Liberty Lake, WA – Three new tracks, six races, six wins, and a championship is the score card for Max Mällinen, who engraved his name across three SCCA Majors weekends in dominating fashion.
He swept the weekend in Formula F at Kansas Speedway in June, backed that up with the same performance at High Plains Raceway in Colorado in early July, and repeated the drive at Pueblo Motorsports Park this last weekend.
Mällinen was back in his Swan-prepared Spectrum/Honda Formula F car that took him to multiple SCCA Majors victories in 2014, dominating all three SCCA Majors.
With three new tracks, Mällinen lowered the track record for Formula F cars at both Kansas and Pueblo, and over the six races, started from pole all six times.
All three races have been on very different circuits. Kansas, a high-speed oval road course; High Plains, a traditional road course with significant elevation changes; and Pueblo, a fast tight circuit.
“Including Montréal, I have been faced with four new tracks in a row. I really enjoy the challenge of having to quickly learn the track and needing a fast outright pace. And as we have been fastest in every session since we took the Spectrum out the transporter at Kansas Speedway, I feel quite accomplished in conquering this challenge.” said Mällinen.
The run started at Kansas, where Mällinen was fresh off a solid Formula F weekend in support of the Montreal F1 race. Taking pole on Saturday in Kansas in mid-June, he would go on to win by a margin of 78 seconds, lapping nearly four seconds faster than second place and dominating the track.
On a weekend that saw him as the fastest Formula F entrant in every session, Mällinen dropped the official Formula F track record by 1.1 seconds at Kansas, also scoring a flag-to-flag win on Sunday, winning by 30 seconds in race number two of the weekend, even with a three-lap safety car period.
“Kansas was my first time on a high speed banked oval. I really enjoyed it as it gave me a good indication of how we will do at the Daytona Runoffs, if we so choose to enter.” said Mällinen.
The year-end SCCA National Championship Runoffs are to be held on the road course at Daytona International Speedway.
More points came in Colorado at High Plains Raceway, as Mällinen swept the Majors event. The Spectrum driver was fastest in every session, took pole easily, and then dominated both races to score two more victories.
Mällinen didn’t stop there, conquering another track in Colorado recently during the SCCA Majors at Pueblo Motorsports Park with two wins, two poles, and a new track record to the tune of 1.6 seconds.
As a result of the six wins, Mällinen won 2015 SCCA Mid-States Majors Championship.