Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Max Garcia won another incident-filled USF Pro 2000 race on the streets of St. Petersburg to leave with the championship lead.
Alessandro de Tullio gained pole position from Garcia thanks to the fastest lap he set on the way to victory in race one, and retained the lead ahead of his fellow Miami native at the start as Elliot Cox locked up into the first corner but held onto third.
A lap later, Michael Costello challenged Cox around the outside of Turn 1, beating him to the inside of Turn 2 but then hitting the kerb, causing him to make contact with Cox that sent the Turn 3 Motorsport driver into the barriers for his third crash of the weekend. Costello was also forced to retire.
At the restart, Garcia’s focus had to be on defending from Mac Clark, who had lost his podium finish from race one due to a penalty for blocking. Clark started race two back in eighth but made up three spots on lap one, to then benefit from the clash between Costello and Cox.
Another caution followed a lap later when Tyke Durst crashed out in Turn 1 after contact at the rear of the top 10.
This time at the restart, Garcia got down the inside of de Tullio to take the lead, and Clark followed him through around the outside of Turn 2.
De Tullio lost third to Max Taylor three laps later around the outside of the first turn, and after another three laps he crashed straight into the barriers in Turn 4, causing another full-course yellow.
The race restarted with four laps to go, with Taylor defending third from Jacob Douglas, who had passed Cooper Becklin just prior to the previous caution.
When they reached Turn 4, Becklin hit the rear of Douglas and crashed down the run-off area, setting up one last restart with two laps remaining.
Garcia opened up a two-second lead in those two laps as he sealed victory ahead of Clark. Taylor was ordered to give up third to Douglas under the final caution for blocking, and had to settle for fourth. Former Formula Regional European Championship racer Owen Tangavelou finished his debut weekend with fifth.
Race results (25 laps)
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Garcia | Pabst Racing | 38m06.0073s |
| 2 | Mac Clark | Exclusive Autosport | +2.1604s |
| 3 | Jacob Douglas | Pabst Racing | +2.6901s |
| 4 | Max Taylor | VRD Racing | +3.0364s |
| 5 | Owen Tangavelou | VRD Racing | +3.4709s |
| 6 | Jace Denmark | TJ Speed Motorsports | +3.8875s |
| 7 | Tanner DeFabis | Jay Howard Driver Development | +4.2957s |
| 8 | Sebastian Manson | TJ Speed Motorsports | +5.2747s |
| 9 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | +7.2504s |
| 10 | Frankie Mossman | Jay Howard Driver Development | +7.8422s |
| 11 | Joey Brienza | Exclusive Autosport | +8.8104s |
| 12 | Carson Etter | Exclusive Autosport | +9.2015s |
| 13 | Nicholas Monteiro | DEForce Racing | +9.6375s |
| 14 | Charles Finelli | FatBoy Racing | +12.9649s |
| 15 | Titus Sherlock | Turn 3 Motorsport | +2 laps |
| Ret | Cooper Becklin | Turn 3 Motorsport | |
| Ret | Logan Adams | Comet/NCMP Racing | |
| Ret | Alessandro De Tullio | Turn 3 Motorsport | |
| Ret | Tyke Durst | Turn 3 Motorsport | |
| Ret | Elliot Cox | Turn 3 Motorsport | |
| Ret | Michael Costello | Pabst Racing | |
| Ret | Ariel Elkin | TJ Speed Motorsports | |
| Fastest lap: Garcia, 1m09.0187s
Championship standings |
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