McNeilly Romps To Louisiana F2000 Glory

AVONDALE, La. — Liam McNeilly was peerless today in the first of three races that will comprise the Continental Tire USF2000 Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park.

The youngster from London, England, led throughout the 15-lap race under sunny skies to secure his third win in as many races for the Jay Howard Driver Development team. He also extended his lead in the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire title-chase.

Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, ensured the top two places in all three races to begin the new season were the same, finishing second for Exclusive Autosport, while Thomas Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, drove a superb race for VRD Racing by climbing from 10th on the grid to third.

McNeilly continued his hot start to the season by posting the fastest lap in qualifying on Friday to snare his second Continental Tire Pole Award in just three attempts. And he was untouchable this afternoon. McNeilly romped away to a lead of more than 2.3 seconds inside the first five laps before the 19-car field was neutralized by a full-course caution due to an incident in the midfield.

He was even more imperious at the restart, jumping out to an advantage of 1.6 seconds on the first green-flag lap, then controlling the remainder of the race to win by a comfortable four seconds over Jeffers, who had grabbed second place from front row qualifier Brad Majman (Jay Howard Driver Development) on the opening lap.

Majman, from Melbourne, Australia, couldn’t maintain the front-running pace but looked fairly comfortable in third until coming under pressure from the impressive Schrage in the closing stages.

Schrage made a flying start after a poor qualifying session yesterday, during which he spun twice. He made up three places on the first lap before quickly picking off Colombian Sebastian Garzon (DEForce Racing) and Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., who had started fifth for Exclusive Autosport.

Schrage actually lost a position after the restart to Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., but it proved to be a temporary blip. Schrage soon found his way into fourth before scything past Majman to assume third on the final lap.

Schrage’s teammate Teddy Musella, from Orlando, Fla., also muscled past Argyros on the last lap to take fifth, with a third VRD Tatuus in seventh in the hands of the youngest driver in the field, 15-year-old Christian Cameron, from Sonoma, Calif.