Jeffers reduces absent McNeilly’s USF2000 points lead with maiden win

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jack Jeffers took his maiden USF2000 victory in the first race of the weekend on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

The Exclusive Autosport driver took the lead at the first corner of the race and was unchallenged thereon.

Velocity Racing Development’s Thomas Schrage tried to keep the pressure on, but slipped backwards in the final laps to finish 2.4422 seconds behind.

Jeffers got a good start from third on the grid while VRD’s poleman Teddy Musella was forced onto the grass at the approach to turn one. As Musella slipped down the order, Jeffers and Schrage inherited the top two positions.

Before Jeffers could start to pull away, the pace car was sent out due to an incident involving DEForce Racing’s Jeshua Alianell and VRD’s Christian Cameron on lap two. Alianell ran into the back of Cameron approaching turn one, significantly damaging both cars. The incident was cleared by the start of lap four but green flags did not waved until a lap later.

DEForce’s Sebastian Garzon was in third and came under pressure from Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros on the restart, allowing the top two to break away.

Jeffers did not put a wheel wrong to break his victory duck and close the gap to absent points leader Liam McNeilly. After going unbeaten in the first two rounds, McNeilly travelled back home to England last month then faced visa problems when he tried to get back into the USA.

In the race, Argyros found a way through to third and led a train of cars most of the time. The train eventually broke into separate fights, with the recovering Musella moving through the pack. That left Argyros with a comfortable gap to fourth by the chequered flag.

After dropping all the way down the field, Musella had a productive race. He was running fifth by the start of the penultimate lap, putting the pressure on Pabst’s Caleb Gafrarar who had only just come up to fourth. Musella found a way through and set the race’s fastest lap.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development driver Simon Sikes, the 2023 USF2000 champion, finished sixth on his series return ahead of Garzon and Benchmark Autosport’s Ayrton Houk, who had a tough battle with DEForce’s debutant Rodrigo Gonzalez and Exclusive’s Evan Cooley at the tail end of the top 10.

Synergy Motorsport’s Eddie Beswick managed to break up the group, finishing ninth ahead of Gonzalez and Cooley.

Race results (15 laps)