ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing continued its winning tradition as its drivers finished first, second and fifth in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda “Night Before the 500.”
Matthew Brabham (No. 83) started the race from the pole position (his third of the season). His pole was the seventh straight pole at Lucas Oil Raceway (O’Reilly Raceway Park) for the team.
He was able to hold off teammate Spencer Pigot (No. 2) in the first lap, but an early incident put the race under caution for the first 19 laps. When the race went green, the two battled for the lead for the next seven laps, but Pigot overtook Brabham on Lap 27 and held him off until the checkered flag.
“It's been a fantastic week in Indy for me,” Pigot said. “It's very special to get the win at the “Night Before the 500” event, it's like our own mini 500, and it's a race I really wanted to win. It was a very difficult race. Matt and I were running side-by-side for a while.
I was able to get fully past him and the car was awesome which allowed me to pull away a bit. I have to thank my mechanic Will (Paul), Dominic, Nicholas and everyone at Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing for the effort they put in this week and the car they gave me.
"To make it even better I was introduced in front of the crowd before the start of the Indy 500 as a winner which was very cool.”
Although he finished second, Brabham was pleased with his results.
“I am happy with my first oval race,” Brabham said. “It was lots of fun. I had a good battle with Spencer most of the race and we were running side-by-side. It was very exciting and, unfortunately, I made a little bit of contact and bent my steering and it was out for the rest of the race. I still had a pretty good pace, and I am happy with second. It is good for the championship points, and I am pleased with how it went but I am a bit disappointed about getting second.”
Trent Hindman started the No. 3 machine in fourth and stayed with the leaders for the entire race. He finished fifth.
“I think the weekend couldn't have gone any better for us as a whole,” Hindman said. “I am incredibly happy with my fifth-place finish in my first oval race even though we qualified an even better 4th. We were quite good Friday night and Saturday morning practice, and I was just hoping that we could qualify well to stay out of any trouble for the race. I have to give a massive thanks to Nicholas and Dominic for all of their hard work throughout the weekend. Also, big thanks to Cisco (Francisco Navarro, mechanic) and Ricky and Jordan Taylor. Congrats to Spencer and Matt for their great runs as well. I cannot wait to get back into the car at the series test in a few weeks.”
With his win, Pigot leads Brabham by six points in the driver point standings (146-140).
Former Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing drivers also did well during the Memorial Day weekend. Kasey Kahne won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, Gustavo Yacaman finished fourth in the Firestone Indy Lights Series and Petri Suvanto finished fifth in Star Mazda. JR Hildebrand finished 14th, Josef Newgarden finished 25th and Wade Cunningham finished 31st in the Indy 500.
Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing was formed in 2010 as a partnership between two successful racing entities. With leadership from brothers Nicholas and Dominic Cape, and along with Wayne Taylor and his organization in Indianapolis, the team campaigns cars in the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda and the F1600 Formula F Championship Series. In 2011, the team helped Petri Suvanto claim the driver championship. For more information, please visit www.capemotorsports.com. You can follow the team on Facebook and Twitter for updates (CMwithWTR).
For more information, please contact Nicholas Cape at capemotorsportsnc@gmail.com or +1.727.593.4079.