Vergara held off a concerted attack from VRD Racing teammate Oliver Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., during the first half of the all-green 20-lap race around the challenging 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He then edged clear to claim his first win since the opening round at NOLA Motorsports Park in April.

Wheldon had to be content with second place – his sixth appearance on the podium in seven races – while Leonardo Escorpioni, from Windermere, Fla., narrowly regained the championship lead from Zanella Racing teammate Ty Fisher, from White Rock, B.C., Canada, whom he passed for third place on Lap 12.

Vergara, from Miami, Fla., showed that his session leading lap times during a recent rain-affected test at Mid-Ohio were no fluke by topping the charts in qualifying yesterday afternoon to secure his first Continental Tire Pole Award. His best lap of 1:24.8641, an average speed of 95.786 mph, represented a new lap record as well as the first time he had started better than fourth.

Vergara maintained his advantage at the start, although remained under pressure for the first half of the race while steadily picking up the pace.

Wheldon overtook front row starter Fisher into Turn One on the second lap and remained tight on Vergara’s tail for the first 10 laps, with Fisher also in close contention.

Thereafter, Vergara continued to extract more pace from his VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23. He dipped underneath the existing race lap record, 1:26.1589, for the first time on Lap 11, as he finally broke clear of Wheldon, and went faster again in the later stages as he extended his margin to 1.4 seconds.

Fisher, running third, couldn’t match that pace and soon fell back into the clutches of teammate Escorpioni, who made his pass for position at Turn Four on Lap 12. Escorpioni quickly moved clear to reclaim the championship lead.

Fisher, 14, finished in a relatively lonely fourth ahead of Australian Liam Loiacono (Jay Howard Driver Development), who fought back impressively after running wide onto the grass at the exit of Turn One on the opening lap and slipping from seventh on the grid to 12th. Loiacono showed what might have been by establishing a new race lap record of 1:25.2939, an average speed of 95.303 mph, on Lap 14.

DEForce Racing’s Rodrigo Gonzalez, from Mexico City, Mexico, continued his streak of solid finishes in sixth ahead of JT Hoskins, from Sarasota, Fla., who earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award for Jay Howard Driver Development after moving up from 13th on the grid to a career-best seventh.

The PFC Award went to VRD Racing’s Dan Mitchell as the winning car owner.

Race Two will see a green flag bright and early tomorrow at 8 a.m. EDT.

Provisional championship points after seven of 16 races:

1. Leonardo Escorpioni, 166

2. Ty Fisher, 164

3. Joao Vergara, 157

4. Oliver Wheldon, 156

5 Liam Loiacono, 116

6. Vilho Aatola, 114

7 Rodrigo Gonzalez, 113

8. Diego Guiot, 77

9. JT Hoskins, 68

10. Michael Suco, 68

Joao Vergara (#10 Cross/Carecode/Son Boronat/Arai-VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I am really happy with how the race went. We were fast all week long so it was all about managing the gap to the guys behind and we did that really well. We were able to get a good gap and go green to checkered. I am really happy with the result.”

Oliver Wheldon (#98 Gainbridge/Big Machine Racing-VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I started fourth and got a pretty good start. I was able to get by Vilho (Aatola) and Ty was right ahead of me. After a few laps I was able to get by him and then I wanted to focus on saving tires. In the beginning, I think I used too much tire so, at the end, my tires were pretty bad and Joao was able to pull a little bit of a gap and get the win. In the end, it was pretty good. I think I start third tomorrow. It will definitely be a fun race”

Leonardo Escorpioni (#55 Qwilt/Peer 1/Mensalize-Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was really good. I had an okay start and fell back down to sixth in the first corner but then I made my way back up to fifth and then fourth on the first lap. It was about being consistent. My teammate Ty was in third and made a little mistake, so I was able to get by him. After that, it was about managing the tires as me, Oliver and Joao were all a similar pace I feel. It was about keeping it there to see if they were going to make a mistake, but they didn’t and we ended up third. It was a good points haul and we will be back tomorrow looking for better.”