Thursday, April 24, 2008 ALTON, Va. - Rounds three and four of the BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda is this weekend at Virginia International Raceway, as part of the Grand-Am Bosch Engineering 250 show. For the Skip Barber National competitors, today at VIR was a combined test day (the day’s first three sessions) and official practice (the last session). The test sessions were the first of a new Skip Barber National program that has the drivers focusing on the effect of set-up changes, rather than simply trying to put up the fastest time a driver can get out of a car. All cars were unballasted, and the first three sessions were on old rubber; new BFG g-Force R1 slicks went on the cars for the final session. In test session one, Chris Holmes led with a 2:07.216, followed by Josef Newgarden (:07.468) and Craig Duerson (:07.571). In test session two, it was Fabio Orsolon (6.653), Gabby Chaves (7.062) and Stevan McAleer (7.173). Newgarden was quickest in the last test session with a 2:06.511, followed by Holmes and Felipe Polehtto (6.710 and 7.320, respectively). With new BFG R1 race rubber for the official practice session, it was Newgarden, Conner De Phillippi and Chaves your top three. Times are below… Thursday, April 24 Practice Times BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda Virginia International Raceway Conditions hot, new BFG g-Force R1 slicks, no ballast 1. Josef Newgarden, 2:06.379 2. Conner De Phillippi, 2:07.364 3. Gabby Chaves, 2:07.907 4. Fabio Orsolon, 2:08.036 5. Gustavo Linares, 2:08.176 6. Marcio Pasaneli, 2:08.186 7. Tyler Schaal, 2:08.402 8. Dex Tuttle, 2:08.448 9. Mark Bumgarner, 2:08.486 10. Hayden Duerson, 2:08.719 11. Victor Carbone, 2:08.843 12. Conor Daly, 2:08.988 13. Lee Carpentier, 2:09.014 14. Dale Kistler-Collins, 2:09.053 15. Peter Tucker, 2:09.034 16. Eion Ryan, 2:09.495 17. Blake Kreiger, 2:09.502 18. Felipe Polehtto, 2:09.540 19. Nick Tonkin, 2:09.601 20. Chris Holmes, 2:09.874 21. Victor Pedrosa, 2:10.308 22. Hamilton Smith, 2:10.350 23. Dom Bastien, 2:10.780 24. Stevan McAleer, no time
In the four total sessions on Thursday, Josef Newgarden was quickest in two of them – and second- and fourth-fastest in the other two.
Chris Holmes topped the charts in S1 and was second-fastest in S3.
Gabby Chaves won the 2008 SBN opener at Sebring. Here at VIR in the four sessions, the 14-year-old was sixth, second, fifth and third.
2008’s round two at Sebring went to Fabio Orsolon, fastest in the second session.