De Tullio, McNeilly, Vergara Are the Pacesetters at NOLA Motorsports Park
AVONDALE, La. – Persistent rain today ensured an unfortunate early conclusion to the two-day USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire Spring Training test session at NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, La. Thankfully, the weather yesterday proved more hospitable, allowing 66 young drivers an opportunity to gain some bragging rights prior to two of the three series which comprise the acclaimed open-wheel driver development ladder kicking off their race seasons next weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
In USF Pro 2000, the most senior rung on the ladder, Alessandro De Tullio, from Miami, Fla., emerged at the top of the timing charts for the defending champion team, Turn 3 Motorsport. All bar two of the 24 drivers took advantage of a little more power for this season to circulate significantly faster than the existing lap record, with De Tullio leading the way at 1:28.0391, an average speed of 112.041 mph.
“To sum it up, great,” said De Tullio, who was fastest in both 45-minute sessions on Saturday. “The pace has been really good. We've been testing stuff on the car, just mainly getting ready for the season. And, yeah, we were strong and just hoping to be this strong when we come back for the race. It is disappointing not to be able to get to run today given the weather.
“I have never been to St. Petersburg. Last year, I did the last three races so I did Toronto. I have a little bit of a feel of what it is like to drive a street circuit, but I’m sure it’s different. I have watched onboards and it looks way different. It is going to be something new and a little bit challenging, but we are ready for it.”
Last year’s USF 2000 champion, Max Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., was second fastest, albeit some six-tenths of a second behind, for Pabst Racing. Teammate Michael Costello, from Naples, Fla., who is also making the step up from USF2000, was the only other driver to circulate within a second of De Tullio.
Canadian Mac Clark (Exclusive Autosport) and Israeli Ariel Elkin, who is stepping up directly from USF Juniors, rounded out the top five.
British driver Liam McNeilly (Jay Howard Driver Development), who finished a close second in last year’s USF Juniors championship and made an impressive USF2000 debut on the streets of Toronto, continued his impressive form by emerging fastest of the 18 USF2000 drivers on the 2.74-mile, 13-turn road course.
McNeilly’s fastest time of 1:33.4255, an average speed of 105.581 mph, also was comfortably quicker than the existing record.
“It was good to get back on track for Spring Training and really just get back into the swing of things,” said McNeilly. “It was good to be top-three in both sessions, and to end the two days quickest is obviously a really big bonus going into St. Pete. It's all positive in the team, and we'll just have to keep working and see how we end up in qualifying at St. Pete. My goal is to get two good results – in the top five would be great and top-three even better. You can lose a championship at the first race, but you can’t win it. It helps that I did Toronto last year. I've got a vague idea of what to expect.”
McNeilly ended the test a scant 0.0445 of a second ahead of Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas., who had set the pace in the earlier session. Teammate Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., was hot on his heels in third with Caleb Gafrarar (Pabst Racing), from Charlotte, N.C., and Bradley Majman (Jay Howard Driver Development), from Melbourne, Australia, rounding out the top five.
Lap times were similarly close in USF Juniors with VRD Racing’s Brazilian Joao Vergara narrowly edging out Zanella Racing’s Canadian rookie Ty Fisher by just 0.0300 of a second. Vergara turned a best time of 1:38.3924, an average speed of 100.252 mph.
“I’m pretty happy with how it went,” said Vergara, who had been in contention for the recent YACademy Winter Series title prior to a nasty crash in the penultimate race, also at NOLA Motorsports Park. “We knew Day Two was going to be a full day of rain, so we had to get the car dialed in the first day. We had a few things in mind that we wanted to try out. The first session was just about getting back into the car after the accident last week. And then session two, it was just trying what we wanted to try, making sure the car was dialed in for the first round at NOLA. I am definitely ready for the first round here. I think we will be fast.”
A second Brazilian, Leonardo Escorpioni, who had emerged victorious in the six-race YACademy Winter Series for Zanella Racing, also was close behind in third, followed by Mexico’s Rodrigo Gonzalez (DEForce Racing) and Michael Suco (InterMS), from Birmingham, Ala. The top 11 drivers among a stout 25-car field were all blanketed by less than one second.
With preseason testing now complete for USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, the focus now switches to the opening races of the season , which will be held in conjunction with the opening round of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., next week, February 29-March 2. The huge field of USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire will have to wait another month before their 16-race season kicks off with a return to NOLA Motorsports Park on April 12/13.