MONTEREY, Calif. – Victor Franzoni didn’t win the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, but he was the shining star of the series’ doubleheader weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Brazilian completed a Soul Red Finale sweep of races on the 11-turn 2.238-mile road course, winning Sunday’s second half of the season-ending doubleheader event by 10.1026 seconds.

Related: Martin claims another title for Cape brothers

“It was an amazing weekend,” Franzoni said. “Unfortunately, I lost the championship, but this doesn’t change anything for me. This was my first weekend we did everything. Credit to Arms Up for everything they did for me. I’m really happy and I’m ready for next season.”

Anthony Martin finished second, just ahead of his Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate and title rival Parker Thompson, to lock up the USF2000 championship and a scholarship package from Mazda that will allow him to compete in the Pro Mazda Championship in 2017.

“A lot of pressure is off for sure,” said Martin, who delivered brothers Nicholas and Dominic Cape their sixth straight USF2000 championship and 10^th overall. “I just can’t believe it. From where we’ve come from and what we’ve achieved, it’s quite amazing. I could not have done it without all my sponsors and Cape Motorsports. They’ve do so much for me this year and my career. It’s unbelievable, really.”

With Franzoni driving away from the field in his Arms Up Motorsports car, Martin and Thompson locked in a duel on the first lap that essentially decided the title fight. Thompson made a bid to jump from third to first in the Andretti hairpin. While he cleared Martin, he couldn’t catch Franzoni.

Martin stayed close to his teammate and made a move exiting the Corkscrew and into the first Rainey curve and never really was challenged again. After being crowned the champion, he celebrated in the most Australian way – with shoey, a drink of champagne from his racing boot.

“It wasn’t the flashest taste, but I don’t really care,” he said. “It’s the shoey and Australians do it all the time. I wanted to do something that we do.”

* National Class