14-Year-Old Fisher Wins Damp Barber USF Juniors Finale

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix for USF Juniors presented by Continental Tire tripleheader came to a dramatic conclusion Saturday morning.

Two youngest drivers in the field, Ty Fisher and Oliver Wheldon, waged a tremendous battle for victory at Barber Motorsports Park, with Fisher taking a narrow victory.

The pair of 14-year-olds were separated by a scant .6432 seconds at the checkered flag as Fisher, from White Rock, British Columbia, scored his second win of the season for Zanella Racing.

It was enough to vault him into the championship lead over teammate Leonardo Escorpioni, from Windermere, Fla., who finished third after sweeping both dry-weather races on Friday.

The starting order for Saturday’s 20-lap race was set according to each driver’s second-fastest lap from the second qualifying session on Friday afternoon.

Escorpioni once again was fastest, his lap of 1:25.1282 only fractionally slower than his own new lap record of 1:25.1109 and comfortably good enough for his third consecutive Continental Tire Pole Award.

A major switch in the weather conditions brought a wet track for the morning race, so officials gave drivers one additional pace lap before mandating a single-file start.

Unsurprisingly, a couple of early incidents led most of the opening six laps to be run behind the safety car, with Escorpioni holding onto his lead ahead of Fisher.

The man on the move, however, was former Australian Formula Ford frontrunner Liam Loiacono – who charged from eighth on the grid to fifth on the opening lap, and then overtook both Finland’s Vilho Aatola and Wheldon shortly after the lap-seven restart to move into third.

Loiacono’s deficit of more than 1.7 seconds to the two leaders was wiped out due to another appearance by the safety car, following an incident further down the field after 10 laps.

Fisher saw his opportunity at the restart, with 12 laps in the books, capitalizing on a small error in turn one by Escorpioni. Fisher drove clear around the outside of Escorpioni in turn two before completing his move by taking the lead under braking at turn five.

Moments later, at the tricky seven-eight complex of corners, Loiacono attempted a bold maneuver by again trying the outside line, only to run wide onto the grass at the exit. He slipped down to 10th before regaining his momentum.

Not to be outdone, Wheldon also nipped past Escorpioni on the next lap for second before setting his sights on the new leader, whom he caught with four laps remaining.

Wheldon placed Fisher under intense pressure in the closing stages, but the Canadian stood his ground to ensure a narrow and well-deserved victory.

“The race was really good. I knew it was going to be tough in the rain, but once I saw how grippy it was and how good the car was set up, I knew that we would have a good chance at the win,” said Fisher. “We definitely had a podium car, a winning car. And I saw Leo make a bit of a mistake, so I took advantage of that and was able to get the win.”

Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., had to be content with another second-place finish – his third – for VRD Racing, thereby missing his final opportunity to eclipse Nikita Johnson and Fisher as the youngest ever USF Juniors winners.

However, Wheldon remains solidly in the chase for a scholarship valued at almost $250,000 to graduate onto the next step of the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF2000, in 2026.

“The conditions were crazy. We had two of the races, qualifying and all of the practices in the dry, so I had to adapt in the race,” noted Wheldon. “In the beginning, I was soaking up the rain line and trying to find the grip. Liam was pretty quick and was able to get by me on the restart. And then he had a moment in the grass, and I capitalized on that and got around him. Then Leo did the same thing. He almost hit the tires, so I got around him. After that, my eyes just had to focus on catching Ty.

“I caught him in the end but not to where I could win. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend.”

Escorpioni fell back to a clear third ahead of Aatola, who capped a breakthrough weekend with his third straight top-six result, while Vergara once again fought a rearguard action by rising from eighth to fifth over the course of the final eight laps.

DEForce Racing’s Lincoln Day took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 20th on the grid to 14th.

Jose Zanella claimed his fifth PFC Award of the season as the winning car owner.

Next up for USF Juniors is a two-day official series test at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course May 13-14, followed by a return to the venue in conjunction with IMSA for a doubleheader weekend June 7-8.