The 2015 Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship Fueled by Sunoco resumed action on Friday with two rounds of qualifying that saw J.R. Osborne and Alex Mayer swap the fastest lap several times, Osborne came out on top and claimed the pole for Saturday's race. Jason Bell saved his best for last and threw down a fast lap at the very end of Q2 to join Osborne on the front row, relegating Mayer to 3rd. Unfortunately, both Jeremy Hill and Doug Hertz experienced terminal engine problems in Q2 that ended their weekend.
Qualify Grid for round 3:
1. JR Osborne-1:49.164
2. Jason Bell-1:49.619
3. Alex Mayer-1:49.841
4. Glenn Cooper-1:51.588
5. Jeremy Hill-1:53.335
6. Nicolas Ortiz-1:54.913
7. Doug Hertz-1:55.554
8. Zane Gibbs-1:57.904
At the green flag, Osborne took advantage of his pole position and jumped to an early lead. Behind him, Mayer got a great start and jumped into 2nd, moving Bell back to battle with Cooper. The top four ran in that order for the first four laps while Osborne worked on building his lead. On lap 5, Ortiz suffered a broken chain and came to a stop on the track, dropping out of 5th and bringing out a full course caution.
When the race restarted on lap 8, Osborne once again pulled away from the rest of the field. As the field entered turn 1, a spinning car in another class forced Mayer and Bell to take evasive action. Cooper capitalized and took over 2nd. Bell was able to recover quicker than Mayer and repassed Cooper on the second to last lap but Mayer ran out of time and had to settle for fourth.
Final race results- round 3:
1. JR Osborne
2. Jason Bell
3. Glenn Cooper
4. Alex Mayer
5. Zane Gibbs
DNF. Nicolas Ortiz
DNS Jeremy Hill
DNS Doug Hertz
The grid for round 4 was set by each driver's fastest lap from either qualifying or the race. Only Glenn Cooper improved his time but not enough to move up in the grid. This meant the grid was identical to round 3 except for the absence of Hill and Hertz.
The grid for round 4 was set by each driver's fastest lap from either qualifying or the race. Only Glenn Cooper improved his time but not enough to move up in the grid. This meant the grid was identical to round 3 except for the absence of Hill and Hertz.
Qualify Grid for round 4:
1. JR Osborne-1:49.164
2. Jason Bell-1:49.619
3. Alex Mayer-1:49.841
4. Glenn Cooper-1:51.588
5. Jeremy Hill-1:53.335
6. Nicolas Ortiz-1:54.913
7. Doug Hertz-1:55.554
8. Zane Gibbs-1:57.904
For the second weekend, the Sunday race was a wet one. This time there was no doubt about tire choice as the entire field started on full rain tires. At the start, Mayer mistakenly jumped the green flag, taking both Bell and Osborne by surprise, and taking an early lead going into turn 1. It was short lived as Osborne battled back and retook the lead later in the opening lap. Once in the lead, Osborne settled into a rhythm and began pulling away from the rest of the field lap by lap. Mayer also began pulling away from Bell and ran comfortably in second. Behind Bell, Cooper ran a lonely fourth ahead of Ortiz.
That was the running order for most of the race as none of the drivers were able to close the gap and challenge for a pass. As the laps wound down, the top three continued in the same order but Ortiz began to close the gap to Cooper after Cooper’s diffuser mount broke, causing the car to lose downforce. Finally, on lap 12, Ortiz made his move and took over the fourth place spot. He spent the remainder of the race pulling away from Cooper but didn’t have time to mount a challenge to Bell for a spot on the podium. When the checkered flag flew, Osborne completed a sweep of the weekend with an astonishing margin of 26 seconds.
After the race, officials reviewed the start and decided that Mayer had jumped it and penalized him two finishing positions, dropping him to fourth and promoting Bell and Ortiz to 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Final race results- round 4:
1. JR Osborne
2. Jason Bell
3. Nicolas Ortiz
4. Alex Mayer
5. Glenn Cooper
DNS-Zane Gibbs
DNS-Jeremy Hill
DNS-Doug Hertz
With a sweep of the weekend, Osborne jumps from 7th to a tie with Alex Mayer for the lead in the Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship Fueled by Sunoco points standings. Bell jumps to 3rd, just 11 points behind Mayer and Osborne and moves Cooper back to 4th. Ortiz jumps to 5th place.
1. Alex Mayer - 85
2. J. R. Osborne -85
3. Jason Bell -74
4. Glenn Cooper -67
5. Nicolas Ortiz -49
6. Jeremy Hill -43
7. Shane Prieto -33
8. Pete Frost -31
9. Joel Haas -25
10. Zane Gibbs -17
11. William Falatick -13
12. Jose Gerardo -11
13. Doug Hertz –0
