Garett Grist, No. 7 DaVinci Foods
Grist captured his first career USF2000 win after starting from the pole position during Race Three today at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The 18-year-old from Grimsby, Ontario moves to third in the championship points standings.
"It was a big win. I didn't think we were going to get back to green at one point with all the cars in the wall, but once we got back to green Scott (Hargrove) got me on the restart and I knew we had to get him back. We had a good car yesterday and the car was very good again today - I knew we had to make the pass stick. I want to thank Scott for giving me the room and not putting me in the grass. It feels really good to be on the podium; I think we could have already had one this weekend but it's good to get it now. Next is Laguna Seca which is a new track for most of us. I just have to keep working on my driving, I know we have a good car so it's mostly on me. A huge thank you to DaVinci Foods, Sofina Foods, Lander Property Management, Alpine Stars and the Andretti Autosport guys for helping me capture my first victory."
Austin Cindric, No. 77 Nightrain
Coming to the twin checkers in ninth place was 14-year-old Austin Cindric. The third race of the weekend marks Cindric's best career finish to date.
"Today as a great race for all the Andretti Autosport USF2000 cars. Garett (Grist) came home with a win, Luca (Forgeois) had a good run going for him and I had my first top 10 of the season. I want to thank Andretti Autosport and Nightrain clothing, all the guys for helping me out. We made some good passes and the car was great all weekend. Looking forward to Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca."
Luca Forgeois, No. 8 Cafe Noir/Splashlight
Forgeois was seen as high as eighth place during the final race on the 13-turn permanent road course. The 18-year-old New Yorker crossed the finish line in 14th - up 11 spots from his starting position of P25.
"We started pretty far back in the field after missing one of our qualifying laps; we had a tough race yesterday, so we didn't set a time. There was a huge crash on the start, and luckily we avoided it and didn't have any crash damage. After the restart, we tried to maintain our pace and had a bit of a hard time - some driver issues and a bit of setup issues. Overall we learned a lot; we can take what we learned here and move forward."