LEXINGTON — Move over Scott Dixon.
There’s a new Mr. Mid-Ohio and his name is Ernie Francis Jr.
Francis Jr. won for the seventh consecutive time at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, piloting the No. 98 One South Florida Wealth Advisors Ford Mustang to the checkered flag during Saturday’s Trans Am Series race at the Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio.
The seven victories on the twisty road course near Lexington is one more than Dixon, who won the IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio for a sixth time last August.
Starting fifth, Francis Jr. worked his way to the front of the field on the rain-soaked track. He took the lead from Tony Ave with 20 minutes remaining in the 70-minute feature as the track began to dry.
“I don’t think I’ve had a tougher race out there then that, starting the race in the rain,” said Francis Jr., a six-time Trans Am Series champ and the winner of the season-opener at Sebring. “We … couldn’t find grip anywhere. I was sideways pretty much every single turn around the track.
“About halfway through the race, the car just kind of clicked on. The track started to dry up and we were able to get by (third-place finisher) Chris (Dyson) and reel in Tony and get by him.”
Ave started from the pole but an electrical issue resurfaced and he couldn’t keep pace in the No. 4 Lamers Motor Racing Corvette.
“We had a problem (Friday) with electronics. It wouldn’t rev very good,” Ave said. “We thought we fixed it for qualifying and didn’t, but in the rain it didn’t really matter. We thought we fixed it for today and I could tell right away it wouldn’t rev over 7,600 (RPMs).
“My strategy was, as long as it was going to be wet, I needed to get as big a lead as possible. I knew if it dried out or even if we got a yellow (flag), it was going to be a problem. It just got too dry and the thing wouldn’t run. We were 20 miles an hour off down the straightaway.”
Saturday’s race was the first for the Trans Am Series since the opener at Sebring during the final weekend of February.
“I’m excited to be back racing,” Dyson said. “I’m thankful for the promotors … for putting this together.”
Ave agreed.
“I’m just happy to be back at the race track turning money into noise,” Ave said.
The Trans Am Series is making its debut at the Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio. The XGT, SGT and GT classes ran simultaneously with the Trans Am class Saturday, while the TA2 class will run on its own Sunday.
Saturday’s class winners included Erich Joiner in XGT, Mark Brummond in SGT and Tim Horrell in GT.
