Californian exited Sebring season-opener with valuable points and experience
LOS GATOS, CALIF. – Neil Alberico's quest for a second junior formula car title got off to a solid start this past week (March 15-16), with a valuable points scoring effort in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda season-opener at Sebring International Raceway. The highly-talented rookie led the charge for the renowned JDC MotorSports squad, taking home ninth and fifth place finishes in the two races that ended behind the safety car.
After a successful early return to North American competition - securing three top-five results in the off-season Winterfest series - Alberico was excited to commence his inaugural season in the very competitive USF2000 Championship. The former British Formula Ford Championship front-runner promptly displayed his intentions during event testing, challenging for top honors before ultimately placing the No. 19 Kartel Motorsports/Bondurant School/RaceLite Protection/ Red Line Oil entry second on the timecharts.
While primarily focused on developing his racing steed for the fast and bumpy Sebring road course in central Florida, Alberico continued his run of form in the two practice runs, posting the fifth quickest time at the end of the day.
The Californian racer, as expected, entered the lone qualifying session confident he would be among those battling for a place on the front-row. The timed run, however, proved to be a frustrating affair. The combination of traffic and two red flag stoppages resulted in Alberico never truly getting up to speed, shuffling the JDC racer down the order to an unrepresentative 10th on the grid.
Alberico quickly put the session in the rear view mirror, refocusing on charging to the front come race time. When the action commenced a few hours later, the opening corner proved to be the decisive moment of the race, with contact between two of the leaders not only forcing cars to take evasive action, but also resulting in a full-course caution. While the subsequent green-white-checker restart allowed Alberico to battle for positions, the limited run prevented him from advancing more than one place, crossing the stripe in ninth.
With each driver's fast lap from the opening affair setting the grid for race two, Alberico took the green flag for Round Two in seventh place. The up-and-comer made the most of a clean start and some caution-free racing to showcase the skill that led him to a Bondurant Championship title. While a pair of late-race full-course cautions ultimately halted his charge forward, Alberico secured a strong fifth place finish when the checkered flag waved.
"The whole week was a struggle for track time with red flags in qualifying, and both races finishing under yellow," stated Alberico. "Despite all the on track chaos, I feel we made a ton of progress as a team, and we just need to continue to work hard to get ourselves ahead. Everyone did a stellar job all week long, and we are all very excited for St. Pete. Overall a positive weekend."
Alberico wastes no time resuming his chase for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda title, with Rounds Three and Four being contested alongside the IZOD IndyCar Series this coming weekend (March 24-25) on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The JDC MotorSports rookie enters the doubleheader seventh in the early season point standings. Live timing and scoring will be available at www.f2000.com/Multimedia/Live.aspx
Those interested in supporting Alberico's rise up the motorsports ladder are encouraged to contact Neil Alberico directly at nalberico@comcast.net.
Learn more about Neil Alberico at neilalberico.com and keep up to date via Twitter @ NeilAlberico and his Facebook page @ Neil-Alberico-Racing
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About Neil Alberico:
A native of Los Gatos, Calif., Alberico first started racing karts at the age of 10, competing in IKF region 11 action. Over the course of four seasons (2004-07), the young talent captured the Junior Sportsman, Junior Super Sportsman, and Junior Puma championship titles. In 2008, Alberico first got behind the wheel of a race car, graduating from the Skip Barber 2-day Advanced school at Laguna Seca prior to participating in the Formula BMW recruitment day at Miller Motorsports Park. Continuing to race in the karting ranks while raising funds to pursue a career in motorsports, Alberico won the Snap-On Stars of Karting Series National finale in Las Vegas in 2009, before finishing third in CKI National TAG Senior championship. Alberico built on this success in 2010, winning the TaG Senior class in the WSK North American Series, as well as the Bondurant Championship Race Series, capturing 10 wins in first full season of car competition. As part of the prize package for winning the Bondurant Championship, the teenager tested a Pro Formula Mazda with World Speed Motorsports and a Formula Atlantic Swift 016.a with Finlay Motorsports. In 2011, Alberico made his European racing debut, competing in the world-renowned Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with Irish-based Cliff Dempsey Racing. Finish ninth in his maiden FF season, the Californian earned a Team USA Scholarships. As a Team USA driver, he captured a Semi-Final win and finished third in the historic 40th Formula Ford Festival. Alberico joins the Mazda Road to Indy program in 2012, driving for JDC MotorSports in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda.