SONOMA, Calif. – Friday marked a critical day for all three Mazda Road to Indy divisions at Sonoma Raceway. Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires qualified while both the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda had their second-to-last races of the season, each with way more drama than could have been forecast.
PRO MAZDA (Race 1, Updated Points)
Spencer Pigot entered Friday’s race one with a 19-point lead over Scott Hargrove, but the young American lost it all in one fell swoop, and in one lead battle with his title nemesis.
Polesitter Hargrove led Pigot, but Pigot was close and nearly able to catch and pass him through Turns 1 and 2. The two collided while battling over the lead, and both came out the other side of Turn 2 actually still running, but with Pigot’s left side pod and radiator damaged. He spun out of the race from there at Turns 3 and 3A, relegated to a 21st and last-place finish.
In the incident, respective teammates Kyle Kaiser (Pigot’s, Juncos Racing) and Neil Alberico (Hargrove’s, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing) made it through the fracas to get ahead of Hargrove, who continued with only minor issues – he’d flat spotted his tires earlier and had braking problems.
Kaiser was left to take his first career victory at his home race, and with third, Hargrove moved into the points lead. Hargrove’s lead is two points, 294-292, over Pigot. Hargrove will have the pole for Saturday’s race two, by virtue of his qualifying time set Friday.
While Pigot and Hargrove’s battle has been clean and respectful most of the season, understandably, the two didn’t see eye-to-eye over what happened Friday.
“I got a great start but then I started struggling with the brakes, especially going into the last two corners,” Hargrove explained. “Spencer got a good run on me. I was a little ahead by middle of Turn 1, he tried to push me down, but neither of us was going to lift. Leading the chamoionship, I don’t think that was the smartest for him. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again for him.
“My only option (going in) is to win to claw back the points, if he finished the races. He didn’t have to win today to win the championship,” Hargrove added.
Pigot tweeted his thoughts Friday evening: “I was hit and taken out of the lead today. Now trailing in points but we’ll be fighting hard tomorrow. Not over yet! We have a good car, set fastest lap today by half a second and only completed a few laps. @juncosracing guys putting the car back together.”
Kaiser, whose first win was overshadowed, still was able to enjoy the spoils.
“Absolutely fantastic, I do feel amazing,” he said. “On the opening laps, usually we struggle, and struggled with the push. Then the car came to me with clean air.”
USF2000 (Race 1, Updated Points)
All Florian Latorre needed to do was finish ahead of RC Enerson and Jake Eidson in Friday’s race one of the Sonoma weekend. But a worst-case scenario happened for the 17-year-old Frenchman.
While going for the lead in Turn 2, Enerson, to Latorre’s inside, contacted the polesitter and sent him into the wall. Enerson gained the lead and the contact was reviewed with no further action taken. But Latorre was out on the spot, and the contact meant both Enerson and Eidson had a chance to gain huge amounts of points.
Enerson was able to control the 15-lap race from there after a restart, while a dynamic start from Aaron Telitz got the ArmsUp Motorsports driver into second. Telitz then held off Eidson and the second ArmsUp driver, Peter Portante, the remainder of the race. Portante was consistently seven to eight tenths per lap quicker than the three drivers in front of him, but unable to make a move stick due to the “aero push” that affects these cars.
“Yeah we were both going for it. It’s really difficult to pass here,” Enerson said. “So whoever took the lead on the start would run away with it. Like Jake said, we both fought for the same real estate. That’s not the outcome I was looking for. I wanted a good clean battle and clean race. That changed it.”
Latorre is still ahead of Enerson, and Eidson is within 10 points (279-275-269). Realistically both Latorre and Enerson would need to have problems for Eidson to snatch the championship. Latorre and Enerson start 1-2 on Saturday.
INDY LIGHTS (Qualifying Results)
This took a backseat to the Pro Mazda and USF2000 proceedings as it turned out, but Indy Lights may have a points shakeup of its own set for Saturday if qualifying results are any indication.
Jack Harvey, who seeks to overcome a 23-point gap to Gabby Chaves, bagged the pole for Saturday’s first race. Chaves is second while Zach Veach, who’s within seven points of Chaves, struggled to seventh on the grid.
Harvey swept the Mid-Ohio doubleheader and the young Englishman seeks to extend the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports championship streak to five in a row. Chaves and Veach also seek their first titles; Chaves would be the first for Belardi Auto Racing while Veach looks to deliver Michael Andretti his first title since 2009.
