IndyCar’s junior series commanded the attention this weekend on their annual trip to Portland. Feeder Series reviews all the action from USF Pro 2000 and USF2000.

By Feeder Series

It’s relatively rare for a single continent to have all the action we cover in one weekend, and for that continent not to be Europe. Yet an unusual gap for most championships this weekend gave Indy NXT, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000 almost undivided attention among feeder series viewers, with even most other major racing series not holding events. We’ll cover Indy NXT tomorrow, so keep reading to find out what happened in the four USF races.

Nordic 4 was in action over in Norway, with Richard Olson again the man to beat in qualifying. He went on to win race one, followed by Mads Hoe and Rosanne den Drijver, who started in eighth after being disqualified from qualifying. Elias Adestam continued his strong form from the Kinnekulle Ring by winning race two, and Olson won again in race three. An unexpectedly poor weekend for Mattias Stigsen left him with no podiums for the first time this season, and he now trails Olson by 35 points in the standings with two rounds remaining.

SMP F4 also held its third round of 2026 at Igora Drive, where Ivan Pigaev put together his strongest performance of the season yet. The Iteco Racing driver took both pole positions and won the second and third races of the weekend, finishing fifth in race one and second in race four. Vladimir Verkholantsev triumphed in the opening contest to close down on points leader Platon Kostin, but the onetime Van Amersfoort Racing driver retained his advantage by finishing all four races in the top five. Egor Stepanov-Kim won race four.

USF Pro 2000: Argyros and Escorpioni share wins as Jeffers loses ground in title fight

Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros and Turn 3 Motorsport’s Leonardo Escorpioni were victorious in USF Pro 2000’s Portland weekend as incidents and penalties throttled title contender Jack Jeffers of Exclusive Autosport.

Escorpioni topped qualifying on Friday ahead of Jeffers and Argyros, but when race one began, the polesitter Escorpioni ran deep into the first turn and took to the run-off area, giving Argyros the lead. Jeffers slowed down to avoid the Turn 3 Motorsport driver, but Sebastian Manson hit him from behind, detaching his rear wing. Jeffers was forced to retire, while Manson rejoined in 13th after changing his front wing.

Escorpioni had fallen from first to eighth after his off-track excursion, and his day worsened when he ran wide in Turn 11 on lap eight, falling to 11th place. On lap 14 the Brazilian was handed a lifeline as Teddy Musella experienced electrical issues and stopped on track, bringing out the first caution period.

Argyros led the restart on lap 18 ahead of Aitken – who qualified a career-best fourth after switching from VRD Racing to Pabst – and Cárdenas. On lap 23, Frankie Mossman stopped on track, bringing out the second caution period.

With five laps to go, the race restarted, and Christian Cameron snatched third from Cárdenas. A charging Escorpioni attempted to follow, but his ambitious move at Turn 7 went wrong and he took Cárdenas out.

The running order up front remained unchanged for the race-ending two-lap sprint. Argyros won; Aitken, in his first race with Pabst, finished second; and Christian Cameron came home third. Escorpioni finished fourth on track but received a 30-second post-race penalty and a three-place grid penalty for race two for the collision with Cárdenas. Nine cars finished the race.

Jeffers inherited race two pole through Escorpioni’s penalty. Just as in race one, the polesitter had to take to the run-off, this time because Cárdenas locked up under braking and tapped Jeffers’ rear. While Jeffers suffered no damage this time, he fell from first to fifth.

Cárdenas retained the lead, though that quickly became a virtual advantage after he received a 10-second time penalty for the incident. In the end, it didn’t matter. Cárdenas slowed with a mechanical problem on lap 13 and retired, passing the baton to Escorpioni, who had made his way to the front after falling back to seventh on lap one. 

Musella suffered another mechanical problem on lap 18, bringing out the race’s only caution. Escorpioni romped away after the restart on lap 21 to secure his fifth win of the season, while Jeffers bided his time before taking second from Aitken on the front straight on lap 27.

The Exclusive Autosport driver, however, received a five-second time penalty for blocking. That dropped him to fourth and promoted Argyros to second and Aitken to third, the pair having swapped positions at Turn 10 on the final lap. 

With his race two victory, Escorpioni extended his lead over Jeffers to 24 points, while Argyros has settled into third, 43 points behind Escorpioni.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Leonardo Escorpioni, 1:07.2548	Jack Jeffers, +0.2333s	G3 Argyros, +0.2577s
Race 1 (30 laps)	G3 Argyros, 39:31.1722	Colin Aitken, +0.5929s	Christian Cameron, +0.8393s
Race 2 (30 laps)	Leonardo Escorpioni, 36:14.6465	G3 Argyros, +7.0843s	Colin Aitken, +7.5706s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Leonardo Escorpioni, 276	Turn 3 Motorsport, 290	Leonardo Escorpioni, 276
P2	Jack Jeffers, 252	Pabst Racing, 222	Jack Jeffers, 252
P3	G3 Argyros, 233	Exclusive Autosport, 219	G3 Argyros, 233
P4	Frankie Mossman, 193	VRD Racing, 177	Andrés Cárdenas, 191
P5	Andrés Cárdenas, 191	TJ Speed Motorsports, 146	Thomas Schrage, 177
P6	Thomas Schrage, 177	JHDD powered by ECR, 130	Teddy Musella, 149
P7	Michael Costello, 166	Comet/NCMP Racing, 27	Christian Cameron, 144
P8	Teddy Musella, 149	FatBoy Racing!, 12	Colin Aitken, 135
P9	Brady Golan, 147		JT Hoskins, 106
P10	Christian Cameron, 144		Mayer Deonarine, 51

Read the previous round’s report here.

