Road America – Saturday – Weir Becomes Eighth Different USF Pro 2000 Polesitter in Nine Races

By Tony DiZinno

The second qualifying session of the USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires weekend at Road America for the L&W Supply Grand Prix of Road America produced a late surprise and a record-tying mark.

With his first pole of the year and his USF Pro 2000 career, Christian Weir in his No. 32 TJ Speed Motorsports Tatuus PM-22 edged erstwhile polesitter Michael d’Orlando in his No. 1 Turn 3 Motorsport car by 0.2370 of a second, down to 2:01.7070 over d’Orlando’s best lap fo 2:01.9440.

Those were the only two drivers in the morning qualifying session, set with temperatures of 64F ambient and 75F degrees on track, under the 2:02 bracket.

Weir’s pole means he’s the eighth different polesitter in nine races to start the season, which equals a USF Pro 2000 record also set in 2007 and 2020.

The other seven are:

• Christian Brooks, No. 3 Turn 3 Motorsport, St. Petersburg Race 1
• Francesco Pizzi, No. 55 TJ Speed Motorsports, St. Petersburg Race 2
• Jace Denmark, No. 20 Pabst Racing, Sebring Race 1
• Michael d’Orlando, No. 1 Turn 3 Motorsport, Sebring Race 2 and Road America Race 1
• Kiko Porto, No. 12 DEForce Racing, IMS Road Course Race 1
• Myles Rowe, No. 99 Pabst Racing with Force Indy, IMS Road Course Race 2
• Jack William Miller, No. 40 Miller Vinatieri Motorsports, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

Weir only got the opportunity to run late after a one-lap shootout brought on by two red flags.

The first came with Jack William Miller spun and stopped off Turn 14 prior to pit in with 14 minutes complete. At that point, the Turn 3 trio of d’Orlando (2:01.9440), Louka St-Jean (2:02.4060) and Jonathan Browne (2:02.5459) were running 1-2-3.

Shortly after the restart, Browne slowed exiting Turn 3 with his engine running rough and stopped. He continued but only after a second red flag came out, and was instructed to park in Turn 5. He was penalized for causing the red flag and dropped down to seventh.

The green flag flew with 3 minutes, 46 seconds to go allowing for one out lap and one flyer, where Weir took the top spot.

Qualifying 2 Unofficial Results

P	No	Name	Team	FTime	Diff	Laps	FL
1	32	Christian Weir	TJ Speed Motorsports	2:01.7070	2:01.7070	8	8
2	1	Michael d’Orlando	Turn 3 Motorsport	2:01.9440	0.2370	9	4
3	10	Lirim Zendeli	TJ Speed Motorsports	2:02.1081	0.4011	8	8
4	3	Louka St-Jean	Turn 3 Motorsport	2:02.4060	0.6990	9	5
5	2	Jonathan Browne	Turn 3 Motorsport	2:02.5459	0.8389	9	5
6	55	Francesco Pizzi	TJ Speed Motorsports	2:02.6346	0.9276	8	8
7	99	Myles Rowe	Pabst Racing	2:02.7768	1.0698	8	8
8	4	Ricardo Escotto	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:02.9067	1.1997	8	8
9	91	Salvador De Alba	Exclusive Autosport	2:02.9952	1.2882	8	8
10	47	Jackson Lee	Turn 3 Motorsport	2:03.0530	1.3460	8	5
11	6	Reece Ushijima	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:03.0733	1.3663	8	8
12	7	Bijoy Garg	DEForce Racing	2:03.2322	1.5252	8	4
13	12	Kiko Porto	DEForce Racing	2:03.3276	1.6206	8	4
14	20	Jace Denmark	Pabst Racing	2:03.4096	1.7026	8	8
15	81	Nicholas Monteiro	NeoTech Motorsport	2:03.4119	1.7049	8	8
16	92	Joel Granfors	Exclusive Autosport	2:03.9133	2.2063	8	8
17	19	Jordan Missig	Pabst Racing	2:04.1747	2.4677	8	3
18	90	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Exclusive Autosport	2:04.3763	2.6693	6	6
19	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	2:04.4453	2.7383	5	4
20	93	Lindsay Brewer	Exclusive Autosport	2:04.8128	3.1058	8	4
21	83	Charles Finelli	FatBoy Racing	2:09.8068	8.0998	8	3

Here are the times for the remainder of the weekend:

Saturday

• 12:55 pm – USF Pro 2000 Autograph Session (fan zone)
• 2:40 pm – L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America – Race #1 (15 laps or 50 minutes)

Sunday 

• 8:50am – L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America – Race #2 (15 laps of 50 minutes)