Pigot Extends USF2000 Championship Lead with Mid-Ohio Victory

Rising American star Spencer Pigot took another step toward his goal of winning the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda when he guided Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing's #2 Team Pelfrey/Doug Mockett & Company/E-merging Technologies/Parathyroid.com/ California Scents/Mazda/Cooper Tires Van Diemen-Mazda to an accomplished victory on Saturday afternoon in front of an appreciative crowd at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Pigot started from the pole for Round 6, held in hot, sunny conditions immediately after the day's American Le Mans Series feature event, and was never seriously challenged during the 20-lap race. His eventual margin of victory was a comfortable 1.890 seconds over Scott Anderson.

The 18-year-old from Orlando, Fla., thereby extended his remarkable run of success to 11 wins and 13 podium finishes from 14 races dating back to the 2011 season finale on the streets of Baltimore.

Pigot also set the fastest race lap to ensure he would once again start on the pole for Sunday morning's seventh round of the championship, which took place soon after a heavy thunderstorm had drenched the huge crowd who had gathered for the afternoon's IZOD IndyCar Series feature race. He battled hard with teammate Matt Brabham and Anderson in the treacherously wet early stages, but slipped out of contention – along with Brabham – when the pair collided at Turn Six on the sixth lap. It was an inauspicious end to an otherwise productive weekend for the Florida native, who now leads Brabham by 18 points, 181-163, in the title chase.

"The weekend started off really well," related Pigot. "We were fastest in all but one practice session and Saturday's race was great as well. I was able to build a lead from pole in the first few laps and concentrate on setting fastest lap to start P1 for Sunday's race. The car was awesome. I was very happy to get my fifth win of the season. Race Two was a strange one with the conditions. I was fighting a lot with Scott and Matt in the early stages of the race. Unfortunately, Matt and I had an incident that ruined the race. Overall we extended the points lead which is the most important thing so I'm happy with the outcome even though I would have liked to have had the chance to fight for the win again on Sunday. I have to thank all the guys at Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, Team Pelfrey, Doug Mockett and all of my other supporters for making it all possible."

Pigot will return to action for the USF2000's first-ever triple-header event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., once again in support of the American Le Mans Series, on August 17-18.