USF2000 championship blown wide open at Sonoma

Very rarely is there a time in motorsports when a championship lead is vanished before the last race of the season.

But it happened today.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda had such a shake-up when championship leader Florian Latorre and championship contender RC Enerson made contact at the second corner, sending Latorre into the tire barrier and out of the race.

Enerson led at the restart and never looked, leading all 15 laps back as he claimed his fifth victory of the season in the USF2000 championship.  Enerson won over Aaron Telitz in second, championship contender Jake Eidson in third and Peter Portante in fourth.

Latorre and Enerson were heading into the second turn with Enerson on the inside.  Contact between the two of them sent Latorre into the tire barrier and Latorre was out on the spot.

Portante was the next biggest story of the race, charging hard to get up to a podium position but could not get around Eidson in time.  Portante did earn the point for having the fastest lap in the race as consolation.

The championship battle tightened up a bunch as Latorre’s first finish below 7th place this season cut his lead from 31 over Eidson to just 4 over Enerson as Enerson jumped Eidson in the standings.  Eidson may have fallen to third in the standings, but is now only 10 points behind Latorre as they head into the final race of the season tomorrow.

The final race of the USF2000 championship is tomorrow at 11:05 Pacific time.