Dominant Wheldon sweeps USF2000 at Portland

Oliver Wheldon couldn’t seem to buy any good fortune once he joined the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire series for the third and fourth races of the season at Indianapolis. Now he has developed into a dominant force. Too young to contest the opening rounds on the streets of his hometown, St. Petersburg, Fla., the 15-year-old son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon followed up his maiden victory Friday by leading from flag to flag in today’s second leg of the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Portland for VRD Racing.

Sebastian Garzon padded his championship lead by finishing second for DEForce Racing, while Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley placed third following a penalty for title contender Brad Majman (Pabst Racing), from Melbourne, Australia.

Wheldon earned his series-leading fifth Continental Tire Pole Award of the year by virtue of having posted the best of each drivers’ second-fastest laps during the lone qualifying session on Friday. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Majman with Pabst Racing teammate and fellow Aussie Eddie Beswick and Garzon on row two.

Wheldon withstood intense pressure during the opening stages of the 25-lap race. Beswick and Garzon both jumped Majman at the start, then exchanged positions a couple of times while remaining hot on Wheldon’s heels.

Beswick seemed to have settled into second place after the initial skirmishes, only to lose control at the exit of the Turn 10/11 chicane on lap seven, sending his car into a lurid slide. He joined a distant 18th.

Wheldon then managed to eke out a slight but appreciable advantage over Garzon, in second, until the caution flags waved following an incident farther down the field.

Another late caution left enough time for only a one-lap dash to the checkered flag, and once again Wheldon was up to the challenge. The teenager displayed enough confidence to not even adopt a defensive line under braking for the tight Turn 1/2 chicane on the final lap, and was rewarded with another fine win.

“It was a pretty difficult race – super long compared to the others in my opinion," said Wheldon. "Obviously, it was super hot as well which played a big role in the race. I was able to have a pretty good gap in the beginning and then that first yellow came out, so I started to just focus on my restarts. I got a good restart and then managed to pull a little bit of a gap and then on the last lap another restart came out, which I was pretty annoyed at but it went well.

" I was able to have a gap on the restart as well. Going to Turn 1, I didn't have to defend and in the end all the hard work paid off. The wins definitely boosted my confidence a lot after my crash in Mid-Ohio, so I'm really looking forward to Markham next week.”

Garzon also comfortably retained second following the restart. The Colombian also earned the first-ever GhostLap Fastest Race Lap of the Weekend Award.

Behind, though, there was mayhem as Majman dived to the inside under braking for Turn 1 and came into contact with VRD Racing’s Ryan Giannetta, who had slipped past Majman shortly before the final caution period after Majman had lost a little momentum while attempting to pass Garzon in Turn 7. But the Californian was the unfortunate loser from the last-lap contact, which sent his car high into the air and cost him the opportunity for a third consecutive podium finish. The incident earned Majman a 30-second post-race penalty for avoidable contact.

Cooley therefore inherited the final podium position ahead of Joao Vergara, who recorded his fourth consecutive top-five finish for VRD Racing.

Wian Boshoff finished fifth on the road for PFH Racing only to fall well down the order after being assessed a post-race penalty for avoidable contact earlier in the race.

Beswick recovered strongly after his earlier incident to claim fifth ahead of USF Juniors championship leader Karol Pasiewicz, who capped an impressive first-ever USF2000 weekend for himself and Olivia Racing.

Kaylee Countryman earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award for JHDD powered by ECR after moving up from 19th on the grid to 10th at the finish.

VRD Racing team principal Dan Mitchell took home another PFC Award as the winning car owner.

The USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire teams and drivers now head east for another pair of races next weekend, once more in support of the NTT IndyCar Series, on the streets of Markham, Ontario, Canada.

Provisional championship points after 13 of 18 races:

1. Sebastian Garzon, 299

2. Brad Majman, 269

3. Eddie Beswick, 230

4. Joao Vergara, 207

5. Evan Cooley, 203

6. Oliver Wheldon, 197

7. Anthony Martella, 183

8. Ryan Giannetta, 173

9. Ayrton Cahan, 151

10. Gabriel Cahan, 150