SEBRING, Fla. – Scott Hargrove took the opening round of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda at Sebring International Raceway on March 14.

Hargrove, 18, from Vancouver, B.C., Canada., qualified Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 38 entry on pole with a new lap record and finished the all-green 12-lap race almost seven seconds before second-place.

“I am kind of speechless about how the race went," Hargrove said. "The car was just phenomenal; this whole week has been phenomenal. The Cape Motorsports guys have given me an awesome package.

FULL RESULTS

"Coming into this week I had a lot of confidence from the Cooper Tires Winterfest, and having a win in the regular season means a lot.”

Fellow Canadian Garett Grist (No. 7 DaVinci Foods with Andretti Autosport) finished second from qualifying ninth after passing third-place finisher Danilo Estrela (No. 11 Belardi Auto Racing) on the very last lap.

Front row starter and Cooper Tires Winterfest champion Neil Alberico suffered a mechanical problem after the opening lap of the race. A total of eight different teams were represented among the top-10 finishers.

In the National Class Presented by SCCA Enterprises, Alliance Autosport’s Scott Rettich, 28, of Camden, Ohio, drove to victory in the No. 71 PDI Communication Systems/Springboro Car Wash entry.

“It was a great race for us," Rettich said. "The Alliance Autosport team gave me an incredible car and I just kept pushing hard. I was out there a little bit by myself but nevertheless, it was a lot of fun. I was pushing hard to challenge myself and post strong, consistent laps.”

Additional awards included the PFC Award presented to winning car owners Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing and Alliance Autosport, the Staubli Award presented to Hargrove and the National Class Masters Award Presented by Elite/Comprent to Rettich.

Friday’s Race 2 in support of the 61st Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida will take place at 10:40 am ET. Live timing can be found at www.usf2000.com/Multimedia/Live.