Jack Jeffers claimed his second consecutive win in USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires competition with a thrilling battle in the first of the Cooper Tires Circuit of The Americas Grand Prix tripleheader. Jeffers, 17, from nearby San Antonio, …
Jack Jeffers claimed his second consecutive win in USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires competition with a thrilling battle in the first of the Cooper Tires Circuit of The Americas Grand Prix tripleheader. Jeffers, 17, from nearby San Antonio, entered the weekend tied for second in the championship standings for Exclusive Autosport and now holds a 23-point advantage over third with just two races remaining.
Had Jeffers finished second in Saturday’s 12-lap race around the 3.427-mile, 20-turn road course, DEForce Racing’s Nicolas Giaffone, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, would have accumulated enough points to land the championship title Saturday. Instead, with his third-place finish, Giaffone will head into the second round Sunday with a 64-point advantage and 66 total points possible on the table.
He will need merely to start the first of two races Sunday to clinch the Discount Tire Driver Development Scholarship valued at $241,890 to advance to USF2000 in 2024.
Max Taylor, of Greenwich, Conn., drove a fine race to finish second, notching his second consecutive podium for VRD Racing after a maiden win in the last round at Road America.
Jeffers led the field to the green flag after securing his second Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season with Taylor alongside and DEForce Racing teammates Quinn Armstrong, from Newcastle, NSW, Australia, and Giaffone sharing the second row.
The opening lap started clean but had championship implications as contact occurred between Armstrong and VRD Racing’s Jimmie Lockhart, from Boca Raton, Fla., who started fifth, sent Armstrong into the pits with a cut tire. Armstrong, who entered the weekend tied on points with Jeffers, fell to the back of the field and eventually finished 14th – dropping to third in the point standings.
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Jeffers lost the lead to Taylor on the second lap, with Taylor eventually building up a gap of 1.018s. But Jeffers continued to whittle away at the margin and was able to retake the lead on lap 10 which he maintained to the end.
“It feels amazing to win at home,” Jeffers said afterward. “I’ve grown up watching F1 races on this track and watching a bunch of different races, and being able to drive on it is amazing, and better yet, to win on it. It feels special.
“The pass for the win was calculated, and I was planning it ahead of time. I had my crew chief Michael [Duncalfe] on the radio, and Lou [d’Agostino] and Conner [Clubine] telling me how to set it up and I have to thank them for keeping the car good through the entire race. The setup was perfect from start to end. I set the pass up as planned – I knew Turn 1 is a big passing opportunity and it’s a wide track and I knew I could send it in there and I knew he would see me and leave me room. So I sent it down the inside and was able to make the move stick and we were side-by-side through the Esses, but I came out ahead. I truly want to thank Exclusive Autosport, Corpay, and my parents for giving me this opportunity.”
Giaffone had dropped to sixth in the opening tours but was able to regain track positions while also posting the fastest lap of the race.
Filipina Bianca Bustamante, who made a return with Exclusive Autosport prior to the F1 Academy event at COTA in October, took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after a gain of five positions to finish 10th.
Exclusive Autosport’s Michael Duncalfe earned the PFC Award as the winning car owner.
Two races remain on the docket Sunday at 11 a.m. and 3:55 p.m. CDT.
Most young racers can point to the one thing that introduced them to racing. For some, it was a friend’s birthday party at a local karting track; for others, it was a parent-child excursion that turned into an obsession. But for USF Juniors …
Most young racers can point to the one thing that introduced them to racing. For some, it was a friend’s birthday party at a local karting track; for others, it was a parent-child excursion that turned into an obsession. But for USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires rookie Jimmie Lockhart, who currently lies fifth in the 2023 point standings ahead of this weekend’s tripleheader finale at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas, the catalyst was slightly more unusual.
“My family first got into racing because we would always go to the NASCAR races in Daytona and Homestead,” Lockhart explains. “My dad is a yacht captain, and at the time he was the captain of the yacht owned by Brian France (the former CEO and chairman of NASCAR), so we would always get pit passes. That’s where the love for racing came into my family.”
With the racing bug firmly entrenched, the young Lockhart embarked on his own racing journey, starting at the K1 Speed indoor karting center near the family’s home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
At the age of seven, Lockhart and his father, Billy, headed to the karting center at Homestead-Miami Speedway to begin the next steps.
“I would do some local kart racing at Homestead and then, when I was about eight-years old, we started racing all over the U.S.,” recalls Lockhart. “We raced nationally for about four years.”
