Fisher edges Wheldon in wet USF Juniors finale at Barber

The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix for USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire tripleheader race weekend came to a dramatic conclusion this morning as the two youngest drivers in the field, Ty Fisher and Oliver Wheldon, waged a tremendous battle for victory at Barber Motorsports Park.

The pair of 14-year-olds were separated by a scant 0.6432s at the checkered flag as Fisher scored his second win of the season for Zanella Racing. It was enough to vault him into the championship lead over teammate Leonardo Escorpion, who finished third after sweeping both dry-weather races on Saturday.

Wheldon had to be content with another second-place finish – his third – for VRD Racing, thereby missing his final opportunity to eclipse Nikita Johnson and Fisher as the youngest ever USF Juniors winners. But Wheldon remains solidly in the chase for a scholarship valued at almost $250,000 to graduate onto the next step of the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF2000, in 2026.

The starting order for today’s 20-lap race was set according to each driver’s second-fastest lap from the second qualifying session on Friday afternoon. Escorpioni once again was fastest, his lap of 1m25.1282s only fractionally slower than his own new lap record of 1m25.1109s and comfortably good enough for his third consecutive Continental Tire Pole Award.

A major switch in the weather conditions brought a wet track for this morning’s race, so officials wisely permitted the drivers one additional pace lap before mandating a single-file start.

Unsurprisingly, a couple of early incidents led most of the opening six laps to be run behind the safety car with Escorpioni holding onto his lead ahead of Fisher. The man on the move, however, was former Australian Formula Ford frontrunner Liam Loiacono, who charged from eighth on the grid to fifth on the opening lap and then overtook both Vilho Aatola (DEForce Racing), from Turku, Finland, and Wheldon shortly after the restart on Lap Seven to move into third.

Loiacono’s deficit of over 1.7s to the two leaders was instantly wiped out due to another appearance by the safety car following an incident further down the field after 10 laps.

Fisher saw his opportunity at the restart, with 12 laps in the books, capitalizing on a small error in Turn 1by Escorpioni. Fisher drove clear around the outside of Escorpioni in Turn 2 before completing his move by taking the lead under braking at Turn 5.

Moments later, at the tricky Turn 7/8complex of corners, Loiacono attempted a bold maneuver by again trying the outside line, only to run wide onto the grass at the exit. He had slipped down to 10th before being able to regain his momentum.

Not to be outdone, Wheldon also nipped past Escorpioni on the next lap for second before setting his sights on the new leader, whom he caught with four laps remaining.

Wheldon placed Fisher under intense pressure in the closing stages, but the Canadian stood his ground to ensure a narrow victory.

“The race was really good. I knew it was going to be tough in the rain, but once I saw how grippy it was and how good the car was set up, I knew that we would have a good chance at the win. We definitely had a podium car, a winning car. And I saw Leo make a bit of a mistake, so I took advantage of that and was able to get the win.”

Escorpioni fell back to a clear third ahead of Aatola, who capped a breakthrough weekend with his third straight top-six result, while Vergara once again fought a rearguard action by rising from eighth to fifth over the course of the final eight laps.

DEForce Racing’s Lincoln Day took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 20th on the grid to 14th.

Jose Zanella claimed his fifth PFC Award of the season as the winning car owner.

RESULTS

Provisional championship points after six of 16 races:

1. Ty Fisher, 145

2. Leonardo Escorpioni, 144

3. Oliver Wheldon, 131

4. Joao Vergara, 125

5. Vilho Aatola, 101

6 Liam Loiacono, 98

7 Rodrigo Gonzalez, 98

8. Diego Guiot, 67

9. Michael Suco, 61

10. Karel Staut, 61