This past weekend was the first F1-Class Qualifying at Cal Raceway. Drivers were given 3 10-minute sessions to hit a target lap time – 3 consecutive laps in a row. The track was fantastic in the morning but, by the time the first session came, it had gained quite a bit of heat and became a little greasy in spots, making it a bit more of a challenge.
In the first session, Michael Monaghan quickly hit the 3-lap target time, being the first of the day to qualify for the F1 class. He’s been super fast in F2 on the 25.5T motor so it will be great to see what he can do against the other F1 drivers.
Session two saw a pair of drivers advance; Brian Ruvalcaba and Bruce Hickman. Brian is another one of those F2 drivers that showed great potential on both the asphalt and carpet surfaces and Bruce is a past-Tamiya Championship Series F1 winner – both will be super competitors next season. They did mention that, while the target 12.6 lap time wasn’t super difficult, hitting them 3 laps in a row was.
That’s what I wanted to hear – gotta earn you way into the F1 class!
Congrats to Michael, Brian and Bruce! Welcome to F1.