Breakout Weekend for Giannetta: Pole, First Podium, and a Career-Best P2 at Mid-Ohio

Ryan Giannetta turned in the strongest weekend of his USF2000 career at Mid-Ohio over the Fourth of July, taking his first-ever pole position, surviving a chaotic opening race, and closing the doubleheader with a career-best P2 finish and fastest lap.

Race One: Pole to P4 in a Wild Opener

Giannetta qualified on pole for the first time in his USF2000 career, edging out Anthony Martella and Liam Loiacono, but Friday's race unraveled into one of the messiest of the season. Martella and Loiacono both got by Giannetta early, and moments later the two title contenders made contact fighting for the lead, taking each other out entirely. A power outage then triggered a 30-minute red flag before Eddie Beswick emerged to win, with Giannetta recovering to finish fourth after a late scrap with Brad Majman — still his best result of the season at that point.

Race Two: A Career-Best Runner-Up

Saturday told a very different story. Martella controlled the shortened 15-lap race from pole, but Giannetta hounded him the entire way, setting the fastest lap of the race in the process. It was enough to secure his first USF2000 podium, and his best finish yet for VRD Racing.

Giannetta couldn't hide his excitement afterward: "My first podium. There is nothing like it. I am so happy to be up here... We are really putting it together being P2 this race and taking the pole. I am super, super excited".

Ryan now sits seventh in the USF2000 standings with 139 points as the series heads to Portland International Raceway on August 6-9.

Full race reports: USF2000.com – Beswick Wins Incident-Strewn Race | USF2000.com – Martella Claims Third Win | Feeder Series Weekend Review