ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The battle for this year’s USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire championship has intensified following this weekend’s Elite Engines Grand Prix of Road America tripleheader.
Liam Loiacono, from Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, this morning completed a clean sweep for Jay Howard Driver Development, although Brazilian Leonardo Escorpioni, from Windermere, Fla., maintained his points lead following an excellent charge to second place after starting back in 14th for Zanella Racing.
Patricio Gonzalez, from Mexico City, Mexico, was credited with third for DEForce Racing after a five-second post-race penalty was assessed on Escorpioni’s teammate, Ty Fisher, from White Rock, B.C., Canada for avoidable contact.
Loiacono once again started at the front of the field as a consequence of having set the best second-fastest lap of all drivers during the solitary qualifying session on Friday. He therefore ensured a clean sweep of Continental Tire Pole Awards and was intent upon repeating that feat in the race.
The long straightaways at Road America usually provide plenty of opportunities to overtake, and that is precisely what transpired during the 10-lap race. However, most of the action was centered on a massive scrap for second place, which allowed Loiacono to drive as he pleased at the front of the field.
He needed no second bidding, and despite a brief full-course caution midway through the race when InterMS’ Michael Suco, from Auburn, Ala., found the tire wall in Turn 14, Loiacono never relinquished his advantage.
After claiming his first-ever podium finish yesterday, rookie Evan Cooley (Exclusive Autosport), from Mokena, Ill., held onto his second-place starting position for the majority of the race before finding himself shuffled down the order in the closing stages.
Instead, remarkably, it was Escorpioni who emerged to take the runner-up spot. Despite problems in qualifying which led him to start way back in the pack, Escorpioni made up five positions within the first two laps before finding himself shuffled back down again to 12th. No problem. The gifted Brazilian vaulted immediately from ninth to fifth at the restart, then picked off those in front to grab second from teammate Fisher with a couple of laps to go.
Loiacono by then was already out of reach, but second place – for the second race in a row – represented an impressive comeback. Escorpioni’s performance also earned him the Tilton Hard Charger Award.
Fisher followed him home in third, although later was assessed a penalty following a clash on Lap Eight in Turn Six with VRD Racing’s Oliver Wheldon, who fell all the way to 17th. Fisher was eventually credited with ninth, thereby keeping alive his slim title aspirations.
The battle for what turned out to be the final podium position saw three cars virtually abreast of each other at the checkered flag with Gonzalez capping a breakthrough weekend by narrowly edging out DEForce Racing teammate Vilho Aatola, from Turku, Finland, and the unfortunate Cooley.
Connor Aspley (Pole Position Motorsports), from O’Fallon, Mo., and Diego Guiot (Zanella Racing), from The Woodlands, Texas, also were right in the mix at the finish line as third through seventh were blanketed by a scant 0.2304 of a second. Rahim Alibhai (Zanella Racing), from Miami, Fla., completed a strong debut weekend just a half-second back in eighth.