After winning several championship titles, Lockhart decided to make the move to race cars. He connected with Dan Mitchell of VRD Racing and joined the team to contest the 2021 YACademy Winter Series at Homestead, where he finished fifth. He then spent much of the year testing in preparation for the 2022 season, but the family stepped away from racing for a season due to funding issues.
Lockhart remained committed to his training regimen in anticipation of a return in 2023, and when VRD Racing joined the USF Juniors series, it was a chance for him to step on to the vaunted USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires driver development ladder.
“USF Juniors is the start of the ladder to get into IndyCar, so we thought it was a great place for me to start with a team that I knew very well,” he says. “VRD won the 2022 USF Juniors team championship, so I was ready to get to work both on and off track.”
While contesting the full slate of USF Juniors races, Lockhart also added an F4 US Championship Powered by Honda event at NOLA, near New Orleans, La., with his VRD team. The 16-year old had planned to spend the weekend logging laps, but instead captured a pole position and victories in two of the three races.
Brimming with confidence, Lockhart headed to Sebring for his USF Juniors debut, earning top 10s in all three races, including a podium in race three. He added a third-place finish at Barber Motorsports Park to make it two podiums in the first five races and top 10s in 11 of the 13 races to date.
The highlight so far? That podium in front of the NTT IndyCar Series crowd at Barber.
“It’s been great having the opportunity to get back in the car after a year off,” says Lockhart. “Just being with the team and getting the opportunity to continue what I love to do and race a full season this year. But getting that podium during the IndyCar weekend at Barber was probably my favorite race this year.”
As Lockhart continues to prove himself on the USF Pro Championships ladder, he hopes to maintain his momentum into 2024.
“The biggest challenge so far has been just learning and improving as fast as possible, given the small amount of standalone testing that we’ve done – and being able to compete against people with multiple years of experience in racing. We’re doing everything we can to continue racing, but that has a lot to do with what happens when this season ends as we look for sponsorship backing.”
Lockhart is currently backed by Yacht Next, a company owned by his mother Joanne that specializes in high-end yacht interior design. Joanne is English and father Billy American, giving Lockhart dual British and U.S. citizenship. With both parents involved in yachting, does the young Lockhart have any interest in a different form of racing?
“I did some sailing as a kid, but not for very long,” he says. “My dad is still a full-time yacht captain on private super yachts and he travels all over the world, so that’s the only sailing background in our family.”
Catch Jimmie on Instagram and Facebook, and for the latest news and results from USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires, click here.
With three wins in the last six races, Michael d’Orlando (above) has put himself back into the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires championship picture – and seeing the native New Yorker making a late season charge is a déjà vu moment for his …
With three wins in the last six races, Michael d’Orlando (above) has put himself back into the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires championship picture — and seeing the native New Yorker making a late season charge is a déjà vu moment for his competitors.
D’Orlando, who’s currently in his third year at the University of North Carolina studying marketing, came from behind to capture last year’s USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires championship title. That earned him a scholarship that propelled him up the USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires ladder and into USF Pro 2000 this season.
That scholarship meant the difference between competing in 2023 and not, as the d’Orlando family — including brother Nicholas, who has been limited to three races this season — searches for viable sponsors to help the siblings continue their racing careers.
“Without Andersen Promotions and the USF Pro Championships, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to continue racing this year,” says d’Orlando. “My family and I work extremely hard to keep both Nick and myself in race cars, and I race every weekend like it could be my last, enjoying every moment. So far, this year has been a testament to that.”
A multi-time national karting champion, d’Orlando finished in the top four in each of his three full seasons in USF2000 and holds a remarkable finishing record of 39 top-five results from 53 races. He’s the only driver in USF2000 history to earn back-to-back victories in the series’ marquee event, the Freedom 75 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (in 2020 and 2021).
2022 saw d’Orlando engage in a constant battle with eventual runner up Myles Rowe. The championship came down to the season finale, with d’Orlando taking the win to earn the title — the last USF2000 championship for the legendary Cape Motorsports team.
While it’s taken a bit of time for things to come together for d’Orlando this year, including becoming accustomed to a new team in Turn 3 Motorsport (below), it also took until the midway point of the season for him to put a substantial amount of bad luck behind him.
