Jack Jeffers Wins Championship

Coming into the weekend, Thomas Annunziata held a narrow 15-point lead over Jack Jeffers. While Annunziata found the podium more often, Jeffers was leading all drivers with overall wins. Westin Workman also came into the finale on the heels of Jeffers, just two points back courtesy of his six visits to the podium. Lastly, Ayrton Houk also came into the event with a chance at the overall championship a further 12 points back from Workman.

After the first two races, Jack Jeffers and Thomas Annunziata finished 1-2 and 2-1 respectively maintaining the point delta between them and effectively eliminating Westin Workman and Ayrton Houk from championship contention. Following a wild Race 3 that would see Jeffers claim first, Annunziata was sent down the order, a victim of contact from behind. Going into the final race, the two drivers were now separated by three points. Befitting a season where four drivers were consistently battling for wins and podiums, we had to wait to the 18th and final race of the season to determine our winner. The math was mostly simple – finish ahead of the other driver on course and the championship is yours.

With Sebring’s draft being a huge player, Jeffers and Annunziata would trade positions for the race lead throughout the entirety of the race, all while contending with the lead pack that also included Ayrton Houk, Westin Workman, Hudson Schwartz, Joao Vergara, and Donnie Steele. In the end, Jeffers crossed the line less than a tenth ahead of Annunziata to claim the overall Lucas Oil Formula Race Series Championship. With Annunziata claiming the Vice Championship, the 3rd Place Championship Classification started as a tie on points between Workman and Houk. Fortunately for Workman, he was able to claim the tie-breaker on the back of his three race wins to Houk’s two.

The Masters Classification was far less tense with Donnie Steele claiming the overall championship as soon as he crossed start-finish in the first race. But Steele had his eyes set further up the field and found himself with the lead group in multiple races throughout the season, along with setting several track records. But with the Masters field once again growing, next year should open the door for a potentially new Masters Champion.

Lastly, congratulations to all of the drivers that joined us in 2022. Up and down the order, it was truly awesome to see the driver development throughout the field. There was no better display of their growth than in the final event, where all 13 drivers had lap times within 3” of our race winners. Truly impressive.

Looking to next year, we are already excited to welcome back a cadre of our drivers from this year as well as excited to see new graduates from our Race Schools take the next step in their driver development and come race with us.