Photo: YACademy Winter Series
Zanella Racing’s Leonardo Escorpioni won the YACademy Winter Series in round two at NOLA Motorsports Park.
Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley set a 1m39.850s to top practice, going 0.3 seconds faster than International Motorsport’s Michael Suco. Velocity Racing Development’s Joao Vergara was 0.565s off the pace in third, and team-mate Oliver Wheldon was 0.74s slower than Cooley in fourth. Zanella’s Ty Fisher, Escorpioni and DEForce Racing’s Rodrigo Gonzalez completed the top seven.
Qualifying was split into two, with the eight fastest drivers in Q1 progressing to Q2. Cooley pipped Vergara by 0.052s in Q1 with a 1m39.911s. Escorpioni was third, Wheldon trailed by 0.565s in fourth and there was little to split Gonzalez and Fisher. The final two Q2 spots went to Suco and DEForce’s Patricio Gonzalez.
The top three were the same in Q2. Cooley set a 1m39.402s to take pole (and the points lead from Vergara) by 0.199s, and Escorpioni was 0.408s slower than him. Suco was slightly slower than him in fourth, ahead of Wheldon, Fisher and the two Gonzalezes.
Race one followed, and was scheduled for 20 laps. Rodrigo Gonzalez leapt up to second on lap one, and the top two gapped the opposition. By the end of lap two, Gonzalez was back in sixth and Fisher near the back of the pack as a caution period began.
Racing resumed on lap four, and Vergara kept with Cooley. They escaped Suco and Wheldon, who then got into trouble, promoting Rodrigo Gonzalez to third before another caution period on lap six.
Red flags waved on lap nine as a storm hit, and everybody changed tyres. The race restarted behind the pace car on lap 10 of what was now a 14-lapper.
Escorpioni had got ahead of Gonzalez prior to the stoppage, and held the position as green flags waved on lap 11. Zanella’s Diego Guiot made a diving move on Exclusive’s Lucas Fecury for fifth.
Vergara overtook Cooley as they began lap 13, but he quickly got back ahead and won by 1.057s. VRD’s Matan Achituv jumped Guiot and Fecury, and down the back straight he overtook Gonzalez while Vergara and Escorpioni swapped places.
Achituv came 0.08s short of taking third from Escorpioni, and Jay Howard Driver Development’s Liam Loiacono was seventh as Fecury dropped to 12th on a wet final lap.
The top eight were reversed to form the front of race’s two grid. Patricio Gonzalez messed up the rolling start from pole, and Loiacono escaped up front before the pace car was summoned then red flags waved due to a five-car crash between the first two corners. Gonzalez and Wheldon were among those eliminated.
The race restarted behind with a lap behind the pace car on lap three. Loiacono got jumped on the rolling start by Vergara, and Escorpioni passed him a lap later. Another caution period interrupted the top two’s battle on lap seven, and action resumed on lap 10.
Cooley made it three-wide into the last braking zone on lap 11 and Escorpioni spun, with Vergara staying ahead. However he and Cooley then struck trouble, so there was a new top three and they were three-wide when racing was neutralised once more. Fisher was victorious, beating Rodrigo Gonzalez and Suco.
Rodrigo Gonzalez started on pole for race three, and was chased by Cooley and Escorpioni until clashes on lap two put Cooley and Suco out. The pace car appeared on lap three, red flags waved on lap four, then later there was a lap five restart.
Escorpioni passed Gonzalez after several corners side-by-side with him on lap six, and immediately pulled away. Gonzalez dropped down the order on the next lap, leaving Fisher and Loiacono in second and third.
Wheldon started from the back and charged up to fourth ahead of Achituv, who also made impressive passes on his way up the order.
Results round-up
Race 1 (14 laps)
1 Evan Cooley Exclusive Autosport 35m17.494s
2 Joao Vergara VRD +1.057s
3 Leonardo Escorpioni Zanella Racing +1.627s
4 Matan Achituv VRD +1.706s
5 Rodrigo Gonzalez DEForce Racing +2.815s
6 Diego Guiot Zanella Racing +4.006s
7 Liam Loiacono JHDD +4.872s
8 Patricio Gonzalez DEForce Racing +5.375s
9 Brenden Cooley Exclusive Autosport +6.267s
10 Ryan Giannetta VRD +6.449s
Pole: E Cooley, 1m39.402s
Fastest lap: E Cooley, 1m39.877s
Race 2 (13 laps)
1 Ty Fisher 29m33.945s
2 R Gonzalez +0.983s
3 Michael Suco International Motorsport +1.867s
4 JT Hoskins JHDD +2.842s
5 Vilho Aatola JHDD +4.021s
6 Diego Ardiles Zanella Racing +5.367s
7 Connor Aspley Pole Position Motorsports +5.788s
8 Lucas Fecury Exclusive Autosport +6.099s
9 Giannetta +6.959s
10 Justin Di Lucia JHDD +8.060s
FL: Suco, 1m40.792s
Race 3 (14 laps)
1 Escorpioni 26m09.431s
2 Fisher +3.529s
3 Loiacono +9.089s
4 Oliver Wheldon VRD +12.722s
5 Achituv +13.424s
6 Fecury +14.316s
7 B Cooley +27.751s
8 Ardiles +29.435s
9 Giannetta +29.600s
10 Thomas Nordquist DEForce Racing +29.902s
FL: Escorpioni, 1m38.940s
Championship standings
1 Escorpioni 34 2 E Cooley 33 3 Fisher 31 4 Vergara 30 5 Wheldon 18 6 Achituv 13 7 P Gonzalez 10 8 R Gonzalez 10 9 Loiacono 9 10 B Cooley 8