PORTLAND, Ore. — Leonardo Escorpioni extended his lead in the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire championship following a dominant victory to close out the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland.
The Florida-based Brazilian had to work hard for his fifth victory of the season for Turn 3 Motorsport, working his way from seventh in the early stages, but once into the lead he cruised away after another stylish performance.
Escorpioni’s closest challenger in the championship, Texan Jack Jeffers, finished second on the road for Exclusive Autosport before a penalty dropped him to fourth in the final results behind Pabst Racing teammates G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., and Colin Aitken, from Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
The grid for today’s race was set by each driver’s second-fastest lap for the solitary qualifying session on Saturday. Escorpioni duly scooped his fourth Continental Tire Pole Award of the campaign, although the application of a three-grid-place penalty for avoidable contact yesterday relegated him to fourth on the grid behind Jeffers, Argyros and JHDD powered by ECR’s Andres Cardenas, from Lima, Peru.
Portland International Raceway’s tight first chicane provided the usual drama on the opening lap. Nose-to-tail contact between Cardenas and Jeffers resulted in the polesitter having to take to the escape road… which he performed masterfully so that he only fell to fifth place in the order behind Cardenas, Aitken, who started fifth, Teddy Musella (VRD Racing), from Orlando, Fla., and Argyros.
However, the race stewards determined that Jeffers had impeded several pursuers at Turn Four, and therefore handed him a five-second penalty which would be served post-race.
Cardenas also received a substantial penalty for hitting Jeffers at the first corner, although that became moot when the Peruvian’s car slowed abruptly with a mechanical problem after leading the first 12 laps. He was done for the day.
Escorpioni, meanwhile, had been flying up the order after being elbowed down to seventh place during the early exchanges. The Brazilian easily disposed of Aitken in Turn Four for second place on lap 11, and was hot on the heels of Cardenas when the race leader faltered on the exit of the first chicane.
Escorpioni never looked back. He had pulled out a margin of over eight seconds by the time the caution flags fluttered for the first and only time after 18 laps when Musella’s car also gave up the ghost and stranded him on the front straightaway while running in third place.
Escorpioni took off again at the restart and was comfortably clear before easing his pace in the closing stages.
Escorpioni also claimed the GhostLap Fastest Race of the Weekend Award.
After losing a place to Escorpioni early on, Jeffers found a way past Argyros after 14 laps, then shadowed the impressive Aitken before making the move for second with four laps remaining.
Jeffers romped away before the addition of his time penalty, and then Aitken offered no serious challenge to his championship-chasing teammate, Argyros, heading into the Turn 10/11 chicane for the final time, which elevated yesterday’s race winner to second position.
