There was no stopping Liam McNeilly in this weekend’s Continental Tire USF2000 Grand Prix of Louisiana. McNeilly, from London, England, will doubtless enjoy celebrating his 19th birthday celebration later this week after earning a perfect score of 99 points at NOLA Motorsports Park for his Jay Howard Driver Development team. McNeilly won all three races from the pole position and with fastest race laps – plus a new lap record – to boot.

McNeilly has now won all five races to commence the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire title-chase – one shy of the start-of-season record of six consecutive wins established in 2020 by current NTT IndyCar Series driver Christian Rasmussen, who went on to win the championship for the same JHDD team.

Thomas Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, also enjoyed a successful day with a pair of second-place finishes for VRD Racing. Evan Cooley (Exclusive Autosport), from Mokena, Ill., and G3 Argyros (Pabst Racing), from Newport Beach, Calif., shared the third-place finishes.

McNeilly established a new qualifying lap record en route to securing his third Continental Tire Pole Award of the young season during qualifying on Saturday morning, comfortably clear of Cooley and Schrage.

McNeilly could afford to be a little conservative on the opening lap, so Cooley took full advantage by sweeping past into the lead at Turn 1 on the opening lap. No problem. A lap and a half later, McNeilly calmly out-braked his rival on the inside line heading into Turn Nine at the end of the back straightaway.

McNeilly’s progress was stymied shortly afterward when the only full-course caution of the race came following a clash farther down the field. Again, no problem. A good early jump saw McNeilly soon well clear of his rivals, extending his margin to almost six seconds by the finish.

Once again, Schrage was the man on the move. After rising from 10th on the grid to third on Saturday, Schrage fell from third to fourth on the opening lap this morning, but didn’t stay there for long. He swooped past Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, on the outside line into Turn One at the restart, with seven laps in the books, and three laps from the finish usurped Jeffers’ teammate, Cooley, from second with a fine move to the inside under braking at the same corner.

Pabst Racing’s Caleb Gafrarar, from Charlotte, N.C., finished close behind Cooley, but Jeffers’ streak of three second-place finishes came to an end as he struggled to hold off DEForce Racing’s young Colombian, Sebastian Garzon, in the closing stages.

Gafrarar’s performance was especially noteworthy given that he had started from 10th on the grid, thereby earning his first Tilton Hard Charger Award of the season.

McNeilly claimed another Continental Tire Pole Award for the final race of the weekend, by courtesy of the fact his second-best lap from the second qualifying session was faster than everyone else.

The first lap was run under yellow flags due to a problem for DEForce Racing’s Brady Golan, from Austin, Texas, who headed directly to the pit lane. Thereafter, no one could hold a candle to McNeilly. He completed the first green-flag lap a full 1.1s clear of Schrage, and proceeded to extend his margin with every passing lap of the 2.74-mile road course situated just a few miles from downtown New Orleans, La. His eventual margin of victory was a convincing 7.7085s.

Argyros kept the pressure on Schrage without ever quite getting into position to attempt a pass, while the pair of Exclusive Autosport cars of Cooley and Jeffers followed at a respectful distance in fourth and fifth. Teddy Musella, from Orlando, Fla., finished sixth for VRD Racing.

Colombian Sebastian Garzon made up five positions from his grid placing of 13th to secure the Tilton Hard Charger Award, while Jay Howard once again scooped both PFC Awards as the winning team owner.

USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire will return to action at the Indianapolis Grand Prix road course on May 8-10, in support of the NTT IndyCar Series, when McNeilly will look to extend his championship lead in the virtual backyard of his JHDD team’s Carmel, Ind., base.