The first round of the 2025 Challenge Cup Series Championship kicked off at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It was an exciting weekend with unpredictable and tricky track conditions which we’ve come to expect at Mid-Ohio.
Saturday morning’s practice session was completely soaked, the weather improved slightly for qualifying, but the track was still very slippery.
Race 1 – Due to a incident on lap 1 and extensive cleanup Race 1 was rescheduled for Sunday morning. Sunday morning came and the starting order remained the same: Sam Ryan on pole, followed by Matt Clark, then Jeff Filipkowski and Dean Curtis in row 2, followed by Mark Farnham and Tim Sager making-up row 3. In Race 1, Sam Ryan was able to hold on to the top spot after a close battle with Mike Lawrence who fought his way onto the podium after starting in 10th overall. Trevor Carmody took home 3rd followed by Sherman Engler in 4th and Jack Herberger finishing 5th. Dean Curtis, Emily Ryan, Greg Davis, Dennis Potocki, and Geoff Roche finished out the top ten.
Race 2 – The grid was determined by a drivers fastest lap time set in Race 1. Bill Hannum started on pole followed by Jack Herberger, then Mike Lawrence and Sherman Engler in row 2, with Trevor Carmody and Garrett Villano in row 3. At the drop of the Green Flag Mike Lawrence soared into the lead and not looking back, finishing almost 20 seconds clear of 2nd place Trevor Carmody, with Sam Ryan finishing 3rd followed by Sherman Engler in 4th, we saw an extremely close battle as Matt Clark edged out Jack Herberger by 0.130 for 5th overall, Jeff Filipkowski, Bill Hannum, Tim Sager, and Dean Curtis rounded out the top ten.
Thank you to all 25 of our competitors who showed up and made this a great first event of 2025!
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