LEEDS, ALA. – Spencer Pigot remains unbeaten after the opening four rounds of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. It perhaps wouldn’t be entirely true to say that Pigot, 20, from Orlando, Fla., carried on at Barber Motorsports Park where he left off last month in St. Petersburg, Fla., because he had to fight rather harder on this occasion, but after struggling a little during the Thursday test day, he and the Juncos Racing team rose to the challenge and delivered two more accomplished victories.
“When it mattered, when the points were on the line, the car was great and the guys kept working hard,” said Pigot. “We were a bit off in practice, but we never gave up, kept pushing hard, and to come away with two more wins, I couldn’t be happier.”
Pigot’s #7 Doug Mockett & Company/Rising Star Racing/ Vitamin-DPro App/California Scents/OMP car showed uncharacteristically in third place during each of the two test sessions, and placed third again during the lone official practice session on Friday morning. Come qualifying, however, the youngster made full use of a few inspired setup changes by his crew, turning the fastest lap to ensure his third consecutive pole position.
“We knew what we needed from the car,” said Pigot. “It was just finding the right adjustments for this track. We laid it all out on the line for qualifying and just got Scott (Hargrove) for pole position.”
Pigot remained on top form for Saturday morning’s race, fending off a determined challenge from Hargrove to keep his winning streak alive.
Round Four on Sunday once again brought out the best from Pigot, who was obliged to line up on the outside of the front row after the grid was set by each driver’s second fastest lap from the lone qualifying session. Undeterred, Pigot forced his way around the outside of his rival in Turn One, grasped the lead in Turn Two, then held off several forceful attempts by Hargrove to cement his fourth win in as many starts.
“I knew I had to get it done early,” he said. “It’s a difficult track to pass on so if I got the lead then it was all my advantage. I didn’t know how it was going to end up on the exit of Turn One but I just went for it and luckily it stuck. Scott gave me just barely enough room – I think I had a couple of wheels in the grass – so it was good racing through One and Two and then the restart was super-close but I was able to hold him off. It was awesome racing, really hard aggressive stuff – no contact, just really good racing.”
Pigot now holds a commanding lead in the championship after earning a maximum possible 130 points from the first four races. Hargrove and Pigot’s teammate, Kyle Kaiser, are tied for second on 89 points as the series heads next to the newly reconfigured Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 9/10.
Spencer is proud to represent: www.mockett.com; www.vitamin-d-pro.com; www.risingstarracing.com; www.ompamerica.com.
ABOUT SPENCER PIGOT:
Spencer Pigot, 20, won numerous state and national karting championships before moving to cars in 2009. He won the 2010 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Powered by Mazda, earning a MAZDASPEED Driver Development scholarship 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. He also finished second in the 2012 title-chase, winning eight of the 14 races. Pigot was awarded Team USA Scholarships both in 2010 and 2011, and this year has been invited to join the new Rising Star Racing program, also designed to help fund deserving young drivers. His goal is to compete in the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500. Follow Spencer at www.spencerpigot.com or on Facebook (Spencer Pigot Racing) and Twitter (@spencerpigot).
For more information, please email: spencer@spencerpigot.com.