PORTLAND, Ore. – An intense climax to the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire season began this morning at Portland International Raceway with Pabst Racing’s Max Garcia taking a hard-fought victory. It was enough to wrap up the championship in style. Later in the day, a thrilling first half of the final race witnessed USF2000 competition at its finest with a sensational six-car scrap for the lead. Sadly, a chaotic series of incidents blighted the second half of the race and concluded with rookie G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., surviving to claim an unlikely maiden victory after having lined up 14th on the starting grid.
Elliott Cox (Sarah Fisher Hartman Driver Development), from Indianapolis, Ind., led both of today’s races, although both he and two-time polesitter Thomas Schrage (VRD Racing), from Bethel, Ohio, had to be content with one visit to the podium.
Schrage earned his first Continental Tire Pole Award of the day by virtue of posting the fastest of every driver’s second-fastest laps during the lone qualifying session on Friday. It was Schrage’s second pole of the season after also starting up front for one of his home-track races at Mid-Ohio last month.
Cox started alongside, but immediately took over the lead and continued to hold the advantage for the majority of the 25-lap race.
Garcia, who started fourth, also worked his way past Schrage in the early stages as the top three edged clear of Sam Corry, from Cornelius, N.C., in a second Pabst Racing Tatuus.
Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., was virtually assured of the championship crown, but he was intent upon finishing his impressive campaign with a flourish. He achieved exactly that by finding a way past Cox at the Turn One/Two chicane with just three laps remaining to claim his fifth win of the season and secure the championship crown in the best possible manner.
The unfortunate Cox, who had hoped to celebrate his 17th birthday yesterday with an overdue maiden victory, had to settle for a nonetheless impressive second ahead of Schrage and VRD teammate Max Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., who had risen from eighth on the grid.
Even so, the Tilton Hard Charger Award was claimed by Evagoras Papasavvas (Jay Howard Driver Development), from Loveland, Ohio, who finished strongly in fifth after lining up only 12th on the grid.
Schrage, who has contested only a partial campaign, once again underlined his promise by setting the fastest lap of the race which was enough to secure another pole position for the season finale this afternoon.
Another fine start by Cox saw him vault from fifth on the grid to second on the opening lap, and two laps later he also overtook Schrage on the back straightaway to lead for the second successive race.
Cox held onto a slender advantage with a snarling pack of cars behind him until Lap 12, when a lunge around the outside of the first corner by Garcia ended with both cars off the track and a full-course caution.
Taylor assumed the lead for the restart, but that lasted only a few hundred yards until he overshot his braking point at Turn One and made heavy contact with Papasavvas, who had taken a wide entry to the corner and was trying to make a move around the outside. Chaos ensued as the majority of the field was involved and several drivers were forced to take to the escape road, earning themselves drive-through penalties.
When the dust had settled, Argyros, who had been running ninth before the incident, suddenly found himself in the lead. Garcia, meanwhile, having been sent to the back of the field after being assessed responsibility for the earlier incident with Cox, took advantage of the melee and then made a series of incisive passes to work his way back into the fight for the win.
Argyros firmly rebuffed Garcia’s attempt to wrest back the lead at the chicane as they entered the final lap, then gained a reprieve when the caution flags waved again following another incident further back in the pack.
So Argyros’ maiden victory was assured and Garcia had to settle for second ahead of last year’s USF Juniors champion Nicolas Giaffone (DEForce Racing), from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Schrage.
Argyros also earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award, while his team owner, Jay Howard, and Augie Pabst of Pabst Racing shared the day’s two PFC Awards.
An exciting season will be celebrated at tomorrow night’s Championship Celebration, where Pabst will accept his sixth Team Championship and Garcia will be presented with a scholarship valued at $458,400 to ensure graduation onto the next step of the USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire ladder in 2025.
Provisional championship points after 18 of 18 races:
1. Max Garcia, 428
2. Sam Corry, 355
3. Max Taylor, 343
4. Evagoras Papasavvas, 326
5. Joey Brienza, 265
6. Elliot Cox, 264
7. Nicolas Giaffone, 245
8. Hudson Schwartz, 226
9. Michael Costello, 218
10. Quinn Armstrong, 184
Race 1 Quotes:
Max Garcia (#24 Advance Auto Parts-Pabst Racing Tatuus USF-22): “Awesome, it's amazing to start the year with a win and to end the year with a win. Obviously, I could have just ran second, but I wasn't going to do that. I saw the opportunity and I took it. Now we're champions, and it just feels great to have it with a race to go.”
Elliot Cox (#67 Drive Planning/Hartman Oil-Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development Tatuus USF-22): “I got the lead from the start and drove a pretty good race until the last five laps. Then I made a mistake and just kind of lost it from there. Everything was good, but ultimately I just didn't drive good enough.”
Thomas Schrage (#2 Team USA Scholarship/Airport Electric Service/Boys & Girls Clubs-VRD Racing Tatuus USF-22): “It was a good race. I fell back to second on the start. I think I gave a little too much room to Elliot on the back straight, but I knew my car would come in towards the end. I had fast lap of the race and we start on pole for race three, so really just focusing on the future. With the amount of track time we've had this weekend, I've kind of been back and forth with driving styles. I feel like I improved this race and that was what I was looking for, a solid finish and improvement and then go for race three.”
Race 2 Quotes:
G3 Argyros (#63 Positive Energy-Jay Howard Driver Development Tatuus USF-22): “The race was just hectic from all angles. Starting 14th, I never thought I'd be able to get it up to the top step, but there was always that hope I just kept my head down. When I saw people crash, I got out of the way and just had a very cautious drive. When we got ourselves up into the top three, it was like, all right, it's time, let's go, let's go get this win. That last restart, I think my heart was about to pop out of my chest. I'm happy for Jay, I'm happy for me. I'm happy for everyone that we can see our first win. Only being 14, it's incredible to get a win in USF2000.”
Max Garcia (#24 Advance Auto Parts-Pabst Racing Tatuus USF-22): “That was definitely a fun one to end it off. I’m just happy that we finished the championship in the race before so we didn’t have to worry about all that chaos. Either way, it was a fun race. I enjoyed it and now just looking forward to next year.”
Nicolas Giaffone (#1 USF Pro Championships/OMNI-DEForce Racing Tatuus USF-22): “It was survival mode on for 25 laps. I think people knew it was the last race of the year, so everybody was trying to get something special in. I just tried to survive the most that I could because I knew it was going to be hectic down in Turn One. Once you get a yellow, yellow brings yellow. It was just about surviving the restarts. I'm happy to finish on the podium Not really the season I wanted, but I'm happy to finish it on a high note”