Formula Lites: Armida, Papareli take final 2015 races at MSR Houston
After a season spent fine-tuning the new Formula Lites FL-15 Honda-powered racecar and overcoming skeptics who never gave America's newest open-wheel series a chance, teams, drivers, families and VIPs assembled last weekend at the Motor Sports Resort (MSR) near Houston for a final weekend of competition. (Scroll down for a video review of the season)
When the three day event was completed on Sunday night, the Formula Lites family had wrapped up its six weekend, 12-race inaugural season with a brand new race winner, a champion awarded a trophy named after the late Justin Wilson and the final distribution of nearly $140,000 in cash and prizes.
, whose 2015 effort was sponsored by MSR itself.
With a flying lap laid down on the last lap of qualifying, Armida took his first Formula Lites series pole over teammate Jackie Ding of China by just 0.007 of a second.
Armida led the Formula Lites field into MSR's tricky Turn 1 complex. Right from the start, Ding fell back with an electrical gremlin, a glitch that allowed Papareli to get by on the inside.
The next few laps saw an intense battle for the lead between the two 16-year-olds, with Papareli gaining decided advantages on several portions of the hot MSR circuit. True to form, however, Vini played the patience game to near perfection, passing his Mexican rival on one of the race's last laps. He eventually extended that lead, taking the checkered flag for his eighth win of the season and his 11th consecutive Oakley "Fastest Lap" award. Despite the hardship, Ding managed to bring his car home after a quick pit repair.
Under an increasingly unforgiving Texas sun, later that afternoon the Formula Lites group assembled at pre-grid for the season's final 35-minute sprint race. An inverted field gave the P1 position to Jackie Ding, who was determined to win a third race of the year and finally earn himself an Oakley watch that he so despirately wanted all season. At the green it was Ding, Armida and Papareli in the top three spots. Pushing hard, Ding had the first off-course excursion in a race defined by several such incidents, handing the lead to Papareli.
Several laps later, Papareli made an uncharacteristic mistake and spun his #28 Bravar-sponsored FL-15 on the slick MSR surface, giving the lead to Armida. The mistake also gave Armida a bit of breathing room, but only for a short time as the unflappable Brazilian gave chase. Papareli was methodical in his drive toward the front, circulating the 17-turn, 2.38-mile MSR Houston circuit on an ever-quicking pace.
With family and sponsors cheering on both young men, Papareli made a daring move into MSR's tricky left-hand Turn 4, coming inside of Armida, who gave his rival enough racing room. Papareli, however, slid up the race course, clipping the left side of Armida before spinning the Brazilian into the grassy infield and ending his day. That left an opening for the amiable Armida to not only win the race, but overtake his teammate Ding for second position in the season points standings.
In an all-out effort to realize his dream, Ding went on a mission, only to spin several times before the end of the race. Unfortunately, he was just .028 shy of eclipsing Papareli, who made it a perfect 12-for-12 season in terms of claiming the coveted Oakley timepieces.
After the final 2015 laps were completed the Formula Lites racers, teams and sponsors, along with SCCA Pro staff members and MSR VIPs, made their way to downtown Houston to celebrate for one last evening in 2015. The event included speeches by Formula Lites Managing Co-Partners Dennis McCormack and Ryan Arciero, Crawford Engineering founder Max Crawford, and SCCA Pro Racing Vice President/General Manager Steve Oseth. The series announced that it had distributed nearly $140,000 in cash and prizes in 2015, a number it looks to eclipse next season.
The final awards of the evening went to 16-year-old Brazilian series champion Vini Papareli, including a custom Oakley championship watch and sunglass award and the presentation of the new Justin Wilson Series Champion trophy by JDX team partner Jeremy Dale. It was a fitting end to the season, as Wilson had been a partner in the JDX effort before tragically succumbing to injuries suffered in an Indycar race earlier this season.
Pointing to Papareli, Dale stated: "There is a certain synergy in awarding this beautiful trophy to this talented young man. He has a wonderful and giving spirit, which are traits he shares with Justin. It has been a pleasure watching Vini grow and mature all season long as a person and a racecar driver."
With the inaugural Formula Lites season now in the record books, series organizers are entrenched in planning for an expanded 2016 calendar.
"Thanks to the support of drivers, teams and corporate partners, our Formula Lites concept has now eclipsed the most challenging milestone in creating any new series, which is successfully establishing the first season," shared Managing co-founder Dennis McCormack. "We are now focused on building upon that momentum and making our second season bigger, better and even more relevant in today's racing marketplace."
Designed and manufactured to the latest F3 FIA safety specs, the new FL-15 monocoque wraps a 2.4-liter, 16-valve Honda engine and a six-speed sequential gearbox featuring pneumatic paddle shifters. The high-tech approach to open-wheel racing has attracted support and technical partnerships with Pirelli, Honda/HPD, PFC Brakes, Oakley, Eibach Springs, Bosch, Fikse Wheels, Impact Race Products and Bruce High Performance Transporters.
2015 Formula Lites Cash and Product Awards Total: $139,710
Justin Wilson Children's Fund Donation: ($1,500)
Bosch Motorsport North America
Formula Lites
Formula Lites Driver Penalties
The Rennsport Group
JDX Racing
2015 Formula Lites Crew Chief of the Year: Larry Ellert
2015 Team Awards:
Third Place: Group-A Racing (Jackie Ding)
$500 Cash Bruce High Performance Transporters
$500 Product Award Bruce High Performance Transporters
Second Place: Group-A Racing (Jose Armida)
$1,000 Cash Bruce High Performance Transporters
$1,000 Product Award Bruce High Performance Transporters
First Place: JDX Racing (Vini Papareli)
$2,000 Cash Bruce High Performance Transporters
$2,500 Product Award Bruce High Performance Transporters
2015 Driver Awards:
Third Place: Jackie Ding -- Group A Racing
$500 Cash Honda Racing/HPD + Formula Lites
$1,500 In Product Fiske Wheels
Formula Lites Trophy
Second Place: Jose Armida – Group A Racing
$1,000 Cash Honda Racing/HPD + Formula Lites
$2,500 Product Award Fikse Wheels
Formula Lites Trophy
First Place: Vini Papareli – JDX Racing
$2,000 Cash Honda Racing/HPD + Formula Lites
Full Set, Custom Wheels Fikse Wheels
$3,000 Watch Set Oakley
Justin Wilson Championship Trophy
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