USF2000: Wheldon sweeps the weekend as Garzón extends championship lead

VRD Racing’s Oliver Wheldon dominated the USF2000 weekend at Portland, taking pole position and bringing home the first and second race wins of his USF2000 career. 

In qualifying, Wheldon secured the top spot by just 0.0134 seconds, finishing ahead of the Pabst Racing duo of Brad Majman and Eddie Beswick. Ryan Giannetta lined up in fourth and championship leader Sebastián Garzón qualified in fifth.

Wheldon held on to the lead at the start of race one, though racing action was short-lived as four cars suffered race ending damage in turn one. Exclusive Autosport teammates and brothers Gabriel Cahan and Ayrton Cahan made contact with each other as they navigated the chicane, forcing the former to retire from the race. 

Behind them, Cal Peter drove into the back of Connor Aspley and took an already spinning Thomas Nordquist out along the way. Peter was handed a 30-second time penalty and a three-place grid drop for race two.  

When the race got back underway on lap seven, Beswick snatched the lead from Wheldon into Turn 10. This left the VRD driver vulnerable to Evan Cooley, who moved up into second place into Turn 1. Unfortunately for the Exclusive Autosport driver, that hard work was undone on lap 12 as he was forced to pit with front wing damage whilst battling Wheldon for second, putting him one lap down.

The race was completely turned upside down when Beswick retired from the race lead on lap 18 with a suspension failure, handing the lead back to Wheldon and bringing out the second caution of the race. Teammate Majman spun simultaneously at Turn 1 while attempting a pass on Exclusive’s Martella.

After the race got back underway on lap 22, Wheldon stormed to his first USF2000 victory ahead of Anthony Martella, who went from eighth to second. Gianetta finished third, his second straight podium after his second place in race two at Mid-Ohio. João Vergara finished in fourth, and Wesley Gundler got his best result of the year in fifth.

DEForce Racing’s Garzón was running in fifth place until a late-race spin through Turns 10 and 11 saw the Colombian drop to the back of the field. He eventually finished 14th, which enabled title rival Brad Majman, who finished in sixth place, to claw back some points.

Race two was considerably less chaotic but no less dramatic, especially for the championship picture. Wheldon led every lap with Garzón finishing in second, the pair leading through a race with two cautions. The first was on lap 14 after Martella, running third, stopped on track, and the second was for Nordquist, who got stuck on the kerb in Turn 2 on lap 23. 

After Martella’s retirement, third was more contested. Majman finished third on track but received a 10-second post-race time penalty for avoidable contact with Giannetta at Turn 2 during the final-lap restart. This promoted Cooley to his fifth podium of the season. 

By dropping to 13th, Majman now sits 29 points behind Garzón with five races to go.

Report by Vincent van der Hoek

Results	P1	P2	P3
Qualifying	Oliver Wheldon, 1:11.0033	Brad Majman, +0.0134s	Eddie Beswick, +0.0156s
Race 1 (25 laps)	Oliver Wheldon, 36:51.5009	Anthony Martella, +1.3019s	Ryan Giannetta, +1.5501s
Race 2 (25 laps)	Oliver Wheldon, 32:37.7096	Sebastián Garzón, +0.5649s	Evan Cooley, +3.0368s

Standings	Drivers	Teams	Rookies
P1	Sebastián Gárzon, 298	Pabst Racing, 319	João Vergara, 207
P2	Brad Majman, 269	Exclusive Autosport, 294	Oliver Wheldon, 197
P3	Eddie Beswick, 230	VRD Racing, 276	Ayrton Cahan, 151
P4	João Vergara, 207	DEForce Racing, 213	Gabriel Cahan, 150
P5	Evan Cooley, 203	PFH Racing, 82	Wesley Gundler, 143
P6	Oliver Wheldon, 197	ENVE Motorsports, 80	Liam Loiacono, 111
P7	Anthony Martella, 183	JHDD powered by ECR, 78	Lucas Nanji, 100
P8	Ryan Giannetta, 173	Zanella Racing, 40	Thomas Nordquist, 82
P9	Ayrton Cahan, 151	Olivia Racing, 15	Jack Mohrhardt, 76
P10	Gabriel Cahan, 150		Callahan Peter, 72

Read the previous round’s report here.

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker