Birmingham, Ala. – Rising Star Racing’s Spencer Pigot returned to the top step of the Barber Motorsports Park podium on Sunday to open the 2014 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season with a four-peat. Rising Star Racing teammate Neil Alberico placed sixth in the Race 2 event as his rookie progression continued for the young Californian talent.
It was nearly a carbon-copy performance to Saturday’s Race 1 event for Pigot, in which he led every lap with a healthy lead to take the race win in his No. 7 Doug Mockett & Company/Rising Star Racing/Vitamin-DPro App/California Scents/Juncos Racing entry. But Pigot had to work just a bit harder in Sunday’s race as fellow Pro Mazda competitor Scott Hargrove put the pressure on in the early laps.
Pigot started from second on the grid and made his move early – showing his talent and experience when he went around the pole sitting car of Hargrove on the outside into Turn One and took the race lead. An early full course caution saw Pigot lead the field to the green on the restart. A fraught battle for the point saw Pigot once again emerge with the lead as he steadily grew his gap to the field all the way to the checkered flag.
“Before the race, I knew that as long as I had at least one wheel alongside (pole sitter, Hargrove’s) car, I was going to go for it on the outside and luckily I had a bit more than that,” said Pigot who has won all four Pro Mazda races this year. “We were exactly side-by-side and by the time we got to Turn One, I was about a foot or so ahead. It was super close through Turns One and Two. I’m surprised we didn’t touch each other, but it was really good, hard, aggressive racing. I was really happy to come out with the lead on that first lap.”
When the field headed into Turn Five, Hargrove got alongside the No. 7 machine but Pigot once again defended masterfully to hold the position. In what has become a familiar sight for Pigot and his Juncos Racing entry, he began to click off quick and consistent laps – extending his gap with each lap and taking the checkered flag first with a four-second advantage.
Race 2 was run Sunday morning under overcast and cool conditions and Alberico drove his No. 2 Rising Star Racing/Bondurant School /eFormulaCarNews.com/J&M Trophy Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing to a sixth place finish and picked up a healthy haul of championship points in the 40-minute race around the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park road course.
“It wasn’t the result that we wanted today, but we finished both races and we scored good points,” said Alberico. “We did the best we could. I made some mistakes on my part but good job to the team on making the car fast. Conditions were a little bit different than yesterday. Obviously we raced a little later in the day yesterday and it was hotter. It was a tough race, but we scored points and we’ll move on to the next one in Indianapolis.”
Rising Star Racing will be back in race action on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as part of the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 9 & 10.