Friday, an impressive performance considering this was the third heat cycle for the tires and included Saturday’s race, demonstrating the performance of the Pirelli tires, specified for use in the series.  

Lining up next to De Silva on the front row for the afternoon race will be Scott Huffaker; #09, Van Diemen RF02.  The second row consists of Tom Hope; #10, Primus Racing Parts, Dart, H+M Racing Van Diemen RF03 and James Hakewill, #88, Van Diemen RF03 lining up ahead of Bob Negron, #9, Terri Negron Web Design, Rosy’s at the Beach, Negron Racing Van Diemen, Alex Kirby; #81, LA Prep Inc., Fast Forward Components, Piper Race Cars, Piper DL7, Connor Funk; #97, DFR Van Diemen RF03, Scott Vreeland, #51, Redhorse Constructors, Porter Racing, BV Training Van Diemen RF01, Harin de Silva; #96, DFR Van Diemen RF06, Peter West; #99, Racing Optics, Kodenko Jeans, Malibu Health, Frank Monise Motors, DFR Van Diemen RF05, Paul Rodler in his #45, Porter Racing, 1991 Swift DB6/Pinto, Jeffrey Pietz, #80, Cleveland Infant Care, Van Diemen DP 08, Ray Bill Dormandy, #15, Cecilia Rose Foundation, Van Diemen RF02, Sterling Ellsworth, #22, That’s My Juice Racing, LLC, Van Diemen RF01 and Paul McFarlane, #37, Magtrax, HorseTrack Software, Van Diemen RF94.  John Fabijanic, #46, Piper DF5 was unable to resolve his brake issues and chose not to start, while Bob Negron spent his evening repairing his gearbox and James Hakewill took four hours replacing a faulty clutch bearing.

The green flag dropped and it was Timothy De Silva using his preferred starting spot to claim the lead ahead of Scott Huffaker and Tom Hope while further down, James Hakewill, having missed a shift and losing several places made his task more difficult by running of course at turn 6, through the gravel and nearly to the tire barrier returning to the track near the rear of the pack and when the field completed the first lap it was T. De Silva leading from Huffaker, Hope, Funk, Negron, Kirby, Vreeland, H. De Silva, West, Rodler, Pietz, Hakewill, Ellsworth, Dormandy and McFarlane

While the field slowly strung out with T. De Silva still leading, Hakewill was making his charge up through the field passing both Pietz and Rodler taking  tenth place on lap 2, moving past West for ninth on lap 4 and H. De Silva on lap 5 to begin his chase of Kirby in seventh.

Kirby was demoted to seventh by Vreeland having been passed on the ninth lap, Kirby was continuing to suffer from the oversteer which took its toll on his rear tires.

Connor Funk, while holding on to fourth place began to experience fuel sensor problems causing a loss of power and eventually wound up losing his position to Negron, having solved his gearbox problems of Saturday. Funk would lose an additional position to Vreeland to finish in sixth place.

Timothy De Silva’s cruised serenely to victory, his sixth consecutive, further extending his points lead and set fastest race lap.  De Silva was never headed as he won by a margin of 21.229 seconds.

Scott Huffaker held on to claim second place solidifying his third place in the standings.

Tom Hope, the 2015 Series Champion, hard as he tried, could do no better than third place giving way to the two drivers competing for the opportunity to compete in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 Scholarship Shootout while still holding second place in the points.

Bob Negron’s run to fourth place gave him victory in the Master Class (drivers 51 and older), his first of the season.

Fifth place went to Scott Vreeland followed by Funk in sixth, Alex Kirby, Harindra De Silva, James Hakewill, whose early off course excursion resulted in a punctured radiator causing coolant loss and engine overheating, Peter West, Paul Rodler, Jeffrey Pietz, Sterling Ellsworth, Paul McFarlane and Ray Bill Dormandy.

The series now moves to Sonoma Raceway for rounds nine and ten, July 1-3.

This season the Pacific Formula F2000 Championship Series is included in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200k Scholarship Shootout in 2016.  The shootout will be expanded to include the champions of junior open-wheel and karting series both nationally and internationally.  The winner of the knockout style shootout will be provided with a $200k Scholarship to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in 2017 – the first rung in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder sanctioned by INDYCAR.

The Mazda Road to Indy is the only driver development program of its type in the world offering a clear, scholarship-funded path to the Verizon IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.

The Pacific F2000/F1600 series has a rich history and includes among its alumni drivers J.R. Hildebrand, 2011 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the year and Dane Cameron, Tudor Series Prototype and GTD winning driver along with Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires driver Patricio O’Ward and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda drivers Nikita Lastochkin and Yufeng Luo.

F2000 Qualifying: 1. Timothy de Silva (Van Diemen RF01), 1m26.349s; 2. Scott Huffaker (Van Diemen RF02), 1m27.602s; 3. Tom Hope (Van Diemen RF03), 1m27.644s; 4. James Hakewill (Van Diemen RF03), 1m27.967; 5. Bob Negron (Van Diemen RF99), 1m28.322s; 6. Alex Kirby (Piper DL7), 1m28.382s; 7. Connor Funk, (Van Diemen RF03), 1m28.825s; 8. Scott Vreeland (Van Diemen RF01), 1m28..924; 9. Harindra De Silva (Van Diemen RF06), 1m29.325s; 10. Peter West, (Van Diemen RF05), 1m30.747s; 11. Paul Rodler (Swift DB6/Pinto), 1m32.191s; 12. Jeffrey Pietz (Van Diemen DP08), 1m33.671s; 13. Ray Bill Dormandy (Van Diemen RF00), 1m33.911s; 14. Sterling Ellsworth (Van Diemen RF01), 1m35.938s; 15. Paul McFarlane (Van Diemen RF94/Pinto), 1m46.332s. All cars run on Ford Zetec engines, unless noted and Pirelli Tires.

F2000 Round 8 (22 laps): 1. T. De Silva, 2. Huffaker, +21.229s; 3. Hope, +30.244s; 4. Negron, +45.894s; 5. Vreeland, +57.667s; 6. Funk, +1m09.974; 7. Kirby, +1m15.708s; 8. H. De Silva, +1m23.210s; 9. Hakewill, +1m28.415s; 10. West, +1 lap; 11. Rodler, +1 lap; 12. Pietz, +1 lap; 13. Ellsworth, +1 lap; 14. McFarlane +3 laps; 15. Fabijanic, NS.
Fastest race lap: T. De Silva, 1m27.311s.
Master class winner (over 50): Negron.
Points: 1. T. De Silva, 240; 2. Hope, 188; 3. Huffaker, 173; 4. Hakewill, 142; 5. Funk, 119; 6. H. De Silva, 99; 7. Armington, 97; 8. West, 90; 9. Kirby, 82; 10. Vreeland, 64; 11. Fierberg, Kodenko, 54; 13. Ellsworth, 41; 14. Fabijanic, 30; 15. Negron, 25.

The series can be followed at https://www.facebook.com/pacificf2000racing and https://www.twitter.com/PacificF2000.

For more details go to http://www.pacificf2000.com or contact Peter West at pacificf2000@hotmail.com.