The Dan Unkefer Memorial at Virginia International Raceway with NASA Mid-Atlantic is the last race of the season for Teen Mazda Challenge Mid-Atlantic.
Saturday’s qualifying was a short one due to an incident on track. Peter Ensor was able to qualify second overall with a 2:17.910 and Zach Rubin was able to qualify sixth overall with a 2:20.931. During the race, Ensor had a good three-way battle with Danny Steyn and Jason Connole. The three of them were constantly trading positions and occasionally going three-wide into some of the turns. Eventually Ensor and Steyn put a one second gap on Connole which led to a close finish at the line, with Steyn barely edging out Ensor for the win by a tenth of a second!
Rubin had to avoid an early incident at the top of the uphill esses, which dropped him down to ninth. Rubin was able to hook up with Teen Mazda Challenge Southeast driver Aiden Baker Crouse to work their way back up to fifth and sixth overall. Rubin and Baker Crouse were side by side coming to the checkered flag for a photo finish. Baker Crouse was able to finish fifth overall by three thousandths of a seconds!
Sunday saw an improvement in times for Ensor and Rubin. Ensor qualified second overall again with a 2:16.946 and Rubin qualified seventh overall with a 2:18.710. The Sunday race was catastrophic for the two Teen Mazda Challenge Mid-Atlantic drivers. Rubin missed his shift at the start of the race, which resulted in him bringing in his car early. Ensor was running up front again battling for the lead with Steyn until a lapped car took out Ensor and ended his race early.
With the Teen Mazda Challenge Mid-Atlantic season drawing to an eventful close. We are able to crown a new Teen Mazda Challenge Mid-Atlantic champion in Peter Ensor! With Andrew Balgoyen missing the weekend, Zach Rubin was able to claim second in Teen Mazda Challenge Mid-Atlantic. Be on the lookout for Ensor’s video entry for the Mazda Road to 24 Shootout!
