ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. — Max Taylor of VRD Racing captured his third win of the season this afternoon in the PFC Grand Prix of Road America – a crucial tripleheader round leading up to the season finale in two weeks’ time. Taylor entered the weekend with a slim nine-point lead over five other drivers who still have a mathematical chance for a shot at the USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire championship title and scholarship to advance to USF2000.
Five title contenders sprung to the fore during the lone qualifying session this morning as Taylor ultimately secured his first Continental Tire Pole Award of the season. Taylor’s best time of 2:14.7230 (107.260 mph) established a new qualifying lap record, with early season points leader and teammate Sebastian Wheldon also circulating faster than the old standard.
Wheldon thus clinched a starting position for Race 1 on the outside of the front row ahead of Liam McNeilly (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Ariel Elkin (InterMS). Elkin’s teammate, Augusto Soto-Schirripa and Evan Cooley (Exclusive Autosport) rounded out row three.
What started with a lot of positives did not end well for three of the top championship rivals.
Taylor held the lead at the start as he, Wheldon and McNeilly soon began to pull away. Misfortune struck Elkin first with an off in turn 11 on lap 2, dropping him to the tail of the field where he finished a disappointing 20th.
By lap 4, Taylor and Wheldon had amassed over a two-second lead to the field as McNeilly fought to hold off a closing pack. That margin was eradicated on the next tour when a yellow came out for an incident involving G3 Argyros (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Bruno Ribeiro (DEForce Racing) in turn 8. A red flag quickly followed during the clean up to preserve racing laps.
The race resumed on lap 6 with a great battle in the lead group. Trouble for both Wheldon and McNeilly found its way on lap 9 with Wheldon going off course on the exit of turn 5 as McNeilly spun dropping them to ninth and 15th respectively in the results.
Taylor romped off to a 1.8-second margin of victory with Soto-Schirripa, who was shuffled back at the start, rebounding to claim his fifth podium finish in second and Cooley in third.
Cooley was subsequently assessed with a post-race penalty for avoidable contact dropping him to 15th. As a result, Jack Jeffers (Exclusive Autosport) was credited with his fifth podium finish of the season and teammate Joao Vergara his best result in fourth. Leonardo Escorpioni (Zanella Racing) rounded out the top five.
Patricio Gonzalez took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award with a gain of nine positions for DEForce DD. Dan Mitchell pocketed the PFC Award as the winning car owner.
The weekend will conclude with another pair of 10-lap races Sunday with the green flags set to fly at 9:30 a.m. and 2:50 p.m. CDT.