BY JONATHAN GRACE
PORTLAND, Ore. – A pair of perfect races during the USF Juniors presented by Continental Tire’s season finale tripleheader weekend at Portland International Raceway secured Leonardo Escorpioni the 2025 drivers’ title with one race to spare.
Escorpioni racked up a season-high six wins with as many pole positions to accompany a staggering 14
podium finishes throughout the 16-round championship this season, ultimately putting the final touches on his championship run with his Race 2 victory at PIR and fending off title rival Liam Loiacono, who finished second in the points.
A late-season charge from Jay Howard Driver Development’s Loiacono pitted him and Escorpioni against one another for the championship heading into the season’s tripleheader finale. However, a statement weekend from the eventual champion ended the title fight with one race remaining, despite strong opposition.
“Before the first two races [in Portland], it was so stressful,” Escorpioni told TrackSide Online. “The nerves you feel sitting in the car are on another level. Fighting for the championship and knowing that it’s racing, and anything can happen, and anything can go wrong.
“Now, to finally have clinched it, feels amazing.”
The 15-year-old Brazilian felt that his odds at fighting for this year’s title in the first rung of the USF Pro ladder were strong.
Escorpioni secured the drivers’ title in just his second season in the series after a 2024 debut season that
yielded the Brazilian driver eight top-ten finishes, including a second-place finish at Virginia International
Raceway and a pole position in the final round of the season in Portland.
He also came into this season with winning momentum after emerging victorious in the 2025 YACademy winter series for USF Juniors with Zanella before the USF Juniors calendar got underway in Louisiana.
“I had some feeling that we were going to be really competitive,” Escorpioni said. “But I didn’t think we were going to be this good, honestly. The whole team worked so hard for this, and I’m so happy to be able to give them the championship.
“I’ve been part of the team for a really long time, and to see how we’ve progressed, not only me, as a driver, but as a team. I’m impressed with everything.
“The team taught me to have patience, and I think that’s what helped me the most. I wasn’t always the quickest [driver], and some of the others were quicker than me during some races, but I kept my head calm, and the wins came and the podiums came. I never tried to do too much and try to get involved in a wreck, and it was awesome.
“Patience this year was the keyword for the team and for me.”
The Florida resident also felt that 2025 being his second season in both the series and in on-track competition beyond karting, paid dividends in terms of his mindset surrounding the championship and approaching race results.
“Last year was my rookie year in car racing,” Escorpioni said. “If you’d ask me last year, ‘What would you
rather do? Fight for a win or the championship?’ I would say the win.
“Of course, I want to go out and win now, but it’s a totally different mindset. Now all I think about is the
championship and how I can score as many points as I can in each race and to go out and win the
championship, not just to win a race.”
Escorpioni felt strongly that this championship-focused mindset and the patience instilled in him by his Zanella Racing team were two of the driving forces behind his success this season. This was no more evident than in the way the title battle unfolded, with Escorpioni overcoming multiple title rivals en route to his end-of-season hardware.
Joao Vergara came out of the gate as the first USF Juniors race winner in 2025, securing victory in Race 1 at NOLA Motorsports Park, before Escorpioni countered with his first win of the season in Race 2, taking early control of the points lead in the process.
He would extend his points advantage at Barber Motorsports Park, sweeping the first two races from pole
position, with fastest race laps in each before a podium finish in Race 3.
Once taking control of the points standings in Alabama, Escorpioni wouldn’t relinquish it, despite strong threats from Loiacono, Vergara, and Ty Fisher, who all secured race wins this season, and from Oliver Weldon with his seven podium finishes in the first half of the season.
While Loiacono swept the tripleheader weekend at Road America, elevating himself from fifth to second in the standings to challenge Escorpioni, the Zanella driver kept himself in contention, securing a pair of podium finishes and a top-five despite difficult qualifying sessions.
The newly minted series champion said his climb up the order in all three races of Road America weekend helped give him momentum into a crucial Portland weekend with the title on the line.
Road America proved to be a pivotal weekend in the championship, with the then-title-contending Vergara, Oliver Wheldon, and Ty Fisher all suffering difficult weekends, allowing Escorpioni to extend his advantage after his trio of comeback drives.
“In Road America. We had a pretty bad qualifying, and something broke in the car. We qualified P17, and after all three races, I finished fourth, second, and second.
“Coming into Portland, it was a complete head-turner and a boost of confidence because I know I was there in past weekends because of speed, but now I know that even starting from the back, I have the pace to challenge for podiums, even starting in the back.
“That just gave me a high boost of confidence moving forward and coming here [to Portland].”
Escorpioni would return to victory lane in Portland after surviving a chaotic opening race of the weekend, which saw the Brazilian survive contact and a subsequent near full-field incident on a restart to take his fifth win of the season.
His momentum would continue in Race 2, though the advantages he held over the feudal would twice be
erased under full-course caution conditions. Though the race finished under caution after a late-race collision, Escorpioni would take both the race win and secure his championship behind the safety car, halting a challenge from Loiacono, who finished second after making up ground in the race after starting sixth.
Escorpioni’s title-winning effort also helped his Zanella Racing squad to a comfortable teams’ championship, 123 points clear of VRD Racing. At this past week’s USF Pro Champions Celebration, Zanella’s Ernie Gonella collected this year’s Marelli Engineer of the Year, with Mimo Tomasello taking home the Makita Tools Mechanic of the Year and Diego Guiot winning the Tilton Hard Charger Award.
Escorpioni’s USF Juniors championship earns him a seat on the USF2000 grid next year through a $249,675 scholarship to help him advance up the USF Pro ladder.
“It takes a big stress off my dad,” Escorpioni said of his prize earnings. “Right now, my dad pays for the
majority of my racing.
“The scholarship money helps us so much moving forward in the future because it continues to let me do what I love doing, and it gives me the opportunity to go out and challenge for one more.”
“My goal right now is to win every step on the ladder all the way to Indy NXT and get all the way to IndyCar. I’m ready for it.”
Final Standings 2025 USF Juniors Championship
| Pos. | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leonardo Escorpioni | 403 |
| 2 | Liam Loiacono – R | 332 |
| 3 | Joao Vergara | 292 |
| 4 | Ty Fisher – R | 285 |
| 5 | Oliver Wheldon – R | 250 |
| 6 | Rodrigo Gonzalez | 235 |
| 7 | Vilho Aatola – R | 234 |
| 8 | Patricio Gonzalez | 208 |
| 9 | Diego Guiot | 198 |
| 10 | Brenden Cooley – R | 166 |
| 11 | JT Hoskins | 149 |
| 12 | Michael Suco | 139 |
| 13 | Connor Aspley – R | 110 |
| 14 | Matan Achituv – R | 109 |
| 15 | Emma Scarbrough – R | 92 |
| 16 | Kaylee Countryman – R | 89 |
| 17 | Thomas Nordquist – R | 81 |
| 18 | Hudson Potter | 77 |
| 19 | Karel Staut – R | 61 |
| 20 | Maddie Colleran – R | 58 |
| 21 | Colin Aitken – R | 53 |
| 22 | Rahim Alibhai – R | 45 |
| 23 | Harry Moss – R | 39 |
| 24 | Justin Di Lucia – R | 25 |
| 25 | Lincoln Day – R | 24 |
| 26 | Chase Fernandez – R | 17 |
| 27 | Harley Keeble – R | 12 |