Baltimore, Md. – This weekend’s two rounds of the hard-fought Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, held on the challenging 2.04-mile Baltimore Inner Harbor Street Circuit, provided a perfect example of the highs and lows of racing for rising American star Spencer Pigot. On Saturday, all was well with the world as Pigot sped to his sixth victory of the season in the distinctive yellow #2 Team Pelfrey/Doug Mockett & Company/E-merging Technologies/Parathyroid.com/California Scents/Mazda/Cooper Tires Van Diemen-Mazda. Less than 24 hours later, the 18-year-old from Orlando, Fla., experienced the depths of despair as his championship challenge was severely blunted when his Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entry was barged into the wall while trying to negotiate a significantly slower lapped car. Pigot had been running strongly in second place at the time.
Street circuits always provide a tough challenge for drivers, due to the unforgiving walls and constant changes of track surface, and the Baltimore venue which circumnavigates the Oriole’s baseball arena threw in a few extra curve balls due to the late addition of a chicane on Pratt Street following the first USF2000 practice session on Friday morning in which Pigot had set the fastest time. The resulting delay caused qualifying to be canceled and led to the grid for the first of two 30-minute races being set according to championship positions.
Pigot, from second on the grid, took the lead at the first corner on Saturday afternoon when teammate and rival Matt Brabham made a mistake and slid into the escape road. Pigot never looked back, earning his sixth win of the season and closing to within nine points of the championship lead.
Sunday’s race didn’t begin quite so well, as Brabham was able to maintain his lead at Turn One, but Pigot piled on the pressure and remained in close contention until Lap 10 when he was forced into the wall and out of the race while trying to negotiate lapped traffic in Turn Seven.
“We had an up and down weekend here in Baltimore,” said Pigot. “It started off well being P1 in practice. The first race was pretty difficult with the track changes and all of the cautions. I would pull out a good lead and then another full-course yellow would come out, but in the end we were able to hang on for the win. Unfortunately, the second race ended early when I was hit by a car I was lapping. There's still two races left so I'll be ready to go at VIR.”
The USF2000 season will conclude with two races at Virginia International Raceway, in Alton, Va., in two weeks’ time, September 14/15, in support of the American Le Mans Series.
ABOUT SPENCER PIGOT:
Spencer Pigot, 18, won numerous state and national karting championships before graduating to cars in 2009. He won the 2010 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Powered by Mazda, earning a scholarship via the MAZDASPEED Driver Development Program to contest the 2011 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. Pigot finished second in the title-chase with three wins, four poles and a track record to his name, and won five of six races to claim the 2012 Cooper Tires Winterfest mini-series. He also won prestigious Team USA Scholarships both in 2010 and 2011. His goal is to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500. Follow Spencer at www.spencerpigot.com or on Facebook (Spencer Pigot Racing) and Twitter (@spencerpigot).