Yahoo Autos D’Orlando rockets back to USF Pro 2000 form with win at Mid-Ohio
After experiencing all manner of misfortune during the first half of the USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season, Michael d’Orlando now has earned two victories in his three most recent starts for Turn 3 Motorsport. Last year’s USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires champion led from flag to flag in Saturday’s opening leg of the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, which included a red-flag stoppage due to a short, sharp rain shower, and finally took the checkered flag 1.5096s ahead of Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark, from Scottsdale, Ariz.
Jack William Miller, from Carmel, Ind., completed the podium for Miller Vinatieri Motorsports.
D’Orlando, from Hartsdale, N.Y., continued his run of form by securing his third Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season during qualifying on Friday, and comfortably translated that into the lead at the start.
Brazilian Kiko Porto, who preceded d’Orlando as a USF2000 champion in 2021, started second for DEForce Racing, but maintained his position only as far as the exit of Turn 4 where he was unceremoniously bundled off the road and onto the grass by an aggressive Salvador de Alba (Exclusive Autosport), from Guadalajara, Mexico. Matters went from bad to worse for the unfortunate Porto as he inadvertently collected several other cars as he attempted to regain the racing surface at Turn 5. Cue a full-course caution.
D’Orlando once again displayed his superiority at the restart, while de Alba was obliged to serve a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility which relegated him to the back of the field.
Reece Ushijima (Jay Howard Driver Development) and fellow Scottsdale, Ariz., resident Denmark, who today celebrated his 19th birthday, led the chase at the restart, having vaulted, respectively, from sixth and eighth on the starting grid. But a three-wide tussle at the end of the back straightaway soon after the restart saw Ushijima shuffled back a couple of positions, which he maintained until catching the curb and spinning into the gravel trap at Turn Eight after 13 laps.
Rain began to fall during the ensuing caution period, and after two more laps the race was red-flagged and the entire field was instructed to fit wet-weather Cooper tires prior to the restart. With the 50-minute time slot closing rapidly, there was time for merely a two-lap dash to the finish. The storm clouds miraculously deposited only minimal precipitation, and on a damp track d’Orlando expertly negotiated the tricky conditions to cement his win.
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“The race was fun. Sometimes you have a battle with another driver and it’s super hectic but, to be fair, I was out front the whole time,” d’Orlando said. “I did get a bit anxious when the rain came. I went into Turn One with the new rain tires and didn’t know what to expect. I went in a tad too fast and corrected that but a real moment. It was a great race and the #1 Priority machine from Turn 3 Motorsport was absolutely insane. It has been fast all weekend and I am super proud to put it on top at Mid-Ohio. Huge thanks to all my supporters.”
The top five positions remained unchanged, with Miller just fending off Sweden’s Joel Granfors (Exclusive Autosport) for third and Bijoy Garg (DEForce Racing) from Atherton, Calif., claiming a season-best fifth-place finish.
German-based Albanian Lirim Zendeli (TJ Motorsport) made up a couple of positions in the closing laps to secure sixth ahead of Canada’s Louka St-Jean (Turn 3 Motorsport).
Championship leader Myles Rowe (Pabst Racing with Force Indy), from Brooklyn, N.Y., slipped from sixth to 11th, but still managed to maintain a healthy points advantage over Granfors.
Ricardo Escotto (Jay Howard Driver Development), from Mexico City, Mexico, picked up the Tilton Hard Charger Award by virtue of finishing ninth and advancing nine positions from the start.
Turn 3 Motorsport’s Peter Dempsey claimed the PFC Award as the winning car owner.
The second half of this weekend’s Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio is scheduled to go green Saturday at 5:25 p.m. EDT.