#1 Michael d’Orlando, Turn 3 Motorsport, Focused Project Management,
“It was definitely a tough start to the year,” he says. “I was caught up in incidents in four of the first six races, then had a rough qualifying on the oval. Thankfully, it finally started turning around at Road America, where we were able to start putting it all together. (Team owner) Peter Dempsey and I have had so many conversations about what we can do to have our results show our effort.”
Into the second half of the season, d’Orlando has scored three wins in six races to significantly close the points gap, leaving him only 12 points behind second place. From there, he figures he can begin the charge on Rowe in the top spot, and hopefully duplicate the end result from last year.
Momentum is key to racing and d’Orlando is feeling the pendulum swing toward him as the season hits the home stretch with only a doubleheader at COTA, Aug. 24-27, and the tripleheader finale at Portland, Aug. 31-Sept. 3, remaining. While he knows he has a hill to climb, he has the experience of having overcome the deficit last year front and center in his memory banks.
D’Orlando has faith in his own ability, but also believes the tight competition and rivalry with Rowe can benefit his future. The duo are currently the only two drivers in USF Pro 2000 with multiple victories and pole positions, and both hope to add “d’Orlando and Rowe” to the long list of USF Pro Championships rivalries that have continued into the NTT IndyCar Series — a list that includes Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay and Oliver Askew, and David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood.
“I really believe that Myles and I push each other to be better,” says d’Orlando. “Without the other, I don’t think either one of us would be as good. It’s quite interesting and challenging to battle with someone like him, who’s so competitive. I’m glad I’m back in that position with him and I hope we can find the support to continue this fight.
“I have to say, I wouldn’t be here without the scholarship from USF2000, and support from my sponsor, Priority Technology Holdings, and the Turn 3 team. That combination is what’s allowing me to show what I can do.”
While he strives to continue his 2023 campaign, d’Orlando has the foresight to continue to work on 2024. To that end, he attended the NTT IndyCar Series’ Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville earlier this month to grow his network and to understand the process that makes an Indy NXT and IndyCar Series team work.
“I want to be an IndyCar driver and I won’t stop working toward that,” he explains. “My family doesn’t have the budget that some other drivers have, but I want to be the next young driver who graduates up the ladder from nothing. I want to prove that you can accomplish anything with hard work and talent. I want to prove to myself and to the next generation of young drivers that it’s not all about the money; it’s about heart. A good driver with heart will outperform any other driver. I don’t care how long it takes.”
As the season heads toward its conclusion, d’Orlando hopes to be out on track and continue what he knows is a burgeoning rivalry.
“I think that if you look at the timing sheets throughout the year,” he says, “the two drivers who continuously appear at the top are me and Myles — it’s just been time and place misfortune for us this year, with all the incidents that have happened to us. But we just have to keep pushing, keep putting ourselves in the best position. We know we have the pace.”
Learn more about Michael at michaeldorlando.com, and for the latest news and results from USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, click here.
Young Americans Jack Jeffers and Max Taylor each claimed a race win today during the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America, while Brazilian rookie Nicolas Giaffone took another big step toward the USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires championship …
Young Americans Jack Jeffers and Max Taylor each claimed a race win today during the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America, while Brazilian rookie Nicolas Giaffone took another big step toward the USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires championship crown with a pair of second-place finishes.
Exclusive Autosport’s Jeffers led Giaffone (DEForce Racing) to the checkered flag in the opening race this morning by 0.692s. A little later in the day, Taylor (VRD Racing) was adjudged to have been narrowly in front of Giaffone when the yellow flags waved following an incident at the infamous Kink and the race was concluded under caution. Jimmie Lockhart (VRD Racing) and Jeffers both scored a third -place finish.
Four different leaders during this morning’s 10-lap race around the fast and challenging 4.014-mile Road America circuit ensured an exciting start to the day. It began with Jay Howard Driver Development’s series debutant Ayden Ingratta at the front of the field as a result of having posted the quickest of all drivers’ second-fastest laps during the lone qualifying session on Saturday. But the Cooper Tires Pole Award winner was quickly swallowed up in the snarling pack before his race was ended prematurely following contact with a rival and a spin at Canada Corner.
Early leader Taylor completed each of the first four laps in a different position — first, fourth, third and second — before his race also came to an early conclusion at Turn 3, triggering a brief full-course caution.
A restart with four laps remaining saw Jeffers slip from the lead to third place, although he was able to battle his way back to the front and hold off a late charge from championship leader Giaffone to secure his second win of the season.
