KERSHAW, S.C. – Ivan Machado Perez continued his fine form by scoring his second win out of three USF Juniors races as the Continental Tire Grand Prix of South Carolina concluded this morning at Carolina Motorsports Park. The 24-year-old from Madrid, Spain, led from start to finish for VRD Racing by Pole Position, claiming his third win of the season and moving one point clear of former series leader Max Mokarem, 14, from Fairfax, Va., who kept the pressure on with a strong run to second place for Zanella Racing after lining up sixth on the grid.
Canadian Cole Medeiros, who won yesterday’s opening race for Exclusive Autosport, rounded out a successful weekend with another podium finish.
For the fifth race in a row dating back to the opening weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida, Machado Perez started at the front of the 22-car field, snagging yet another Continental Tire Pole Award by virtue of having posted the fastest of each driver’s second-fastest laps during the lone qualifying session on Friday.
Machado Perez made another good start to maintain his edge into Turn One. Behind him, Poland’s Karol Pasiewicz (Olivia Racing) once again was unable to follow suit, sliding a little wide and allowing both Medeiros and Finland’s Vilho Aatola (DEForce Racing) to slip past.
Mokarem also made a good start, taking advantage of fresh tires and a slight miscue by Canadian teammate Leonardo Serravalle at the first corner to move into fifth. He then out-braked Pasiewicz into Turn One on the second lap before pulling a similar maneuver on Aatola at Turn 11 to move into third.
Machado Perez soon began to edge clear of Medeiros in second, but Mokarem was the one to watch. He closed up quickly on the Canadian, overtook him on the fourth lap and then lost no time in reducing a deficit of 1.5 seconds to the race leader to just a couple of car lengths.
But that was as close as he got. Machado Perez kept his focus, made not the hint of a mistake, and even though Mokarem gained one more opportunity following a full-course caution after Colombian Pipe Chaparro’s car ground to a halt out on the track, Machado Perez was more than up for the challenge.
The Spaniard made a picture perfect restart when the green flag flew again with just one lap to go, then paced home for another fine victory. Machado Perez also took advantage of today’s significantly cooler conditions to post a new lap record – faster even than his pole-winning time.
Medeiros couldn’t quite match the two leaders’ pace in third, while Pasiewicz thought he had gained some consolation from a difficult weekend for Olivia Racing by passing Aatola for fourth shortly before the caution period. However, the pass was later adjudged to have taken place under yellow, so a resulting five-second penalty dropped Pasiewicz to 11th. Aatola also lost a position to Brazilian Victor Couto (Zanella Racing) on the final lap but still maintained fifth.
Mexico’s Elias Vignola (DEForce Racing) bounded back nicely after a crash on Saturday to finish sixth ahead of Serravalle and an impressive Alex Berg, from Calgary, Alb., Canada, who earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award with a fine drive from 20th to eighth after having experienced a mechanical problem in qualifying on his family-run car.
The final PFC Award of the weekend was secured by VRD Racing by Pole Position’s Dan Mitchell and Yannick Rolland as the winning car co-owners.
Next on the agenda for USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire is a trip north of the border for another tripleheader event, this time at the dauntingly fast Canadian Tire Motorsport Park road course in Bowmanville, Ont., Canada as part of the Victoria Day celebrations on the weekend of May 16-17.
Provisional championship points after six of 16 races:
1. Ivan Machado Perez, 133
2. Max Mokarem, 132
3. Vilho Aatola, 112
4. Cole Medeiros, 102
5. Olivier Mrak, 90
6. Karol Pasiewicz, 89
7. Casper Nissen, 78
8. Victor Couto, 74
9. Leonardo Serravalle, 71
10. Bex Cranston, 64
Ivan Machado Perez (#10 HONR the drive/Skip Barber Racing-VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23): “It was a pretty good race. We knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge, especially with the Zanella guys starting on new tires. I just tried to pull ahead as much as I could in the first laps, tried to get some really good early laps in while they were trying to overtake to go through the pack. And it just worked out. It was just enough to fend off Mokarem, especially towards that last part of the race. It was a bit of a pity, the Safety Car, because it put him right behind me again. I'm just happy about the overall performance of the weekend. The team gave me an amazing car, and I am very thankful for them and for everyone that is supporting me here and back in Spain.”
Max Mokarem (#46 District Construction Corp./Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “At the beginning of the race, I managed to make my way through the pack. It was a lot better now that I was starting on new tires compared to the second race yesterday. I was starting on used tires [yesterday], but I really had a lot of pace today. I managed to make my way through the field and catch up to Ivan. We were going about the same pace. I was catching up and then he was pulling away a little bit. It evened out at the Safety Car. I tried to make a few moves, but it didn't stick. I managed to just take second place.”
Cole Medeiros (#97 Network Sewer & Watermain/Nieltech-Exclusive Autosport Tatuus JR-23): “I got into P2 at the start and was holding on and then I saw Max was catching a lot. I didn't want to battle him, and I kind of let him by. I just tried to hold on to third and salvage as many points as I could. I feel like I had an advantage yesterday [with new tires] and not really today, just because the track was a little greasy. I feel like the new tires would have helped a lot for this session, but it's okay. I think I have progressed a lot since Homestead.”