Fisher wins, Wheldon spins in USF Juniors’ second Mid-Ohio race

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Ty Fisher won and Oliver Wheldon took a blow to his title hopes in USF Juniors’ second race of the weekend at Mid-Ohio.

Drivers’ second-best laptimes from qualifying were used to set the grid (except for Jay Howard Driver Development’s JT Hoskins down in 16th whose race one fastest lap was faster), and Zanella Racing’s Ty Fisher earned pole with a 1m25.111s.

His team-mate Leonardo Escorpioni was just 0.0657 seconds slower than him, and Velocity Racing Development duo Oliver Wheldon and Joao Vergara were split by 0.0015s in third and fourth and both less than 0.17s off pole. DEForce Racing’s Rodrigo Gonzalez qualified fifth.

The race began in dramatic fashion as VRD’s Matan Achituv, who had qualified sixth, was almost immediately spun around and crashed into the barriers. It was not clear when a caution period was then called, as some drivers then slowed while others were going faster down to turn four where another crash occurred.

Wheldon had Gonzalez on his left and Vergara on his right behind him as they approached the corner, and Gonzalez made front-right to rear-left contact with Wheldon which sent him spinning off.

Vergara was ahead of Gonzalez as they then turned in, while JHDD’s Liam Loiacono went around the outside of both. Achituv and Gonzalez pitted for new front wings at the end of lap two, at which point the field was following the pace car and Wheldon’s vehicle had been retrieved.

But racinf did not resume until lap six, with race control wanting the order to change. Vergara ended up back i nthird, ahead of Exclusive Autosport’s Breden Cooley, Loiacono, Zanella’s Diego Guiot and Pole Position Motorsports’ Connor Aspley.

Vergara overtook Escorpioni on the inside of turn two when they returned to racing, and Cooley tried getting involved on the outside but then had Loiacono alongside him through to turn four where he got ahead.

Loiacono was hassling Escorpioni by the end of lap seven, and sold the dummy at turn four on lap eight to pass him too.

He did the same on Vergara five laps later, then had no answer to Fisher’s pace as he held a 2.5s lead.

Guiot came under intense pressure in sixth, particularly from DEForce’s Patricio Gonzalez until he spun at turn six on lap 16 while pushing. His brother Rodrigo recovered to 11th, and British Formula 4 racer Chase Fernandez finished eighth on just his second start.

Wheldon’s retirement means he drops from second to fourth in the championship, while Escorpioni’s lead is reduced from 23 to 12 points by Fisher.

Race results (20 laps)