“The race went well. We were able to get to the lead really early but, as you know, Road America is big for keeping the battle close because of the huge draft,” said Jeffers. “I fell back to third but fought my way back to first. There was a little bit of a kerfuffle on the restart with me and my team messing up a little bit, but we were able to claw back the gap to the DEForce cars and get by them and ultimately take a last lap move on Jimmie and the win.”
Lockhart matched his career-best finish in third as Brazilian rookie Erick Schotten (Exclusive Autosport) posted by far his most impressive performance of the season by holding off Saturday winner Quinn Armstrong (DEForce Racing for fourth.
Schotten also earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award after having started 11th.
The final race of the weekend saw Giaffone claiming his fifth Cooper Tires Pole Award by virtue of the fact his fastest lap in Race 2 — on the final lap — was quicker than anyone else’s second-best lap set during Saturday qualifying.
A six-car battle for top honors later distilled into a two-horse race as Taylor and Giaffone edged clear of the pack. Taylor took the lead with a bold move to the inside of the championship leader at Turn 14 on lap 9, and even though the Brazilian drafted back past as the two leaders crested the hill as the yellow flags flew, race control determined that Taylor had been in front at the moment the caution was called.
“We started from third so I knew I just had to get a good start. Coming into the race, we had to do a full engine swap actually because we were caught up in an accident in Race 2. So mega props to the team for fixing it so quickly and getting me back out there,” related Taylor. “I wouldn’t be here without them and it is a great feeling. On the last few laps, I knew I had to make a move and I just timed it right with the yellow. I sent in into the last corner and got a good enough exit and held it up the straightaway and got the win.”
A titanic battle for third place went the way of Jeffers after the rapid Ingratta ran wide at Turn 5 and then spun at the Kink as he attempted to make up the lost ground. DC Autosport’s Carson Etter, from Villa Park, Calif., also was involved in the incident which triggered the final caution period.
Lockhart eventually was credited with fourth. He also took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after making up six positions.
The pair of PFC Awards for the winning car owners were shared by Exclusive Autosport’s Michael Duncalfe and VRD Racing’s Dan Mitchell.
Giaffone will head to the series finale, a tripleheader event at Circuit of The Americas in two weeks’ time on August 26-27, with a commanding 72-point lead over Armstrong and Jeffers, who are tied for second. At stake is a Discount Tire Driver Enhancement Scholarship valued at $241,890 to progress onto the next rung on the ladder, USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, in 2024.
Quinn Armstrong sped to his third win of the season and second in succession for DEForce Racing as the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America tripleheader kicked off Saturday afternoon with an eventful 10-lap race. After starting from pole …
Quinn Armstrong sped to his third win of the season and second in succession for DEForce Racing as the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America tripleheader kicked off Saturday afternoon with an eventful 10-lap race. After starting from pole position, Armstrong, from Australia, narrowed the deficit to championship-leading teammate Nicolas Giaffone to 49 points with five races remaining on the season.
The Exclusive Autosport pair of Jack Jeffers and Joey Brienza finished second and third.
The high level of competition in this year’s USF Juniors field already had been amply demonstrated prior to qualifying earlier Saturday afternoon. Carson Etter (DC Autosport), Ethan Barker (VRD Racing) and fellow Texan Jeffers all had enjoyed a share of the limelight by leading one of the three test sessions on Friday, while Saturday morning during official practice it was VRD’s Max Taylor who set the fastest time thus far at 2m15.609s.
When it mattered in qualifying, Armstrong became the fifth different driver – from four different teams – to top the timing charts when he sliced well over 4s from the USF Juniors qualifying lap record to secure his first ever Cooper Tires Pole Award. Armstrong’s best time of 2m15.003s was enough to edge Taylor by a scant 0.072s. The previous mark, using a different equipment package, was established last year by eventual series champion Mac Clark at 2m19.578s.
Armstrong took off into the lead at the start but was unable to break the draft on the long Road America straightaways as Taylor, Hudson Schwartz (VRD Racing), Jeffers and Jimmie Lockhart (VRD Racing) remained close behind during the early stages.
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Taylor took the lead with a nice move under braking for Turn 12, Canada Corner, on the third lap, although Armstrong soon regained the advantage and was out front when the caution flags waved following an incident in the midfield at Turn 5.
