Nicolas Giaffone became the first USF Juniors driver to take his second win of the season this afternoon at Barber Motorsports Park when he held off DEForce Racing teammate Quinn Armstrong to win the first race of the day.

Giaffone qualified on the pole for both USF Juniors races at Barber this weekend. From the first drop of the green flag, he pulled away from the competition to take the championship lead.

The only incidents came on the opening lap. Hudson Schwartz found his way in the gravel trap off of turn one after making contact with another car. While Schwartz would finish the race, Jack Jeffers would be less lucky as he would go off the course in turn five and have an early end to his day.

DEForce Racing had a great showing in the first race, with Lucas Fecury rounding out the podium.

Joey Brienza, who solely led the championship heading into this race, finished in fourth position. Brienza will share the championship lead with Giaffone, as both drivers will be level on 105 points.

Getting his second straight top-5 finish, Jimmie Lockhart finished in fifth place. Lockhart was the highest-finishing driver for Velocity Racing Development.

The full unofficial results are as follows:
1 Nicolas Giaffone
2 Quinn Armstrong
3 Lucas Fecury
4 Joey Brienza
5 Jimmie Lockhart
6 Ethan Ho
7 Max Taylor
8 Erick Schotten
9 Ethan Barker
10 Brady Golan
11 Juan Felipe Pedraza
12 Carson Etter
13 Giovanni Cabrera
14 Hudson Schwartz (2 laps down)
15 Jack Jeffers (did not finish)

The next race for USF Juniors will be at 5:15 p.m. Eastern, where Giaffone will start on the pole for race 2.