By Tony DiZinno
The 21 drivers in their Tatuus PM-22, Elite Engines-prepared 2-liter MZR cars in the USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires got their engines fired for the L&W Supply Grand Prix of Road America at 2:40 p.m. The race is 15 laps within a 50-minute window.
The start was waved off because Nicholas Monteiro’s No. 81 NeoTech Motorsport entry was pulled off course at Turn 5. Additionally, Charles Finelli’s No. 83 FatBoy Racing entry did not start so that left 19 cars for the green flag.
That lap was run under yellow and polesitter Michael d’Orlando (Turn 3 Motorsport) led the field away at the conclusion of Lap 1. Myles Rowe (Pabst Racing with Force Indy) made a move to get into third. Further back, Jackson Lee was contacted at Turn 3 (the corner, not the team) and was stuck by Yuven Sundaramoorthy, which pitched Lee’s car into the air and the gravel trap. Another Turn 3 Motorsport driver, Louka St-John, got thrown off the road with Francesco Pizzi exiting Turn 6. He fell down to 13th.
This brought out the second full-course caution in as many laps with d’Orlando leading Rowe, Reece Ushijima (Jay Howard Driver Development), Christian Weir (TJ Speed Motorsports) and Bijoy Garg (DEForce Racing).
Green flag flew at the end of Lap 3 with Rowe now second behind d’Orlando. Lee was able to resume after getting taken out of the gravel trap.
Rowe got to the lead on Lap 5, outside of d’Orlando and into Turn 6 with Ushijima following shortly.
Another full-course caution, the third, flew with Lirim Zendeli (TJ Speed Motorsports) and Bijoy Garg (DEForce Racing) having issues into the Kink. Zendeli came out of the dirt with Garg stuck against the barrier. Weir, who’d started second, had also fallen down the order to 16th.
By Lap 4 the order was Rowe, Ushijima, d’Orlando, Pizzi, Denmark, Missig, Porto, Escotto, St-Jean and de Alba top 10 with Browne, Granfors and Brewer next.
There were some position changes enforced under this yellow flag. Pizzi and Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing) were told to go to the back for jumping the restart.
Revised order as of Lap 6 of 15: Rowe, Ushijima, d’Orlando, Missig and Porto the new top five with St-Jean, Escotto, de Alba, Browne and Granfors the rest of the top 10. Brewer, Sundaramoorthy, Miller, Weir, Pizzi and Denmark still running on the lead lap, with Lee out a lap down.
The restart came at the end of Lap 7, almost halfway. Ushijima makes a run around the outside of Rowe into Turn 1 and completes the pass for the lead. Rowe having to fend off d’Orlando and others for second. Another TJ Speed Motorsports car, Weir, around in the back.
Ushijima has a nightmare Lap 9 though, falling behind Rowe, d’Orlando and Missig down to fourth.
Granfors threw his car up the inside of another car at Turn 1, his Exclusive Autosport teammate de Alba, who was then left in the beach. Miller in his car was collateral damage with nowhere to go on the outside.
Fourth full-course caution of the race flies at the end of Lap 10. New order: Rowe, d’Orlando, Missig, Ushijima, Escotto, St-Jean, Pizzi, Porto, Browne and Denmark into the top 10. Miller pits, and de Alba out of the gravel trap.
Green flag flies again at the end of Lap 11, start of Lap 12. D’Orlando tries to the outside of Rowe, can’t get there.
More contact between Escotto and Pizzi at Turn 6, Pizzi to the inside and collecting Escotto and looping him around.
Meanwhile d’Orlando got back to the lead by Lap 12 by Rowe with Missig now by too.
Granfors pits with a drive-through for avoidable contact.
Rowe got back by Missig on Lap 13 to get back into second, 0.8706 of a second behind d’Orlando with Missig just 0.3 behind him.
Brewer, attempting to pass her Exclusive teammate Sundaramoorthy for 11th, spins and recovers at Turn 5. This drops her back only one spot after what had been a steady and clean race to that point.
D’Orlando brings it home 0.8184 of a second ahead of Rowe to secure his first USF Pro 2000 victory, with Rowe and Missig completing the podium.
“It’s been a hard season; Turn 3 can agree with that! We’ve had the speed and pace but troubling to not have got the wins and podiums. My streak is finally open, the Turn 3 No. 1 car is up there and it’s a monster!” he said.
“Myles was up there. We got up there and had some good moves to make it work.”
A great day for two Midwest-based teams, Peter Dempsey’s Mundelein, Ill.-based Turn 3 Motorsport ahead of the Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Pabst Racing.
Ushijima and Browne complete the top five, with Porto, Pizzi, Denmark, St-Jean and Weir rounding out the top 10.
Race two is tomorrow morning, bright and early at 8:00 a.m.
L&W Supply Grand Prix of Road America Race 1 Unofficial Results
| P | No | Name | Team | Laps | Diff |
| 1 | 1 | Michael d’Orlando | Turn 3 Motorsport | 15 | LAP 15 |
| 2 | 99 | Myles Rowe | Pabst Racing | 15 | 0.8184 |
| 3 | 19 | Jordan Missig | Pabst Racing | 15 | 3.7215 |
| 4 | 6 | Reece Ushijima | Jay Howard Driver Development | 15 | 4.7097 |
| 5 | 2 | Jonathan Browne | Turn 3 Motorsport | 15 | 6.5670 |
| 6 | 12 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 15 | 7.8320 |
| 7 | 55 | Francesco Pizzi | TJ Speed Motorsports | 15 | 8.7480 |
| 8 | 20 | Jace Denmark | Pabst Racing | 15 | 8.8814 |
| 9 | 3 | Louka St-Jean | Turn 3 Motorsport | 15 | 10.2943 |
| 10 | 32 | Christian Weir | TJ Speed Motorsports | 15 | 11.5238 |
| 11 | 90 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Exclusive Autosport | 15 | 12.5427 |
| 12 | 4 | Ricardo Escotto | Jay Howard Driver Development | 15 | 15.8703 |
| 13 | 93 | Lindsay Brewer | Exclusive Autosport | 15 | 25.2653 |
| 14 | 91 | Salvador de Alba | Exclusive Autosport | 15 | 41.0412 |
| 15 | 92 | Joel Granfors | Exclusive Autosport | 15 | 52.3401 |
| 16 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 15 | 64.4386 |
| 17 | 47 | Jackson Lee | Turn 3 Motorsport | 14 | 1 LAPS |
| 18 | 7 | Bijoy Garg | DEForce Racing | 3 | Contact |
| 19 | 10 | Lirim Zendeli | TJ Speed Motorsports | 3 | Contact |
| 20 | 81 | Nicholas Monteiro | NeoTech Motorsport | — | Mechanical |
| 21 | 83 | Charles Finelli | FatBoy Racing | — | DNS |