The 2023 Sebring Super Tour event started much like last year’s event finished…with rain. Friday featured 2 qualifying sessions with vastly different weather conditions. The first qualifying session was in the rain. While some competitors opted to skip the session, Mateo chose to get some rain practice even though the conditions were expected to improve for the second qualifying session in the afternoon. Mateo’s best wet lap was 2:43:055, just under 2 seconds slower than the top qualifier for the session, but almost 12 seconds ahead of 3rd position.
The second qualifying session later that same day featured blue skies, a dry track and a cold wind blowing in. Times for Q2 were significantly faster than the morning session. Mateo’s lap times just got better and better throughout the session with his fastest time on the last lap of the session. His time of 2:20:369 was 1.77 seconds slower than Nolan Aller who qualified on pole for race 1. The rest of the field sped up too as P3 came in about 3 seconds behind Mateo.
Saturday’s race started fast with Nolan and Mateo jumping out to a strong lead over the rest of the field. A safety car came out on lap 6 and bunched up the FF field. On the restart, Mateo fell back a position coming across the line, but had regained P2 by turn 3. At that point Mateo and Nolan began pulling away from the field again but Nolan maintained an advantage over Mateo the rest of the race. Mateo finished 4.834 seconds back from P1 and 17.702 seconds ahead of P3. Click the link below for SCCA’s coverage of Race 1. The FF race starts around 2:36:00.
2023 Hoosier Super Tour @ Sebring – Saturday Qualifying/Races LIVE – YouTube
Sunday’s race was an epic battle for the top step of the podium. It was a 14 lap race and there were at least that many lead changes between Nolan and Mateo. It was back and forth between the two of them the entire race. In lap 11, Mateo set fast lap of the weekend at 2:16:626, just off the track record set in 2018 of 2:16:499. No yellow flags meant the leaders had to maneuver through lap track on multiple laps but neither gained an unsurmountable advantage getting through the slower cars. On the final lap of the race, low fuel levels limited Mateo’s ability the accelerate out of the turns. Even as he was running out of fuel, he still managed to finish less than 1 second behind Nolan. They finished a full minute ahead of 3rd place. You can watch this fantastic race at the link below. If you only watch one, this is the one you want to watch! Coverage of Mateo’s race starts around 1:03:14; ends 1:45:51.
2023 Hoosier Super Tour @ Sebring – Sunday Races LIVE – YouTube
Thanks to Team Pelfrey, Ares Elite Sports Vision and the family and friends who came out to watch! Mateo even got recognized in the Peoria airport by some race fans who had been in Sebring Sunday night! Next event will be the SCCA Super Tour Event at Road Atlanta on March 10-12.