Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
USF Pro 2000’s title fight started to emerged on Sunday at NOLA Motorsports Park, as Alessandro de Tullio and Max Garcia shared the wins.
Turn 3 Motorsport’s de Tullio started race two on pole, ahead of Pabst Racing’s Garcia, Michael Costello and Jacob Douglas. From sixth on the grid, TJ Speed’s Ariel Elkin was already trying to pass Costello at turn three on lap one and he got the move done on the outside a corner later. He overtook Douglas at turn eight, and began lap two in third.
There was a 0.7-second gap between de Tullio and Garcia at that point, and after the latter set the fastest lap the response from de Tullio was to take it himself and then continually pull away. He earned his third victory of 2025 by 3.255s and reduced Garcia’s points lead.
Elkin ended up with the fastest lap as he pursued Garcia, filling his mirrors on lap seven and 11 then attacking him on lap 14 and 15 but not having enough of a pace advantage to keep up the fight.
TJ Speed’s Jace Denmark was another to pass Costello on lap one, as DEForce Racing’s Mac Clark fell to the back due to an off. His team-mate Nicholas Monteiro did the same on lap two, as Costello reclaimed fifth from Denmark around the outside at turn one.
Velocity Racing Development’s Max Taylor also overtook Denmark, then moved Costello back down a spot on lap four. They held their positions after, while VRD’s Owen Tangavelou charged up from 19th to 10th, having been excluded from qualifying for his car being underweight.
Garcia had pole for race three, ahead of Douglas, Taylor and de Tullio. Taylor made the best start to challenge for the lead after turn two, but then de Tullio passed him and set about following the leader.
After a brief caution period caused by Clark stopping at the side of the track, after he had already fallen to 16th, the lead battle resumed and de Tullio thought about the outside line at the restart.
He wanted to attempt a switchback but there was no room and he almost drove into Garcia approaching turn three before locking up. Taylor then attempted to pass de Tullio on the inside at turn four and locked up, with de Tullio somehow remaining ahead.
Garcia had two car lengths in hand, and it remained that way until the final corners of the race when de Tullio got on his gearbox. With his second win of 2025, Garcia now leads de Tullio by 16 points after two rounds.
Reigning USF Juniors champion Taylor claimed his maiden USFP2000 podium in third, and Douglas held off Elkin for fourth. Elkin had lost out to Costello early on, but slipstreamed back past following the restart and kept him at bay thereon.
Tangavelou went on another charge, taking two laps to jump from 18th to 10th then gaining one more spot.
Results round-up
Race 2 (18 laps)
1 Alessandro de Tullio Turn 3 Motorsport 27m30.955s
2 Max Garcia Pabst Racing +3.235s
3 Ariel Elkin TJ Speed +3.649s
4 Jacob Douglas Pabst Racing +4.503s
5 Max Taylor Velocity Racing Development +5.353s
6 Michael Costello Pabst Racing +13.723s
7 Jace Denmark TJ Speed +14.143s
8 Frankie Mossman JHDD +17.614s
9 Jorge Garciarce DEForce Racing +20.782s
10 Owen Tangavelou Velocity Racing Development +21.602s
Fastest lap: Elkin, 1m31.029s
Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Garcia 28m58.787s
2 de Tullio +0.291s
3 Taylor +2.216s
4 Douglas +3.196s
5 Elkin +3.665s
6 Costello +4.247s
7 Denmark +9.553s
8 Cooper Becklin Turn 3 Motorsport +10.619s
9 Tangavelou +11.249s
10 Nicholas Monteiro DEForce Racing +14.072s
FL: Douglas, 1m31.190s
Championship standings
1 Garcia 141 2 de Tullio 125 3 Douglas 95 4 Taylor 89 5 Clark 73 6 Costello 68 7 Elkin 60 8 Denmark 54 9 Tangavelou 52 10 Garicarce 48