Victor Franzoni Is Pro Mazda Star
MADISON, Ill. — The Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires made its inaugural visit to Gateway Motorsports Park a memorable one as title rivals Victor Franzoni and Anthony Martin once again traded the lead of the championship as Franzoni claimed his fifth victory of the season in Saturday’s St. Louis Pro Mazda Oval Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires.
The two drivers have each won five races this season.
Martin, of Cape Motorsports, took pole position in qualifying earlier this afternoon — his sixth pole of the season — with Juncos Racing’s Franzoni a close second. Martin held the advantage at the start but a yellow followed shortly after the green flag following a spin by Jeff Green (Juncos Racing) and Brendan Puderbach (Fat Boy Racing!). The battle for the lead resumed on lap three with some entertaining side-by-side racing between the two.
Carlos Cunha of Team Pelfrey, who qualified fourth, managed to pass teammate T.J. Fischer and briefly enter the fray at the front of the field. Franzoni made several attempts to get around Martin on the high side and finally made the move stick on Lap 18. Once past Martin, Franzoni romped to the checkered flag with a 4.6-second lead claiming the bonus points for most laps led and fastest race lap.
Cunha held off Fischer to claim his fourth podium of the season and narrow the gap to Fischer to just five points for third in the championship.
Jeff Green recovered from his earlier spin to pass the third Team Pelfrey car of Nikita Lastochkin and finish fifth, earning the Staubli Award. The Quarter Master Hard Charger Award went to World Speed Motorsports’ Sting Ray Robb with a gain of two positions. Juncos Racing earned the PFC Award.
Franzoni leads Martin by two points with the final two races on the docket coming down to the season finale at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l next weekend.
“After qualifying, I wasn’t sure we could do it, since I was three-tenths slower than him,” Franzoni said. “We thought, we’ll make some big changes and just hope to survive and finish second. But when I passed him and started to pull away, I knew the changes worked. Here, we had to have a little bit more respect for each other, because the ovals are more dangerous and things happen so fast. But both of us were so focused on winning. I had to try outside in turn one on the first lap and it was crazy oversteer, I thought I would go into the wall. I tried a couple of lines until I found one that worked. I think we’ll be really strong next weekend, so I’m very confident for the championship.”
Source :speedsport.com
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