Escorpioni, Fisher share NOLA wins as Wheldon tops USF Juniors points

04/13/2025 06:07 PM

Brazil's Leonardo Escorpioni, who lives now in Windermere, Fla., and Zanella Racing teammate Ty Fisher, from White Rock, B.C., Canada, shared the spoils today as USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire wrapped up its season-opening Continental Tire Grand Prix of Louisiana tripleheader weekend with a pair of races at NOLA Motorsports Park.

Second generation racer Oliver Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., was the other big winner. The younger brother of Sebastian Wheldon, who finished third in the 2024 title-chase, earned three podium finishes to take an early lead in the quest for a scholarship valued at almost $250,000 to graduate next year into USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire.

Sunday morning's 50th race in the short history of USF Juniors saw Escorpioni secure a fine maiden victory both for himself and Zanella Racing, with Australian Liam Loiacono (Jay Howard Driver Development) just fending off Wheldon for second.

Later in the afternoon, Fisher capped a perfect day for the Zanella Racing squad by leading Wheldon and Saturday winner Joao Vergara (VRD Racing), from Miami, Fla., to the checkered flag.

A second qualifying session on Saturday saw each driver's best lap establishing the starting order for race two Sunday morning. Thus, it was Loiacono who snagged his first Continental Tire Pole Award with a new lap record ahead of Wheldon, with Fisher and Escorpioni sharing the second row of the grid.

A good start saw Loiacono maintain his advantage into Turn 1, only for Wheldon to stay on the high line and make a pass for the lead on the outside. He was followed through by Escorpioni, who promptly ducked to the inside of Loiacono for second in Turn Three.

Wheldon completed the first lap in the lead, but Escorpioni was on a mission. The Florida-based Brazilian pulled off a nice move to displace Wheldon from the lead in Turn Four, with Loiacono also taking advantage of Wheldon's loss of momentum to sneak back into second.

Escorpioni quickly made his escape at the front of the field, taking advantage of the in-fighting behind to stretch out a comfortable lead which he happily maintained to the finish.

Loiacono, Wheldon and Fisher enjoyed a thrilling battle for second throughout the all-green 12-lap race. Fisher, who had earlier set a new record fastest lap, made a move to the inside of Loiacono at Turn 9 on the final lap, only to run wide into the runoff area. Luckily for him, Wheldon and Loiacono also lost some time as they raced wheel to wheel, such that Loiacono eventually took the checkered flag in second ahead of Wheldon and Fisher. Saturday winner Vergara, DEForce Racing's rookie Vilho Aatola, from Turku, Finland, and Diego Guiot (Zanella Racing), from The Woodlands, Texas, also were in close attendance at the checkered flag.

DEForce Racing's Thomas Nordquist, from Omaha, Neb., claimed the Tilton Hard Charger Award after making up six positions from 21st on the grid.

The third and final race of the weekend saw Fisher clinch his first Continental Tire Pole Award by virtue of having posted the best second-fastest lap among all drivers during the second qualifying session on Saturday. He was joined on the front row by teammate Escorpioni.

The Zanella pair led the way through Turn 1 on the opening lap, whereupon Escorpioni dived to the inside under braking for Turn 3 to wrest away the advantage. But any hopes Escorpioni might have had of a Sunday sweep sadly evaporated almost exactly one lap later when his car abruptly slowed on the exit of Turn Two.

As a crestfallen Escorpioni parked out of harm's way, Fisher gratefully reclaimed the point and led the remainder of the 12-lap race. After two clean and green 12-lap races, today's finale was interrupted by a pair of incidents, the last of which caused the race to finish under caution.

So, as Fisher cruised to the win, Wheldon capped an impressive maiden weekend – just two weeks after his 14th birthday – as a trio of podiums proved enough to move him into the championship lead with a two-point edge over Fisher.

Vergara also enjoyed a solid start to his campaign with a win, a third and a fourth, while young Finn Aatola once again impressed with a fine run to fourth place in the final race. DEForce Racing teammate Rodrigo Gonzalez took fifth ahead of Loiacono.

England's Harry Moss took home the final Tilton Hard Charger Award of the weekend after working his way from 20th on the grid to 12th for Jay Howard Driver Development.

The banner day for Zanella Racing enabled Jose Zanella and his team manager and wife Jessica to clinch both PFC Awards as the winning car owners.

The intensely competitive USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire field will return to action in support of the NTT IndyCar Series at the challenging Barber Motorsports Park road course, near Birmingham, Ala., for another triple-header event on May 1-3.