Max Garcia grows USF2000 lead with third win in a row

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Pabst Racing’s Max Garcia continued his great start to the USF2000 season at NOLA Motorsports Park with his third win from three races.

Garcia qualified fifth for the opening race of the weekend, with Joey Brienza on pole and leading into turn one. Sam Corry pressured him later in the opening lap, and an attempt to get past at turn 10 instead compromised both and led to Garcia getting ahead by turn 12.

Evagoras Papasavvas also made a move to end the lap third, and he then got past Brienza for second at turn 10 on lap two.

Over the next eight laps, Garcia built a lead of 3.35 seconds. Papasavvas then began to close in, but only brought the gap down to 2.89s before Garcia grew it again in the final three laps to finish 3.3627s clear.

Brienza never let Papasavvas out of his sights but also never challenged him for position after lap two, and that’s because on lap three he briefly lost third place to Sam Corry but reclaimed it at turn 10. Corry dropped to sixth after that, and had to pass Max Taylor to return to the top four.

Hudson Schwartz inherited sixth place after the two drivers just ahead of him – Elliot Cox and Nicolas Giaffone – collided at turn three on the last lap while fighting, and that also lifted Ayrton Houk to a very distant seventh. Quinn Armstrong won his battle with Carson Etter over what would become eighth place.

Nico Christodoulou lost a whole lap in the pits early on, Thomas Schrage ended his race with a trip through the gravel, and Michael Costello had contact on lap six and finished the race two laps down in 17th.

Race result (15 laps)