Rowe goes three in a row in Sebring race two with latest USFP2000 win
Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Pabst Racing’s Myles Rowe has now won three of the first four races of the 2023 USF Pro 2000 season after being victorious at Sebring on Saturday.
Michael d’Orlando and Francesco Pizzi started ahead of Rowe on the grid but he went into both on the first lap at turn one to take a lead he wasn’t about to give up.
He was over five seconds ahead of the field on lap 10 when the pace car came out because Lindsay Brewer was spinning and stranded on some curbs, then escaped the pressure at the restart before a second yellow period began late in the lap, as Jordan Missig did problems in turn three.
The pace car led the field until the 15th and final lap and this time, despite a strong restart, Rowe made a mistake as he wobbled mid-corner at turn one, allowing Lirim Zendeli to attack him at turn three. However, he held on to a championship win that extended the lead.
D’Orlando lost his chance for second place on lap two when he reversed the order and Zendeli moved up to second after already passing Pizzi for third on lap one.
Zendeli only came under pressure for this position in the last two corners of the race, before that there was a fight for third place.
Kiko Porto passed Pizzi on the outside of the final corner on lap two to take position, then on the next lap Salvador de Alba passed both of them on the inside of turn one.
Porto reclaimed third place on lap five and Pizzi tried to follow him past de Alba early in lap six but failed to do so and was instead cautioned for blocking Jace Denmark behind him.
Pizzi was then overtaken by Denmark and Reece Ushijima and spent the rest of his time battling Jordan Missig while dropping further places ahead of the first yellow period.
Porto and de Alba again battled for third place in the restart as Ushijima edged out Denmark in fifth before yellow flags were waved again. Denmark dropped out of the third-place fight at the restart on the final lap after going slow, with Pabst team-mate Missig slowing even more and failing to finish, while Porto created a gap and almost weakened Zendeli in the penultimate corner .
Ushijima finished fourth, and a four-way battle down the backstretch moved Jackson Lee to fifth, sending Joel Granfors back a couple of places to ninth and helping d’Orlando recover to 11th.
Race result (15 laps)
| position | driver | team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Rowe | Pope Racing | 37m52.317s |
| 2 | Lirim Zendeli | TJ speed | +1.007s |
| 3 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | +1.045s |
| 4 | Reece Ushijima | JHDD | +2.997s |
| 5 | Jackson Lee | Turn 3 Motorsport | +4.414s |
| 6 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsport | +4.663s |
| 7 | Franz Pizzi | TJ speed | +5.126s |
| 8th | Jonathan Brown | Turn 3 Motorsport | +5.363s |
| 9 | Joel Granfors | Exclusive motorsport | +5.706s |
| 10 | Ricardo Escotto | JHDD | +5.957s |
| 11 | Michael d’Orlando | Turn 3 Motorsport | +6.051s |
| 12 | Bijoy Garg | DEForce Racing | +6.236s |
| 13 | Christian Weir | TJ speed | +6.431s |
| 14 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Exclusive motorsport | +6,968s |
| 15 | Nicholas Monteiro | NeoTech Motorsport | +7.586s |
| 16 | Salvador de Alba | Exclusive motorsport | +9.874s |
| 17 | Jace Denmark | Pope Racing | +1 round |
| 18 | Lindsay Brewer | Exclusive motorsport | +1 round |
| pension | Jordan Missing | Pope Racing | |
| Fastest lap: Rowe, 1:59.934s
Championship Stand |
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