Friday saw the first track action of 2024 with two practice sessions and the debut of new teams, teams joining together, and new and returning drivers. Shining in his debut Mayer Deonarine becomes the youngest Radical North America driver ever at just 14-years-old.
Lapping the Sebring International Raceway with the fastest laps in the early Saturday morning qualifying session, Jon Field and ONE Motorsports claimed top honours in the Platinum class while Graham Rahal Performance’s (GRP) Nick d’Orlando followed suit in PRO 1500 with Chris McMurry putting Crown Racing with Apex on top in PRO 1340.
Platinum Class
It was a driver with the last name Field who won race one. Advancing from his P2 starting spot, Clint Field (ONE Motorsports) beat his Dad Jon Field (ONE Motorsports) and took the win as the chequered flag flew under yellow conditions for a crash involving a pro 1500 driver. With a pair of Fields on the top two steps of the podium, it was Louis Schriber (WIKSO Racing) who rounded out the blocks in third after recovering from a testing crash last week that heavily damaged his race car.
Race two was another Field and Field one – two as Clint crossed the line in second position, albeit more than 13s behind Jon. Chip Romer (ONE Motorsports) had a great race going until a late race spin took him off what would have been his first podium of the season; this then opened the door for Platinum class rookie Gregg Gorski to cross the line in third. Romer rebounded to finish fifth while Schriber finished just behind Gorski in fourth. Jim Booth (WISKO Racing) and Kevin Poitras (Radical Canada East) also gained positions throughout the 18-lap affair to finish sixth and seventh, respectively.
True to form from the previous two races, the Field duo of Clint and Jon claimed the top two positions on track to score their third consecutive one – two finishes of the weekend. Wayne Williams (ESSES Racing) earned his first podium result of the weekend as he consistently improved his results through the race weekend with Poitras finishing fourth and Schriber in fifth.
PRO 1500 Class
The top-three finishers in the PRO 1500 class in race one were Radical XXX machinery with Jordan Missig (GRP) taking his first win in the 2024 Radical Cup championship for both himself and GRP. 2023 Vice-Champion Danny Dyszelski (RySpec Racing) was able to push himself to a podium result in his first event with a new team, crossing the line in third just behind Nick d’Orlando (GRP) in second position, making it a near-perfect debut for the GRP programme. It should be noted that all drivers in this class are under the age of 25 and have all come from events in the popular Road to Indy programme.
It was Missig who provided GRP their second win of the weekend, but the story of the race was young d’Orlando who had to come from the tail of the field after a first lap incident, a pit stop to change a cut tire, and a few caution periods, eventually finishing on the podium in third in race two. Dyszelski pushed Missig to the end of the 18-lap race, just falling short but still on the podium in second place. Evan Slater (WISKO Racing) swiped his second fourth-place result of the weekend and Racing With Autism’s Austin Riley rebounded from a difficult race one to finish fifth in race two after challenging for a podium early on.
Showing his persistence and speed all weekend, Missig followed it up with yet another win in race three. Dyszelski scored his third podium of the weekend to come home second while Slater broke through in race three to score his first career Radical Cup podium result in a talented filed of PRO 1500 drivers. d’Orlando ran into trouble in race three, which meant that Spencer Schmidt (Cameron Racing) and Mike Anzaldi (RYNO with Team Stradale) took full advantage of the opportunity and elevated themselves close to the front of the filed, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.
PRO 1340
It was a Crown Racing with Apex domination in the PRO 1340 category as Chris McMurry led a one – two finish for the team, just ahead of Seth Bacon in second. 14-year-old Mayer Deonarine (RySpec Racing) became the youngest-ever podium winner in Radical Cup North America history on the third step, while Suellio Almedia (RySpec Racing) earned a top-five result in his Radical debut, outpacing Ben Blander (RYNO with Team Stradale) who crossed the line in fifth position.
McMurry was in a league of his own in the PRO 1340 class as he handily drove to his second win of the weekend in race two, lapping more than a second a lap faster than his fellow PRO 1340 competitors. Behind him, it was his Crown Racing with Apex teammate Seth Bacon who finished second and Deonarine in third as the top-three remained unchanged from race one to race two. A good effort came from Almedia who ran in second for a good chuck of the race before getting caught up by Bacon and Mayer and eventually fell to finish seventh in class behind Blander, Brad Sutika (G-Tech Motorsport), and Douglas George (RySpec Racing).
The top-three remained consistent over the weekend with McMurry taking the win, Bacon in second and Deonarine in third. Pushing hard to keep the top three on their toes, Suellio Almedia and Ben Blander rounded out the top five. However, following the race McMurry was penalised for an occurrence during one of the full course cautions and subsequently was moved down the running order. The win was then handed to Bacon, with Deonarine earning his best result of the weekend as he was promoted to second with Almedia rounding out the podium.
Next up for the Radical Cup North America programme will be a trip to the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama as series teams and competitors will have the opportunity to share the track with the NTT IndyCar Series for the first of four times in 2024.