PALMETTO, Fla. – Championships and scholarships remain on the line as the top two rungs on the USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire open-wheel driver development ladder head this week to Portland International Raceway. The 1.964-mile, 12-turn road course situated just a few miles from downtown Portland, Ore., will play host to a pair of races each for USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, with the season-long chases for top honors still very much in the balance.
Two-Point Separation
The top two USF Pro 2000 contenders both have happy memories of Portland, albeit in different series. Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, won one of the three USF2000 races during the PIR finale 12 months ago, which proved comfortably enough to secure the championship crown and a scholarship to graduate this year to USF Pro 2000.
The same weekend was equally memorable for Florida-based Brazilian Leonard Escorpioni, who emerged on top in two of the three USF Juniors races and also secured a championship crown.
One year on, Portland no longer serves as the final weekend of the season, but it could turn out to be pivotal as the two talented youngsters are separated by only two points as they each seek back-to-back titles. At stake is a scholarship valued at almost $600,000 to graduate to INDY NXT in 2027.
USF Pro 2000 rookies Jeffers and Escorpioni have been locked in combat since claiming the top two spots in qualifying for the opening race of the year on the streets of Arlington, Texas, in March. Escorpioni took advantage of a slip by Jeffers to win the first race for Turn 3 Motorsport, while Exclusive Autosport’s Jeffers rebounded the following day to climb onto the top step of the podium.
Their fortunes have fluctuated regularly since then, although a perfect sweep of three wins last time out at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course enabled Escorpioni to turn a 24-point deficit into a two-point advantage heading into this week’s Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland.
The battle for third place in the standings is equally hard-fought with 10 of 18 rounds completed. Only 26 points separate G3 Argyros from seventh-placed Thomas Schrage. Both are also USF Pro 2000 rookies.
After claiming victory in the USF2000 finale in 2024, Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., recorded his first wins at the more senior level with Pabst Racing earlier this season at Road America.
Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, has developed into a consistent top-five finisher for TJ Speed Motorsports, although he is still chasing an elusive first podium result at the track where he won and established a new race lap record last year in USF2000.
Sandwiched between them in the points table are impressive Peruvian rookie Andres Cardenas (JHDD powered by ECR), who has recorded podium finishes in three of the last four races, and series veteran Frankie Mossman, from Newport Beach, Calif., who has made five podiums visits to date this year for VRD Racing.
A pair of one-hour test sessions on Thursday afternoon, August 6, will lead into 30 minutes of practice at 9:45 a.m. PDT on Friday. A critical qualifying session at 12:30 p.m. will determine the starting order for 30-lap races at 5:05 p.m. on Friday and 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Garzon Under Pressure
Not so long ago, Colombian youngster Sebastian Garzon seemed to be cruising toward a USF2000 championship and a scholarship valued at almost $410,000 to advance next year to USF Pro 2000.
Three race wins and three podium finishes from the opening six races for DEForce Racing saw Garzon gallop to a 54-point advantage over his nearest rival. But with a total of 11 races now in the books and seven remaining, that margin has been trimmed to just 19 prior to this week’s Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland doubleheader.
A pair of Australians, Brad Majman, from Melbourne, and Sydney’s Eddie Beswick, are in hot pursuit of Garzon. They are also teammates at Pabst Racing, which secured back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024 with Simon Sikes, who, ironically, now serves as driver coach/engineer for Garzon, and Max Garcia, who will be among the top contenders this week in INDY NXT.
Majman and Beswick have each won twice. They also share three pole positions and six fastest laps. Majman currently has 246 points to his name, 19 adrift of Garzon, while Beswick holds down third in the standings on 208.
Two others have tasted the fruits of victory this year: Exclusive Autosport teammates Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., who won the only oval race of the season at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and Canadian Anthony Martella, who scored his third win of the season recently at Mid-Ohio.
After winning two of the three USF2000 races at Portland in 2025, VRD Racing also will hold high expectations with Joao Vergara, from Miami, Fla., Sebastian Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., and Ryan Giannetta, from Manhattan Beach, Calif. All three have recorded podium finishes this year.
The 22-car field also will include current USF Juniors championship leader Karol Pasiewicz, from Lodz, Poland, who is set to make his USF2000 debut along with Olivia Racing as part of a toe-in-the-water exercise as they seek to progress along the USF Pro Championships ladder in 2027.
The USF2000 schedule mirrors that of USF Pro 2000 with two test sessions on Thursday afternoon, followed by a hectic Friday comprising practice at 9:00 a.m., qualifying at 11:45 a.m. and the first race at 4:10 p.m. The second race is set to start at 12:50 p.m. on Saturday.
Complete coverage can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and respective series websites, usfpro2000.com and usf2000.com.