BUTTONWILLOW, Calif. – Tim DeSilva continued his impressive season by scoring another pair of victories for Dave Freitas Racing when the Pacific F2000 Championship Presented by Primus Racing Parts convened last weekend at Buttonwillow Raceway Park as part of the SCCA Majors Tour.
The fifth and sixth rounds of the West Coast series utilized the No. 25 counter-clockwise configuration, but that proved of little consequence to DeSilva, who most likely would have proven just as dominant on a figure-eight layout! DeSilva laid down a marker by qualifying a half-second clear of the field on Saturday, then established a new lap record at 1:43.430 an average speed of 101.634 mph, en route to victory later in the afternoon.
Last year’s Pacific F1600 champion Scott Huffaker also impressed while finishing second following a race-long battle with defending series champion Tom Hope. Another youngster, Connor Funk, finished fourth, well clear of opening round winner Robert Armington.
DeSilva raised the standard even higher on Sunday by lowering the track record to 1:42.888 (102.169 mph) as he took the checkered flag seven seconds clear of Huffaker. Hope again finished third ahead of James Hakewill, who had retired from Saturday’s race, and Armington, who secured the Hard Charger Award after fighting his way through from the back of the grid.
Peter West won the Masters class, for drivers over 50 years old, on both days.
DeSilva’s streak of four consecutive wins has allowed him to extend his championship lead from seven points to 29 points, 172-141 over Hope, with Huffaker now lying third in the standings on 126 points.
This season the Pacific Formula F2000 Championship Series Presented by Primus Racing Parts is included in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout, which will host 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 $200,000 Scholarship to enter the 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – the first rung on 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 sports car champion Dane Cameron, along with Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires series leader Patricio O’Ward and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda drivers Nikita Lastochkin and Yufeng Luo. Luo was also the 2015 SCCA Runoffs National Championship winner in the event held at Daytona International Raceway.