Escorpioni sweeps first two USF Juniors races at Barber
The USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire leg of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park was all about (...)
The USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire leg of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park was all about Leonardo Escorpioni and Zanella Racing. The 15-year-old Brazilian, who is now based in Windermere, Fla., romped to a pair of victories, scoring a maximum possible 66 points. The victory double saw Escorpioni regain the lead of the points chase with five of 16 races now completed.
Escorpioni was chased home by impressive 14-year-old rookie teammate Ty Fisher in Friday afternoon’s second race as previous points leader Oliver Wheldon (VRD Racing bounced back from a problem in the first race to claim third.
The remaining two steps on the podium in the opening race of the day were filled by the DEForce Racing pair of Vilho Aatola and Rodrigo Gonzalez.
Escorpioni began as he meant to continue after securing his first (and second) Continental Tire Pole Award during qualifying on Friday. The 15-year-old Brazilian established a new lap record in the first of two dedicated qualifying sessions and was joined on the front row of the grid for the opening race by Aatola.
The top four positions remained unchanged throughout the opening 20-lap race. A couple of full-course cautions for incidents further down the order kept things fairly tight at the front, although Escorpioni always seemed to have something in hand. He set a new race lap record while edging out to a lead of just over two seconds by the halfway point, then reset the standard with another improvement as he romped away during the final eight-lap segment to finish just over 2.7 seconds clear of Aatola.
Gonzalez remained hot on his heels throughout, although the Mexican second-year driver had his work cut out on the final lap to hold onto third from Joao Vergara (VRD Racing) and a charging Fisher, who had slipped to sixth behind Liam Loiacono (Jay Howard Driver Development) on the opening lap.
Loiacono couldn’t quite match the front-running pace but still came home sixth after a lengthy battle with Rodrigo Gonzalez’s younger brother Patricio.
A shuffling of positions just outside the top 10 on the final lap saw DEForce Racing’s Thomas Nordquist emerge in 12th to claim the Tilton Hard Charger Award after having lined up 18th on the starting grid.
The second qualifying session on Friday saw Escorpioni improve upon his new lap record to snag a second Continental Tire Pole Award, although behind him it was all change with Fisher joining him on the front row of the grid and Wheldon ahead of Aatola on row two.
After a couple of brief early cautions, Escorpioni once more took off into the lead, although this time he was unable to shake off Fisher, who shadowed him throughout the race. The pair even exchanged fastest laps at one point before Escorpioni reestablished his authority to ensure a maximum points haul.
Behind, Wheldon lost third place to Aatola soon after the restart, but quickly redressed the balance to maintain his championship challenge.
The battle for fourth provided the main focal point of the race as Aatola was pursued initially by Rodrigo Gonzalez. Vergara, a race winner at NOLA last month, found himself shuffled down to 10th place in the early stages, but then mounted a sterling comeback to usurp Aatola from fourth on the final lap and narrowly hold onto third in the championship chase.
Gonzalez completed a solid day by finishing sixth ahead of Loiacono and local driver Michael Suco, who mirrored his result from the morning when he had nipped past InterMS teammate Hudson Potter on the final lap.
Karel Staut lost out to Jay Howard Driver Development teammate JT Hoskins for ninth place in the closing stages, but that was still enough to ensure himself the Tilton Hard Charger Award after starting 14th.
Jose Zanella and his team manager and wife Jessica mirrored the final day at NOLA Motorsports Park by securing both race wins and the two PFC Awards as the winning car owners. Zanella Racing also took over the lead in the coveted Teams Championship from VRD Racing.
The USF Juniors weekend will wrap up with a third race Saturday morning.
