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. No bother. 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.
VRD Racing’s Frankie Mossman, from Newport Beach, Calif., struggled for pace in the late stages but narrowly managed to fend off the advances of TJ Speed Motorsports’ Thomas Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio. Mossman still did enough to claim the Tilton Hard Charger Award after having started 10th.
Turn 3 Motorsport’s Peter Dempsey pocketed the PFC Award as the winning team owner.
There will be only a brief respite before the USF Pro 2000 field reconvenes for a brand-new event next weekend on the streets of Markham, Ont., Canada, for another doubleheader event. Escorpioni currently holds a 25-point edge over Jeffers in the quest for a scholarship valued at $593,056 to advance next year to INDY NXT with six races remaining on the docket.
Provisional championship points after 12 of 18 rounds:
1. Leonardo Escorpioni, 278
2. Jack Jeffers, 251
3. G3 Argyros, 233
4. Frankie Mossman, 193
5. Andres Cardenas, 192
6. Thomas Schrage, 177
7. Michael Costello, 166
8. Teddy Musella, 149
9. Brady Golan, 147
10. Christian Cameron, 144.
Leonardo Escorpioni (#4 Data Pioneer Solutions/Corix/Peer 1-Turn 3 Motorsport Tatuus IP-22): “I had an amazing race. The start didn't go how we planned. I fell down to like seventh, I think. After that it was about staying clean. I knew I had a lot more pace than everyone. We showed it in qualifying and in all the practices. It was about staying clean, making clean overtakes and then Cardenas had an issue and he had a penalty as well. So, I mean I'm super happy to come up with the win and I'm super happy to go into Canada with the points lead. Let's see how it goes from there.”
G3 Argyros (#18 Positive Beverage/Elephant Cooperation-Pabst Racing Tatuus IP-22): “Jack penalized himself early on with a five-second post-race penalty. I stayed tight to his rear bumper and just followed him through the pack and stayed within a second for most of the race. The last four laps he got around my teammate Colin, and I thought I had to follow him if I wanted to keep those championship points that mean so much. I really had to put the pedal all the way 110 percent and get focused up for the last two laps and made a good pass on the last lap to secure myself those points. I won yesterday and had a second today, and then Colin's had a great weekend with a second and a third. Truly a great result for our team and the Pabst family, so I'm looking forward to keeping the strong results going and to keep closing the gap when it comes to the finale for the all-important scholarship on the line.”
Colin Aitken (#19 Morgan Stanley.Hennessy Performance-Pabst Racing Tatuus IP-22): “This gives me a lot of confidence going into Markham, and I hope to keep that ball rolling and step on the top step of the podium next week. Yesterday, running up front with the guys really showed me how to drive and how to manage the tires with the aero wash. I learned a lot from yesterday. Definitely it was a lot more stressful today, but still stressful today managing up front. I definitely learned a lot and I'm going to take that to Markham and hopefully get a win.”