Florian Latorre was on pole position and only had to finish ahead of championship rivals Jake Eidson and R.C. Enerson to clinch the title with Saturday's season finale becoming a de facto parade for the Frenchman. The green flag waved and in two turns a 31-point lead became five and after eight laps it dropped to four. Contact between Latorre and Enerson sent the championship leader into the barrier and Enerson went on to dominate race one, picking up his fifth victory of 2014.
Behind Enerson, Aaron Telitz came home in second with other championship hopeful Jake Eidson finishing third, cutting twenty-one points out of the gap between and Latorre and sits ten points back with one race to go.
Eidson had to fight hard to hold off the hard charging Peter Portante, who picked up fastest lap in race one, his first fastest lap of the season. Jeoren Slaghekke rounded out the top five, his first top five since Indianapolis Raceway Park in May.
Brazilian Victor Franzoni finished sixth with American Coltan Herta in seventh, Norwegian Henrik Furuseth eighth and Frenchman Nico Jamin in ninth. Adrian Starrantino rounded out the top ten.
At a glance, Latorre leads Enerson by four points and Eidson by ten points entering the final day of the season.
U.S. F2000 will have a morning warm-up tomorrow at 11:10 a.m. ET with green flag for the 2014 U.S. F2000 finale scheduled for 2:05 p.m. ET.
After the jaw dropping outcome in U.S. F2000 race one, Pro Mazda decided to reenact the dramatic, championship altering events. Second in the championship Scott Hargrove started on pole position, taking a point out of Spencer Pigot's eighteen point cushion with Pigot starting on the outside of row one. On lap four, the championship contenders made contact in turn two and like in U.S. F2000 race, the championship leader's day was done but this time the championship leader was dethroned. Pigot's lead in the championship standings entering race one was not enough to keep the American in the catbird seat for race two tomorrow.
After the contact, Pigot's Juncos Racing teammate Kyle Kaiser snuck through to take the lead and Hargrove's Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Neil Alberico slotted into second with the Canadian Hargrove settling in third. Kaiser held off the Cape duo to take his first career Pro Mazda victory and led the most laps, keeping valuable points away from Hargrove. The Canadian got the last laugh as he will enter race two tomorrow with a two-point advantage over Pigot. A small silver lining for Pigot is he did pick up fastest lap, giving the American a possibly crucial point in the championship. It's Pigot's seventh fastest lap of the season.
Nicolas Costa finished fourth with Andretti Autosport's Shelby Blackstock rounding out the top five. In his first race of 2014, Alex Keyes went from thirteenth to sixth. Dalton Kellett finished seventh ahead of Ryan Booth, Jack Aitken and Julia Ballario rounded out the top ten.
At a glance, Hargrove leads Pigot by two points entering the final day of the season.
Pro Mazda morning warm-up follows U.S. F2000 morning warm-up at 11:30 a.m. ET. The 2014 Pro Mazda finale is scheduled to take place at 6:40 p.m. ET.
Indy Lights qualified for their first race of the weekend this afternoon. Jack Harvey won his third pole of the season and takes a point out of Gabby Chaves' championship lead. The Brit will enter race one tomorrow twenty-two points behind the Colombian. Chaves will join Harvey on the outside of row one. Harvey's Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammate Luiz Razia will start third with Juan Piedrahita making it an all SPM row two.
Matthew Brabham will start fifth with Juan Pablo García starting sixth. Zach Veach is seven points behind Chaves in the championship standings and he will have to work hard to shrink that margin and keep his championship hopes alive as the Ohio-native will start seventh. Ryan Phinny will start eighth and Scott Anderson and Zack Meyer comprise the fifth and final row.
Indy Lights race one from Sonoma is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon.
