STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Anthony Martella experienced a nightmare start to his USF2000 Presented by Continental Tires season, failing to finish four of the first six races, more often than not due to no fault of his own.
But this evening at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Martella led throughout the final leg of the USF Pro Patriot 250 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio doubleheader to claim his third win of the season for his Exclusive Autosport team.
Ryan Giannetta, from Redondo Beach, Calif., shadowed Martella every inch of the way to secure his best ever finish for VRD Racing, while Colombian Sebastian Garzon extended his championship lead with another podium finish for DEForce Racing.
Martella lined up on the inside of the front row of the grid for today’s race by virtue of having recorded the best of each driver’s second-fastest laps during the sole period of qualifying on Friday. The deserving Canadian thereby earned his first Continental Tire Pole Award of the season. Friday polesitter Giannetta occupied the outside of the front row, with Garzon and Friday race winner Eddie Beswick (Pabst Racing), from Sydney, Australia, sharing row two.
Saturday’s race ran IndyCar Series SERIES qualifying, were delayed by thunder showers, and was shortened to 15 laps.
A couple of caution periods broke up the early stages, but proved to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience for Martella, who retained control at each restart and never gave even the vaguest hint that he was about to relinquish his stranglehold.
Nevertheless, Giannetta never allowed Martella to relax and closed to within with a couple of car lengths over the final few laps. Giannetta set the fastest lap of the race for good measure.
Garzon was content to hold third place throughout, falling back a little from the two leaders but still remaining clear of the battle for fourth.
Oliver Wheldon., from St. Petersburg, Fla., held the place initially – which was a remarkable effort considering the fact he was driving a brand-new car after his VRD Racing team worked almost through the night to build up a new car following his huge accident on Friday. Unfortunately, Wheldon fell back deep into the pack when his car simply understeered off the road at the first restart. He recovered to finish 11th.
The Pabst pair of Beswick and fellow Australian Brad Majman took up the running, although both soon came under pressure from yet another Aussie, Liam Loiacono (JHDD powered by ECR), who had started 10th. Loiacono overtook Majman, but his attempts to pass Beswick resulted in contact under braking for Turn Five which took them both out onto the grass. They rejoined but finished well down the order.
Majman was gifted the place, much to his delight, after lining up seventh on the grid. Florida-based Brazilian Joao Vergara completed the top five in another VRD Racing entry.
