PALMETTO, Fla. – The battle for this year’s USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire championship will resume this weekend with the first of two events to be held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. A total of 22 talented young drivers will compete at the challenging 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course as the 16-race season reaches its halfway mark.
The pair of 20-lap PFC Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio races will be held in conjunction with a full slate of International Motor Sports Association action.
A total of seven USF Juniors races have been held at Mid-Ohio since the category’s introduction in 2022. All have been won by different drivers, although in each of the three previous seasons, one of the Mid-Ohio winners has gone on to claim the championship.
Two tripleheader events earlier this year at NOLA Motorsports Park and Barber Motorsports Park have provided some tremendous competition. Three different winners and a total of seven drivers have shared the podium spoils, and the title-chase is finely poised.
Ty Fisher, from White Rock, B.C., Canada currently holds a slender one-point advantage over his Zanella Racing teammate, Florida-based Brazilian Leonardo Escorpioni.
The VRD Racing duo of Oliver Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., who is still seeking his first race victory, and another Brazilian, Joao Vergara, also are in the thick of the title chase.
Vergara has slipped to fourth in the points table after winning the opening race of the season, although he returned to prominence a few weeks ago after posting the fastest time during a two-day test at Mid-Ohio.
Second-fastest at the test represented an impressive result for 18-year-old European karting standout Harley Keeble, from Grimsby, England, who will make his race debut this weekend with Jay Howard Driver Development.
Other likely contenders will include Mexican brothers Rodrigo and Patricio Gonzalez, who along with Finland’s Vilho Aatola will drive for DEForce Racing, and Australian Liam Loiacono (Jay Howard Driver Development).
Drivers representing at least eight different nationalities will be on the starting grid. There will also be three young women striving to make a breakthrough: Emma Scarbrough (InterMS), from Senoia, Ga., Kaylee Countryman (Exclusive Autosport), from Chandler, Ariz., and local driver Maddie Colleran (Zanella Racing), Hunting Valley, Ohio. All have stepped up from the karting ranks.
A pair of 50-minute test sessions on Friday morning, June 6, will provide one more opportunity for the teams to hone their cars’ setups prior to 30 minutes of official practice later in the afternoon. A single qualifying session at 8:45 a.m. EDT on Saturday will help determine the starting positions for the two races at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday and 8:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Full coverage of the event, including timing and live streaming, can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and at usfjuniors.com.