Garcia takes USF Pro 2000 race 2 win at St. Pete

Florida teenagers have swept this weekend’s Andersen Interior Contracting Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with Max Garcia claiming an (...)

Mar 2, 2025 - 18:04

Garcia takes USF Pro 2000 race 2 win at St. Pete

Florida teenagers have swept this weekend’s Andersen Interior Contracting Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with Max Garcia claiming an emphatic victory this morning for Pabst Racing. Building upon his second-place finish yesterday, the young man from Coconut Grove, Fla., who is still two weeks shy of his 16th birthday, overtook opening round winner Alessandro De Tullio (Turn 3 Motorsport), from Miami immediately after a restart to cement an early advantage in the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire championship chase.

Mac Clark finished a strong second for Exclusive Autosport, followed by Garcia’s teammate Jacob Douglas, who rebounded impressively following an incident in the first race of the weekend.

De Tullio once again started at the head of the field after securing his second Continental Tire Pole Award, and for the second straight day, he was flanked by Garcia for the rolling start.

De Tullio continued to hold the upper hand despite a couple of early full-course cautions, but for the fourth year in a row, the winning team from the opening race of the season was unable to back up that success in race 2. The jinx continues.

Yesterday, Garcia had attempted on several occasions to oust De Tullio from the lead by braking a little later on the outside line into Turn One. This time, he tried something different. When De Tullio left a small opening on the inside following a restart on lap 10, Garcia immediately filled that gap and squeezed through under braking for Turn 1. He never looked back.

Last year’s USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire champion maintained his advantage after two more full-course cautions during an incident-packed 25-lap race. Garcia then pulled away from the field in the final couple of laps to ensure a clear victory – his third on the challenging 1.8-mile restart after sweeping both USF2000 races in 2024.

“It was the same situation as yesterday behind De Tullio for a while and then I ended up getting by him in Turn 1and never really looked back after that,” said Garcia. “So, just really excited that we were able to pull it off.”

Clark, who made up three positions on the opening lap, further profited from an early clash in Turn Two between second-row starters Elliot Cox (Turn 3 Motorsport) and Michael Costello (Pabst Racing). Already up to third after having started eighth, Clark then opportunistically followed Garcia past De Tullio to move into second.

VRD Racing’s Max Taylor also managed to find a way past De Tullio a couple of laps later, and shortly afterward De Tullio missed his reference marker under braking for Turn 4 and slid off into the barriers. His day was done.

Taylor later was ordered by race control to cede a position to Douglas as a penalty for an over-zealous protection of his position, moving the Kiwi up to third.

Up front, Clark was unable to match Garcia’s pace but was still able to fend off the attentions of Douglas. Taylor also finished close behind in fourth, just ahead of teammate Owen Tangavelou and TJ Speed Motorsport’s Jace Denmark.

Jorge Garciarce claimed the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 18th on the grid to ninth. It marked the second straight day a DEForce Racing driver had taken the honor after his Brazilian teammate Nicholas Monteiro did so on Saturday. The PFC Award as the winning car owner went to Augie Pabst.

The chase for this year’s USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire championship and a scholarship valued at almost $600,000 to graduate to Indy NXT in 2026 will continue at NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, La., on April 12-13.