McNeilly dominates first leg of USF2000 triple-header at NOLA
04/12/2025 07:20 PM
Liam McNeilly was peerless Saturday 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 Saturday afternoon. McNeilly romped away to a lead of more than 2.3s 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 1.6s on the first green-flag lap, then controlling the remainder of the race to win by a comfortable 4s over Jeffers, who had grabbed second place from front row qualifier Brad Majman (Jay Howard Driver Development) on the opening lap.
"A brilliant start to the season and just continuing on the work that we’ve put in over the off season,” McNeilly said. “It’s really paying off now, so I am really happy. I could see in my mirrors that they were all battling, so all I had to do was just hit my marks. We had the pace there so it was all good. The car was phenomenal. I’m really pleased for the team. I want to thank my mom and dad, Jay Howard, my engineer Joe and all the crew at Jay Howard. They’ve done a mega job."
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.
Brazil's Lucas Fecury and Exclusive Autosport teammate Cooley, along with DEForce Racing's Jeshua Alianell, from The Woodlands, Texas, rounded out the top 10, while Eddie Beswick, from Sydney, Australia, rewarded his team, Synergy Motorsport, with a solid run to 11th. The Australian Formula Ford champion rose eight places from his starting position after a troubled time in practice and qualifying to claim his first Tilton Hard Charger Award.
The PFC Award once again went to Jay Howard as the winning team owner.
Two more 15-lap races Sunday will wrap up the Continental Tire Grand Prix of Louisiana. Race two, the fourth of the season, is set to start at 10:20 a.m., with the concluding event due for a green flag at 3:30 p.m. CDT.
