SEBRING, Fla. — Quinn Armstrong made up for a disappointing qualifying session on Friday morning by climbing from sixth on the grid to win that afternoon’s opening round of the new USF Juniors presented by Cooper Tires season at Sebring Int’l Raceway.
The Newcastle, Australia, native raced for DEForce Racing.
Polesitter Joey Brienza had to settle for second place, just ahead of Exclusive Autosport teammate Jack Jeffers.
Brienza couldn’t quite match the pace set by Armstrong during the lone official practice session held earlier in the morning in cooler conditions, but when it mattered in qualifying, his time of 2:10.600 was more than a half-second clear of everyone else. Brienza thus claimed his first Cooper Tires Pole Award as well as the honor of leading the way toward the green flag for the 10-lap race.
An impressive start for the field of new Tatuus JR-23 race cars saw four contenders running side by side as they headed toward the dauntingly fast turn one, but it was Brienza who held his nerve and the lead. Jeffers followed in second, while Armstrong somehow managed to muscle his way through to third at the exit.
“Thank God, it’s a wide track,” he said.
Brienza led by more than a second by the completion of the opening lap, but Armstrong continued his march forward, fighting quickly past Jeffers and then making rapid inroads into Brienza’s advantage.
The two leaders were virtually tied together after three laps as they continued to stretch away from Jeffers in third.
Heading down the long Alec Ullman Straight for the sixth time, Brienza’s steering wheel momentarily went blank due to an obscure technical glitch, which in turn caused a balky change into top gear. The brief loss of momentum played into the hands of Armstrong, who drew alongside before the braking area for turn 17 and then moved into the lead for the first time.
The young Australian maintained his advantage until the finish to cement the victory. He also secured the Tilton Hard Charger Award after making up five positions from the start, while DEForce Racing’s David and Ernesto Martinez earned the PFC Award as the winning car owners.
Brienza managed to keep going, despite the intermittent electrical problem which enabled Jeffers to close to within a second at the checkered flag.
Nicolas Giaffone (DEForce Racing) emerged from a thrilling midfield battle to finish fourth ahead of Ethan Barker (VRD Racing), Lucas Fecury (DEForce Racing) and Jimmie Lockhart (VRD Racing).
Two more races on Saturday will complete the opening event of the 16-race season.