Liam McNeilly and Sebastian Wheldon once again emerged as the top USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire protagonists as the opening tripleheader round of the season was concluded Sunday at NOLA Motorsports Park. McNeilly, from Brentwood, England, turned the tables on yesterday’s winner Wheldon, from Coral Gables, Fla. after a thrilling contest, while the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Louisiana wrapped up several hours later with Wheldon securing a second victory and the championship lead.
Israeli Ariel Elkin finished a strong third Sunday morning for the InterMS team, while VRD Racing’s Max Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., edged McNeilly for second in the final 12-lap encounter which once again was run under entirely green-flag conditions.
A separate qualifying session, with the 26-car field split into two groups, was held in the morning to establish the grid for the day’s pair of races. Honors were split, with Saturday’s runaway winner Wheldon claiming his first Continental Tire Pole Award for the first of the day’s two races, with Saturday polesitter McNeilly posting the best of every driver’s second-fastest lap to claim what could prove to be a vital championship bonus point for the third and final race of the weekend.
Wheldon swept into an immediate lead this morning, assisted further when third-fastest qualifier Vinicius Tessaro’s DEForce car abruptly cut out exiting Turn 4. Miraculously, the Brazilian was not collected by anyone among the huge pack of cars in his wake, and he was able to rejoin at the back of the field. Tessaro then posted an impressive fightback by climbing from 25th to 11th at the checkered flag.
Consequently, Wheldon completed the first lap with a massive advantage of over 3s, although to his chagrin, that was whittled to nothing when the caution flags waved briefly due to some debris on the race track from an incident farther down the field.
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The restart was a different story altogether. Wheldon immediately came under pressure from McNeilly, who went side-by-side with Wheldon through the first couple of corners and then moved into the lead by virtue of having the inside line for Turn 3.
McNeilly thereafter controlled the race from the front, and even though Wheldon mounted a stern challenge, there was no way through as the Englishman claimed the victory.
Taylor finished third on the road for VRD Racing, but the addition of a 5s penalty for jumping the start relegated him to sixth behind first-time podium finisher Elkin, InterMS teammate Augusto Soto-Schirripa, from Miami, Fla., who bounced back well after having been unable to start Saturday’s race due to an electrical gremlin and Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas.
“I had a good day here at Nola,” McNeilly said. “I qualified second overall and managed to convert that to a win in race two. I was on pole for race three. I had a good start and then dropped back a few places. I managed to get my way back up into third which I managed through the rest of the race. A good start to the season and hopefully we will build on that for Barber.”
Mexican Rodrigo Gonzalez (DEForce Driver Development) took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after working his way from 25th on the grid to 17th at the checkered flag.
The PFC Award to the winning car owner went to Jay Howard.
Race three Sunday afternoon began once again with McNeilly leading the way from Taylor and Wheldon, although Elkin was the man to watch at the start as he charged from fifth on the grid to challenge McNeilly for the lead as they raced into Turn Four for the first time.
McNeilly pushed a little too hard under braking for Turn 10 on the opening lap and briefly ran into the escape road. He emerged still with the lead but quickly ceded the position after recognizing he had gained an illegal advantage. Elkin was the initial beneficiary, although Wheldon immediately began to apply pressure and it was only a matter of time before the Israeli was forced to capitulate.
Once into the lead on lap four, Wheldon put his head down and soon stretched out a comfortable lead.
Taylor also found a way past Elkin and chased the leader as hard as he could. The pair ran an almost identical pace but the advantage never looked likely to shift away from Wheldon.
McNeilly fought back from his early miscue to claim third ahead of Elkin, who finished with a slender edge over Tessaro and Soto-Schirripa.
“The day went really well,” Wheldon said. “In the first race I was able to finish second, which is really good for the points. Heading into the last race, I just wanted to stay on track and keep it clean and was able to take the win. The car was phenomenal all day and I can’t thank VRD enough.”
Brazilian Joao Vergara earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award for Exclusive Autosport by virtue of making up six positions from 19th on the grid, while VRD Racing’s Dan Mitchell claimed his second PFC Award of the weekend as the winning car owner.
The next event for USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire will be held in conjunction with the NTT IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala. Practice and qualifying will take place on Thursday, April 25, with a warmup and two 20-lap races slated for Friday, April 26.