LEEDS, Ala. – The USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire leg of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix today 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, from White Rock, B.C., Canada, in this afternoon’s second race as erstwhile points leader Oliver Wheldon (VRD Racing), from St. Petersburg, Fla., bounced back from a problem this morning 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, from Turku, Finland, and Rodrigo Gonzalez, from Mexico City, Mexico.
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), from Miami, Fla., and a charging Fisher, who had slipped to sixth behind Australian 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, from Omaha, Neb., 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, from Auburn, Ala., who mirrored his result from the morning when he had nipped past InterMS teammate Hudson Potter, from Lexington, Ky., on the final lap.
Belgium’s Karel Staut lost out to Jay Howard Driver Development teammate JT Hoskins, from Sarasota, Fla., 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 weekend will wrap up with a third race tomorrow morning. The green flag is set to fly at 8:05 a.m. CDT. Full coverage, including timing and livestreaming, can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and at usfjuniors.com.
Provisional championship points after 5 of 16 races:
1. Leonardo Escorpioni, 120
2. Ty Fisher, 114
3. Joao Vergara, 108
4. Oliver Wheldon, 106
5. Liam Loiacono, 85
6. Rodrigo Gonzalez, 83
7. Vilho Aatola, 82
8. Diego Guiot, 53
9. Michael Suco, 51
10. Karel Staut, 50
Race One Quotes:
Leonardo Escorpioni (#55 Qwilt/Peer 1/Mensalize-Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was amazing. The safety car restarts and the yellow flags kept me on my toes. It was about keeping my head down, making a smooth race and trying not to go off. I led start to finish, and it was just amazing.”
Vilho Aatola (#14 Mad Croc/Anti Skid Life/X-1R-DEForce Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I think it's a very good feeling to get to the podium and now I'm ready to get more. I think we have still more pace. We just have to drive and get more experience.”
Rodrigo Gonzalez (#18 Arkansas State University Queretaro/Torre Skala-DEForce Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I feel a lot more confident this season. I can still find more pace for myself. Overall, I am pretty happy with the results and happy with the team putting two cars on the podium. I mean, it's incredible. It's my first podium here. At the end, it was a little bit tough. He [Vergara] was challenging me in two corners, but I believe I defended him well and held on to the end.”
Race Two Quotes:
Leonardo Escorpioni (#55 Qwilt/Peer 1/Mensalize-Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “If you told me I would be doing this last year, I wouldn’t have believed it. This is a big step up from last year. We got so much better, the whole team. Honestly, I can't believe it. How crazy it's been. A few months ago in Portland, we were in the top 10 and not even close to being able to fight for the win. Now, in already the fifth race, we have three wins. So, it's honestly amazing.”
Ty Fisher (#37 Cedar Coast/Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was really good. We had a good restart, were able to get a bit of a gap. And from there on, I was just pushing but not 100 percent – I was saving the tires for the end. The last five laps I tried pushing a bit harder, but the track was greasy by then. I wasn't able to catch up to Leo, but this result is really good for the team and one-two is really good for the points.”
Oliver Wheldon (#98 Gainbridge/Big Machine Racing-VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I had a pretty good start and stayed in the same position. A couple laps later after the restart, I had to let the DEForce car behind me go by. I’m not sure what happened. I was behind him for a lap or two and then I was able to get by. And by then, Leo and Ty were already gone. So, I was just saving tires and trying to learn the track. The track got really bad in the end, pretty greasy, and I think that's when I was quicker than the Zanella guys. I caught them a bit in the end, but just wasn't close enough. So overall, pretty good race.”