“This win is massive,” Armstrong said. “A win is always a big deal but when you can do two in a row, it builds on that confidence. It’s not over yet. We still have five more races left and we have to use this momentum to keep going and keep pushing. I went into today knowing it was going to be a high-speed game of chess with the tow. The restart didn’t make it easy but we managed to pull a bit of a gap with some carnage behind and drove off. We are still taking it race by race. There are so many factors to a championship; it just doesn’t happen overnight. It’s every race.”
Soon after the restart, Jeffers made a move on Taylor for second at Turn 5. Unfortunately, the pair then made contact at the next corner, which left Armstrong with a clear lead which he had no trouble in retaining until the finish.
Taylor was forced to make a pit stop to replace a damaged front wing. Teammate Lockhart also fell out of contention when he lost control and spun while the melee unfolded at Turn 6.
Jeffers was left alone in second, chased by teammate Brienza, who picked up the Tilton Hard Charger Award after having started in ninth.
Barker also profited from the dramas to claim a personal best fourth-place finish, well clear of Giaffone who could only salvage a distant sixth following an incident at the first corner which caused him to fall from fourth to the tail of the field .
DEForce Racing’s David and Ernesto Martinez took home their ninth PFC Award as the winning car owners.
The fastest lap of the race was set impressively by Jay Howard Driver Development’s Ayden Ingratta, from Ruthven, Ont., Canada, who started third on his and the team’s debut but was forced into the pits after making contact with Giaffone at Turn 1 on the opening lap. The former karter returned to finish a lap down in 14th, although will start from the pole position for the first of two more races Sunday at 10:10am CDT. The third and final race will see the green flag at 2:30pm.
There will be two major talking points this weekend as the second season of USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires reaches toward its conclusion with a visit to Road America. The first is whether or not 18-year-old Nicolas Giaffone, from Sao Paulo, …
There will be two major talking points this weekend as the second season of USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires reaches toward its conclusion with a visit to Road America. The first is whether or not 18-year-old Nicolas Giaffone, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, can do enough to clinch the Discount Tire Driver Advancement Scholarship valued at $241,800 to advance to the next step on the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, in 2024.
Interest also will be focused on the series debut of powerhouse junior open-wheel team Jay Howard Driver Development, which will enter a trio of newly acquired Tatuus JR-23 cars as the Brownsburg, Ind.-based organization expands on its portfolio with the ultimate aim of providing a direct path all the way from karting to the NTT IndyCar Series.
With 10 of 16 races this season already in the books, Giaffone, the son of former IndyCar racer Felipe Giaffone, has opened up a substantial lead in the points table, 270-204, over his nearest rival, 16-year-old DEForce Racing teammate Quinn Armstrong, from Australia. Armstrong won the opening race of the season at Sebring and added a second victory at the most recent race last month at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Giaffone, who is contesting his first season of racing in North America after finishing fifth in last year’s Brazilian Formula 4 Championship, has won six races already, along with two additional podium finishes. Three races, each offering a total of 33 points, are on the docket this weekend. Giaffone could possibly clinch the title during the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America, although more likely is that the outcome will be decided during the final tripleheader event at Circuit of The Americas on August 26-27.
The Exclusive Autosport pair of Joey Brienza and Jack Jeffers still retain hopes of prying the championship from Giaffone’s grasp. Each has one win to his credit during their rookie campaigns. Brienza, who claimed a checkered flag at Sebring, currently trails Armstrong by just a dozen points, with Jeffers, a winner at Virginia International Raceway in June, just four points further adrift.
Last year’s event at Road America was dominated by VRD Racing, which swept all three races with three different drivers. VRD will be back with a strong four-car lineup for Jimmie Lockhart, Max Taylor, Ethan Barker and Hudson Schwartz. All are still seeking their first win of the season, although Lockhart, Taylor and Schwartz have all finished on the podium and Barker has come close with a trio of top-six finishes.
As is customary with USF Juniors, the expanded field of 16 drivers will have plenty of time to become fully acquainted with the challenging and fast 4.014-mile Road America circuit, beginning on Friday with three half-hour test sessions.
An additional 30 minutes of official practice at 9:10am CT on Saturday will provide one more opportunity to find pace prior to the all-important single qualifying session at noon. The first of three races will start later in the afternoon at 4:20pm, followed by two more races on Sunday at 10:10am and 2:30pm.
Live streaming coverage can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and the usfjuniors.com website.
