LEXINGTON, Ohio – Over the last five years, Afterburner Autosport has brought a dozen rookie drivers into the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, providing them with the opportunity, training and development to grow as competitive racers. This year’s freshman pilot Dakota Dickerson has been a quick study, and the Mazda scholarship driver has come on strong through the middle portion of the series’ schedule, working his way to the front of the grid.
This past weekend, on the 2.258, 13-turn course at the popular Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the 19-year-old drove his Soul Red #18 to his best qualifying effort of the year and then turned that speed into a trio of top-six finishes. Dickerson was joined under the Afterburner Autosport tent by Chris Munoz, who made his debut in the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires at Mid-Ohio. The young Columbian-American was focused on gaining as much track time and experience as possible, and he finished every possible lap in the three main events, scoring a pair of top-15 finishes.
“Dakota has been a joy to work with and we’re extremely proud of how he’s continually developed his speed, racecraft and controlled aggression,” offered Tim Walsh, Afterburner Autosport Team Principal. “His outright speed is positioning him higher on the grid each weekend, and he’s showing tremendous maturity when it comes to bringing the car home in one piece. His performance at Mid-Ohio was awesome, and we’re proud of two more top-fives, which makes it three in the last six races. He’s also finished the last six races in the top-10. This young man is a talent, and we’re excited that he’s showing the speed we provide in our cars.”
“We were excited to have Chris with us this weekend after testing him earlier in the year,” Walsh continued, speaking of Munoz. “The goal is to get him seat time to learn the tracks and the overall Mazda Road to Indy program ahead of a full season in 2017, and he did a great job. With a month off until the series finale at Mazda Raceway, we expect him to come back ready to step his way up the order.”
Dickerson worked with the team to develop their set-up during the Thursday test sessions, and the results were extremely positive, as the young Californian was never outside the top-five. Munoz had a different goal, which was seat time and pace improvement, and he delivered by knocking considerable time off each and every session. After setting his initial baseline times, Chris continually increased his speed and closed the time gap on the drivers who have been running all year.
Qualifying provided Dickerson and Afterburner with their time to shine, as Dakota jumped to third on the timesheets in the late going, earning a starting spot on the second row for the weekend. He turned a 1:21.6540, just 0.606 seconds off the pole time set by Anthony Martin. Munoz went faster yet again, cutting another half-second off his best time from Thursday testing to slot in 18th, just 0.005 behind a driver who has been competing through the entire season.
In the opening race of the doubleheader, Dickerson jumped into third quickly and found himself in a great battle with series veteran Victor Franzoni. Jordan Lloyd also joined the fight, slipping past Dakota midway through the race, but Dickerson stuck with the fight and scored his second straight top-five finish, continuing his pace from Toronto. He would follow suit in the second race, which was held on Saturday morning, once again going wheel-to-wheel with the more experienced Franzoni, who has won three times in Mazda Road to Indy competition. Dakota earned another fifth place finish in Race #2, and then followed it up with a sixth place run on Sunday to complete his best weekend of the year. This incredible run of six straight top-10 finishes has vaulted Dakota into the top-10 in the overall USF2000 standings, just four points out of eighth. He was also able to close the gap on the leader in the Rookie of the Year standings, and will head to the finale only 44 points back.
Munoz enjoyed three strong main event performances, finished every lap of every race to gain valuable experience. The Miami, Florida resident finished 15th in the opening race, 14th in the second and 19th in the final, turning laps that were his quickest of the weekend. It was an extremely successful and positive weekend for the 17-year-old, and when he joins the Afterburner Autosport team in Monterey in September, he’ll be gunning for more top-15 finishes.
Afterburner Autosport will now focus on the series finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on theSeptember 9-11 weekend. Live coverage from the event will be available on the Mazda Road to Indy app or on www.usf2000.com. For additional information on the team, head to www.afterburnerautosport.com.
DRIVER PERFORMANCE – ROUNDS 12-13-14 - JULY 29-31, 2016
MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE – MANSFIELD, OH
DAKOTA DICKERSON - #18
Qualifying: 3rd – 1:21.6540
Race #1: Start – 3rd / Finish – 5th
Race #2: Start – 3rd / Finish – 5th
Race #3: Start – 3rd / Finish – 6th
Driver Quote: “We had an excellent weekend at Mid-Ohio. Our pace was consistently within the top-five and we had the potential for a podium. Going into the season finale, there is nothing I dream more about than getting a win in the Mazda Soul Red car at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. We will be pushing like never before to obtain this goal.”
CHRIS MUNOZ - #17
Qualifying: 18th – 1:23.2742
Race #1: Start – 18th / Finish – 14th
Race #2: Start – 18th / Finish – 15th
Race #3: Start – 19th / Finish – 19th
Driver Quote: “I had a really good weekend at Mid-Ohio. We focused on steady improvement during each session, and I just worked on picking up a little more speed every time I got in the car. My biggest challenge was to use less brake and let the car roll more through the center of the corner, but through the weekend I improved a great deal thanks to the team, and guidance from Juan Pablo Montoya. It’s incredible to have such supportive people around me, as I work to improve as a driver. I learned a lot and I will come stronger for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.”
About Afterburner Autosport:
Afterburner Autosport was formed in 2010 with the sole purpose of leading the way in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda competition. Under the guidance of former F2000 racer and engineer Tim Walsh, the team has over 20 years of experience in open-wheel competition and can field up to four cars in competition. The squad, which is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has continually developed and grown since joining the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and has multiple series victories, winning at least one race every year for the last three years.