Majman leads a Pabst Racing USF2000 sweep at Road America

A banner day for Pabst Racing began with a perfect one-two result in the third race of The Andersen Companies Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Elite Engines. Brad Majman, from Melbourne, Australia, claimed his second USF2000 Presented by Continental Tires race win after a 12-lap contest that was interrupted by a series of incidents despite near perfect weather conditions.

Fellow countryman Eddie Beswick, who secured his first win yesterday, finished second with the fastest race lap ahead of polesitter Sebastian Garzon (DEForce Racing), who now holds a 30-point lead in the championship over Majman following his seventh podium finish of the season.

The starting positions for today’s race were determined either by each driver’s second-fastest lap during the second qualifying session on Friday or their best laps from the second race on Saturday. All bar six drivers took advantage of yesterday’s perfect weather conditions to improve upon their times, with points leader Garzon fastest of all to snag his second Continental Tire Pole Award of the season. VRD Racing’s Oliver Wheldon had continued his impressive form to ensure a position on the outside of the front row ahead of Majman and also from VRD Racing.

The start of the race was clean as Garzon maintained his advantage through the first corner, only for Majman to make an opportunistic pass for the lead under braking for Turn 2. Wheldon slipped back to fifth in the early skirmishes, behind Vergara and Beswick, but a little farther down the field there was contact between Evan Cooley and Ryan Giannetta (VRD Racing) as they headed slightly downhill on the long not-quite-straightaway that leads toward Turn 5.

Cooley was fortunate to emerge unscathed after his Exclusive Autosport Tatuus went tumbling through the air having clipped Giannetta’s left-front wheel. Callahan Peter (JHDD powered by ECR) also was involved.

A lengthy cleanup was followed by another couple of incidents which left enough time for a four-lap dash to the checkered flag, although, unfortunately, the race also finished under yellow after Liam Loiacono (JHDD powered by ECR) was collected by the Exclusive Autosport car of Connor Aspley, who had made a mistake in Turn 12.

Beswick had to settle for second, despite closing on his teammate, Majman, before the yellow flags flew for the final time. Garzon finished third ahead of Wheldon and Anthony Martella (Exclusive Autosport), who had started 10th after winning yesterday afternoon’s race. Vergara took sixth ahead of Ayrton Cahan (Exclusive Autosport)and Wesley Gundler, who ended a challenging weekend for ENVE Motorsports on an upswing.

Grant Mitchell capped a solid debut weekend in USF2000 by picking up the Tilton Hard Charger Award after moving up from 21st on the grid to ninth at the finish.

Team owner Augie Pabst claimed another PFC Award as the winning car owner, while his locally based Pabst Racing team took a significant lead in the teams' championship. Pabst Racing has earned 235 points to the 210 of Exclusive Autosport with half of the 18-race season completed.

Today’s results will remain provisional until VP completes and verifies post-race laboratory fuel analysis of the teams’ samples.

Provisional championship points after nine of 18 races:
1. Sebastian Garzon, 234
2. Brad Majman, 204
3. Eddie Beswick, 170
4. Evan Cooley, 156
5. Joao Vergara, 127
6. Anthony Martella, 121
7. Oliver Wheldon, 119
8. Ayrton Cahan, 115
9. Gabriel Cahan, 101
10. Liam Loiacono, 98.