Vergara makes perfect start to USF Juniors’ first Mid-Ohio round

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Velocity Racing Develpment’s Joao Vergara completed a perfect start to USF Juniors’ first trip to Mid Ohio.

The Brazilian was fastest in pre-event testing, second in practice, claimed pole position then converted it into victory in race one.

Drivers had two pre-event test sessions and a practice session on Friday. Vergara set a 1m25.5957s to lead Jay Howard Driver Development’s JT Hoskins by 0.285 seconds in testing. Oliver Wheldon (VRD) and Patricio Gonzalez (DEForce Racing) were also within half a second of the pace, and a second covered the top 13.

Vergara looked to have remained on top in practice thanks to a 1m25.0699s on his final lap before the chequered flag waved. He was 0.011s up on JHDD’s Liam Loiacono, who was following him as they then did one more lap before ending their day. While Vergara did not improve, Loiacono did and went fastest by 0.0189s.

There was a 0.2949s gap to Wheldon, and Zanella Racing’s Leonardo Escorpioni was 0.4625s behind in fourth.

On Saturday, Vergara returned to first place in qualifying. He topped the order early on and gradually lowered his fastest time.

DEForce’s Viho Aatola briefly held provisional pole in the closing minutes, but further improvements from Vergara put him back ahead. A 1m24.8641s earned him pole by 0.3158s, with Zanella’s Ty Fisher jumping up to second late on ahead of Aatola, Wheldon and Escorpioni.

A relatively simple race followed in the afternoon for Vergara, as he led from lights to flag.

In the first part the top four managed to stick together, with Fisher and Wheldon battling for position. After running side-by-side for several corners, Wheldon managed to get his car firmly ahead of Fisher, who fell back into a battle with Escorpioni.

As the race progressed, the top four began to spread out. Vergara finished 1.412s ahead of Wheldon, who in turn was 1.416s ahead of Escorpioni. By finishing one place ahead of title rival Fisher, Escorpioni took the points lead from him.

For much of the 20-lap encounter, the closest battles were those further down the order. Hoskins managed to climb up from 13th to seventh and then came up against Loiacono. His team-mate fended off his attacks then managed to shake him off. After that, Loiacono went on to fight DEForce’s Rodrigo Gonzalez, and passed him late in the race to snatch fifth.

Hoskins came under attack from Aatola in the final laps but managed to hold on. Patricio Gonzalez took ninth ahead of JHDD’s Harley Keeble, who recovered from a wide moment into the grass at turn one early on the first single-seater race of his career.

The USF Juniors field has a second race at Mid-Ohio on Sunday, then another double-header round at the track in a month’s time.

Reporting by Bethonie Waring & Ida Wood

Race results (20 laps)