Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Zanella Racing’s Max Mokarem emerged on top in USF Juniors season-opening Grand Prix of Homestead on the Homestead-Miami Speedway roval.
The season got underway on Tuesday, with Ivan Machado Perez setting a 1m23.1037s in practice to pip Victor Couto to top spot by 0.0426 seconds. Mokarem was third, and 0.0222s split the next three drivers.
In qualifying, Mokarem posted a 1m23.3084s to claim race one pole by just 0.0637s over Bex Cranston. Karol Pasiewicz, Couto, Max Cuthbert and Machado Perez were all within 0.181s of pole, and 1.2721s separated first from 21st and last place. Alex Berg was 20th, his team rebuilding his car after a big crash in pre-event testing.
Pasiewicz took second on race one’s opening lap, and fought with Mokarem before a caution period was called as Berg and Pipe Chaparro had gone off. Olivier Mrak went off but rejoined at the rear of the field.
Racing resumed on lap five, and Mokarem held onto the lead. Cranston lost third to a rear-left puncture on lap six, and after fighting Couto there was a big off and then damage for Machado Perez that required him to pit.
Casper Nissen inherited third and went four-wide with his rivals as lap eight began. Brenden Cooley exited the fight by going off af turn two, and Couto took third place. Nissen got back past then Couto returned the favour mid-race before another caution period on lap 13 caused by Couto briefly stopping at turn four. Mrak spun at turn one, leaving Cooley as Nissen’s rival for third again on the lap 16 restart.
Nissen immediately jumped Pasiewicz as racing restarted, but copped a five-second penalty for blocking as the lapped Machado Perez got involved in their battles. Mokarem pulled away, and had a 1.9s gap at the finish on lap 20.
Pasiewicz got back past Nissen under braking on lap 17, and Vilho Aatola completed the podium after Nissen’s penalty. He had spent many laps fighting Cooley.
The second qualifying session was on Wednesday morning, and Machado Perez beat Aatola to race two pole by 0.2543s. Mokarem was 0.3754s behind in third, and failing to improve late on so filling the next spots were Nissen, Couto and Pasiewicz.
Machado Perez was mostly unchallenged early in race two, then Mokarem latched onto his rear on lap four. He got ahead a lap later, and the lapped car of Cooley got in the way of Machado Perez’s efforts to reclaim the lead. On lap seven he put a wheel off in defence against Pasiewicz, and then a three-wide moment allowed Nissen past both.
Machado Perez got back past on lap eight, and was soon looking at Mokarem’s gearbox again. He used the oval banking to get alongside twice, but Mokarem had the inside line for turn two so stayed ahead.
It was four-wide into turn one on lap 13, and Machado Perez lost two spots once more as Aatola now got involved. There was side-by-side action again on lap 15 and Mokarem forced Nissen. Machado Perez overtook Nissen a few corners later, and Pasiewicz spent a few laps pressuring before pulling off his move for second.
As Machado Perez pulled away, a four-car fight for second formed. Pasiewicz held on, 0.0856 ahead of Nissen who finished side-by-side with Aatola and Couto. Nissen and Couto then got 10s penalties for avoidable contact, promoting Aatola and Mokarem to third and fourth.
The second-best laps from qualifying two and race two’s fastest laps were used to set race three’s grid, putting Machado Perez on pole again by 0.2224s over Nissen. Pasiewicz missed out on the front row by 0.0255s, and Mokarem lined up fourth.
Mokarem went off on lap one, and took third into the first braking zone of lap two as he and Couto passed Nissen. A turn three off on lap three cast Nissen to 11th, but a caution period running from lap seven to 11 brought him back into play.
Machado Perez fumbled the restart, and had Pasiewicz and Couto stuck on his gearbox as Mokarem flew past on the outside to lead before lap 12 even began. Leonardo Serravalle and Cole Medeiros also flew by, with Machado Perez now fourth ahead of Couto, Mrak, Pasiewicz and Nissen.
Mokarem held off Serravalle until the latter was spun by Machado Perez at turn three on lap 14, then he had a gap to the group disputing second. They were almost four-wide starting lap 15, with Mrak and Nissen ahead of the damaged Machado Perez. Pasicewicz and Couto cleared him across the next two laps, then he flew off track.
Nissen overtook Mrak at turn two on lap 18 of 20, despite going off which let Pasiewicz past both. Next time by there was a similar fight, and later in the lap Cranston went around both for third. By trying to stay alongside, Nissen turned it into a six-car fight he ended up at the tail of as Cranston and Medeiros got into third and fourth.
Up front, Pasiewicz reduced Mokarem’s lead from 1.34s to nothing in the last two laps. He took the lead on the inside through the banking on the final four, but then left just enough room for Mokarem to get past on the inside of him later in the long bend. They were side-by-side at the finish, and Mokarem won by 0.0094s.
Cranston won the fight for third, but a 10s penalty for avoidable contact applied post-race lifted Mrak onto the podium.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Max Mokarem Zanella Racing 33m21.6795s
2 Karol Pasiewicz Olivia Racing +1.9022s
3 Vilho Aatola DEForce Racing +3.9331s
4 Olivier Mrak Zanella Racing +5.4317s
5 Bex Cranston Exclusive Autosport +6.3782s
6 Brenden Cooley Exclusive Autosport +7.2004s
7 Casper Nissen JHDD by ECR +7.6031s
8 Leonardo Serravalle Zanella Racing +7.6748s
9 Victor Couto Zanella Racing +8.0436s
10 Max Cuthbert JHDD by ECR +8.7949s
Pole: Mokarem, 1m23.3084s
Fastest lap: Cranston, 1m23.6649s
Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Ivan Machado Perez VRD x PPM 28m06.7039s
2 Pasiewicz +3.5372s
3 Vilho Aatola DEForce Racing +3.6603s
4 Mokarem +5.0385s
5 Cole Medeiros Exclusive Autosport +7.5194s
6 Cranston +7.6459s
7 Elias Vignola DEForce Racing +8.4811s
8 Serravalle +9.2143s
9 Mrak +10.9528s
10 Nissen +13.6228s
P: Ivan Machado Perez, 1m22.9097s
FL: Nissen, 1m23.3548s
Race 3 (20 laps)
1 Mokarem 32m29.3361s
2 Pasiewicz +0.0094s
3 Mrak +4.1927s
4 Cuthbert +4.4031s
5 Medeiros +4.4747s
6 Nissen +4.9982s
7 Couto +6.2224s
8 Cooley +6.2437s
9 Alex Berg Berg Racing +7.3994s
10 Pipo Chaparro DEForce Racing +7.4070s
P: Machado Perez, 1m23.1324s
FL: Cuthbert, 1m23.4043s
Championship standings
1 Mokarem 82 2 Pasiewicz 75 3 Aatola 53 4 Mrak 53 5 Machado Perez 43 6 Nissen 41 7 Cranston 38 8 Medeiros 37 9 Couto 36 10 Cuthbert 33