Chris Farrell, of Salt Lake City, Utah, won his third-straight SCCA National Championship with a flag-to-flag P2-class victory in his No. 58 C&M Manufacturing/Hoosier Tires/Geartronics Stohr WF1 in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway. Jeff Shafer, of Las Vegas, Nevada, finished second in the ONE Motorsports Radical SR3 and Sherman Chao, of Palm Beach, Florida, was third in the Lee Racing/GDRE/Hoosier/Hawk Stohr WF1.
Farrell started the race from the Tire Rack Pole and was never seriously challenged in the 14-lap race on the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. The winning Margin of Victory was .957 of a second.
Farrell’s previous National Championships were also earned from the pole in D Sports Racing at Road America in 2013 and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in P1 last year.
“This one is pretty sweet,” Farrell said. “My first one at Road America was also very sweet, Laguna Seca was nice last year, but this one was the toughest race this year. Jeff kept me more honest than I really wanted to be. I had to drive my butt off to keep ahead of him.”
Shafer, who set the fastest race lap at 1:52.355 (114.067 mph), was frequently within two seconds of Farrell but was never close enough to attempt a pass for the lead.
“On the last lap I was the closest and for the most part the traffic I think every time benefitted me,” Shafer said. “I had to make a couple kind of sketchy passes to make sure Chris didn’t get away. I just had a great time. Chris was just outside of my reach for most of the race, we hit traffic and I thought for a moment I could take advantage of him, but he did well in traffic too and kept the gap he needed.”
Farrell and Shafer worked under the same tent this weekend and their teams traveled to Daytona together.
“Jeff and I were under the same tent, he actually brought my stuff out here, and I want to thank him,” Farrell said. “It was really nice of him as a competitor to bring me here and it was great racing with him.”
Chao improved from fifth on the grid to finish third, making up for a DNF in his Runoffs debut last year at MRLS.
“Hopefully I showed a little bit more of who I am as a person and a driver this year,” Chao said. “I have only been at Daytona this year but I still had an advantage over the other guys on the podium who have never been here before. I am very, very grateful for how things have unfolded this year.”
The 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.
The live broadcast of all 27 National Championship races is available live at SCCA.com, along with live timing and notes. Each race will be on demand at a later date.
NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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