Liam Loiacono Stars At Road America

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Liam Loiacono is riding a hot streak with the Jay Howard Driver Development team.

The 17-year-old from Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, followed his recent pair of victories at Mid-Ohio – on separate weekends – with a magnificent double win today in the opening two of three races that comprise the Elite Engines Grand Prix of Road America.

Loiacono has now closed to within 21 points of Brazilian Leonardo Escorpioni in the quest for the USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire championship. Four races remain this season.

Escorpioni, based in Windermere, Fla., bounced back impressively from some problems in qualifying to notch a fourth and a second for Zanella Racing.

Brothers Rodrigo and Patricio Gonzalez, from Mexico City, Mexico, each claimed a podium finish for DEForce Racing, while rookie Brenden Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., netted a best third-place result this morning for Exclusive Autosport.

After winning two of the most recent three races, Loiacono maintained his momentum on Thursday by posting comfortably the fastest lap during the lone qualifying session to clinch his second Continental Tire Pole Award.

Cooley and DEForce Racing’s Vilho Aatola, from Turku, Finland, occupied the next two places on the grid for this morning’s opening race, although the man on the move at the start was Aatola’s teammate Rodrigo Gonzalez, who burst through from fifth on the grid to chase Loiacono on the opening lap.

The Australian began to edge clear with three laps in the books, only for his advantage to be immediately annulled by a full-course caution after InterMS teammates Emma Scarbrough, from Senoia, Ga., and Michael Suco, from Auburn, Ala., tangled at Turn One. They had been disputing 11th position at the time, working their way forward after a disappointing qualifying session left them languishing at the rear.

Another caution soon after the restart, when DEForce Racing’s Thomas Nordquist, from Omaha, Neb., found himself in the gravel at Turn Three, set the stage for a one-lap dash to the checkered flag.

Once again, Loiacono held off the attentions of Gonzalez to claim victory, while the Mexican’s fine run to second represented his best result of the season.

Younger brother Patricio also enjoyed a fine race. He was badly hindered by the lack of a front wing in the closing stages, following a skirmish with VRD Racing’s Oliver Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., but somehow managed to maintain sixth on the road behind Cooley, who also secured his highest finish to date, and the top two championship protagonists, Florida-based Brazilians Leonardo Escorpioni (Zanella Racing) and Joao Vergara (VRD Racing).

Escorpioni’s drive to fourth was especially meritorious, since an abbreviated run in qualifying had consigned him to a lowly 17th place on the starting grid. He was a well-deserved winner of the Tilton Hard Charger Award.

A couple of post-race penalties – one to Vergara for blocking and another to Aatola for avoidable contact – elevated Patricio Gonzalez to fifth ahead of Pole Position Motorsports’ Connor Aspley, from O’Fallon, Mo., who impressed by climbing from 15th to an eventual sixth, equaling his personal best, following a mid-race incident.

Series debutants Colin Aitken (VRD Racing), from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and Rahim Alibhai (Zanella Racing), from Miami, Fla., also benefited from the penalties by rising to solid seventh and eighth positions.

This afternoon’s second race saw Loiacono once more starting at the front having secured another Continental Tire Pole Award by virtue of posting the best of each driver’s second-fastest laps during qualifying on Thursday. Cooley again joined him on the front row with Aspley and Canadian Ty Fisher (Zanella Racing) on row two.

Two lengthy caution periods blighted the early stages, but the final two-lap dash to the checkered flag showed what USF Juniors are all about. Escorpioni, having vaulted from fifth on the grid to second early on, took advantage of the huge Road America draft to take the lead into Turn One at the final restart. He profited, too, when Vergara and Cooley became entangled while also striving to take the top spot.

Loiacono was briefly relegated to third behind Escorpioni and an inspired Patricio Gonzalez, but was able to repay the favor heading into Turn One to begin the final lap. Loiacono narrowly held off Escorpioni during the final 4.014-mile lap around “America’s National Park of Speed” while Gonzalez was more than content after securing his first-ever podium finish in third.

JT Hoskins (Jay Howard Driver Development), from Sarasota, Fla., found a way past Aspley on the final lap to take fourth.