The four main American open-wheel training series are hitting the final stretch of their seasons, and there’s good news for IndyCar’s future because breakout talent has emerged across all three tiers of the USF Championships presented by Cooper …
The four main American open-wheel training series are hitting the final stretch of their seasons, and there’s good news for IndyCar’s future because breakout talent has emerged across all three tiers of the USF Championships presented by Cooper Tires.
USF Juniors, the new entry-level series created by Andersen Promotions in 2022, has seen a healthy year-to-year increase in car count and a strong statement being made by 18-year-old Nicolas Giaffone, son of former IndyCar driver Felipe Giaffone.
The Brazilian has taken four poles and six wins from 10 races and amassed a huge 66-point lead over his DEForce Racing teammate Quinn Armstrong from Australia. With two tripleheader events left to run, Giaffone is on pace to earn the champion’s prize that would take him straight to USF2000. A pair of young Americans in Joey Brienza and Jack Jeffers have also won for their Exclusive Autosport team and hold third and fourth in the standings.
Giaffone is making a statement in USF Juniors. Image via USF Pro Championships
Overall, DEForce and its eight-out-of-10 victory strike rate has Giaffone and Armstrong in an advantageous position over the rest of the field, and while it’s still possible for Armstrong to overhaul his teammate, Giaffone is the name making waves in USF Juniors.
USF2000 is another example of one driver and one team making the series its own. American Simon Sikes, who entered the year on financial fumes with Pabst Racing, has won, and won, and continued to win his way forward. Five victories and seven poles from 15 races has the 22-year-old almost within reach of the championship; there’s one weekend and three races left to go at Portland.
While Sikes has been the class of the field with 11 podiums from those 15 races, last year’s USF2000 season finale saw points leader Myles Rowe arrive with a healthy lead over Michael d’Orlando and hand that lead — and the title — over to his closest rival, so it would be premature for Sikes or the Pabst team to ease off the throttle and play it safe in Oregon.
Sikes has been class of the field so far in USF2000. Image via USF Pro Championships
But even if Sikes does keep first place and secure the championship, he won’t be the only USF2000 driver to make headlines in 2023. Lochie Hughes from the Jay Howard Development Drivers team has been Sikes’ steadiest opponent, scoring four wins so far and eight podiums as a rookie.
Hughes needs 69 points to catch Sikes, which is a lot to ask, and behind him, Nikita Johnson is 79 points back; he’s got one win and a bunch of podiums as well. Mac Clark, the inaugural USF Juniors champion, is fourth, has won a pair of races and shown he’s got a ton of potential, and the same goes for fifth-place 15-year-old Cypriot Evagoras Papasavvas, who has a win and a wide-open future in the sport.
Like Giaffone in USF Juniors, USF2000 has been the Simon Sikes Show. But there’s a much deeper pool of talent in pursuit of the Georgian, and for junior open-wheel racing fans, Hughes, Johnson, Clark, and a few more USF2000 kids are worth following because they’ve got something special to refine and show in the coming years.
USF Pro 2000 has been a remarkable thing to follow, and it’s all because of the mounting rivalry between Myles Rowe (main image) and Michael d’Orlando.
Across the four tiers of the American open-wheel training ladder, Rowe’s become the main name and greatest standout among all the drivers. With five victories taken over 13 races, his winning percentage is unmatched in the Pabst Racing with Force Indy entry. And with his five USF2000 wins with Pabst from last year added in, he’s been victorious 10 times from 31 races since 2022.
Rowe’s big performances have created an 81-point lead in the championship – the most of any driver in the USF Championships and Indy NXT. There’s two weekends left to complete and five races spread across Circuit of The Americas and Portland, so like Sikes and like Giaffone, Rowe needs to keep his head down and keep producing points at a steady clip and the title should be resolved in his favor.
And what about d’Orlando? The American and his Turn 3 Motorsports team are giving Pabst the business this year with d’Orlando ranking second in the series with wins, but those three victories have come after the New Yorker got off to a terrible start.
Michael d’Orlando has the speed to cause problems for main rival Myles Rowe, but is needed to recover from a slow start to the season. Image via USF Pro Championships
On an epic rally, d’Orlando is up to fourth in points, 93 down from Rowe. Misfortune found d’Orlando again last weekend right as he was primed to jump to second in the championship on Sunday, but a drivetrain issue dropped him to the back of the field. Ahead of d’Orlando in third is Exclusive Autosport’s Saldavor de Alba from Mexico, who has one win, three podiums, and a 84-point deficit to the championship leader. He’s another one to watch. Highly talented Brazilian Kiko Porto is closest to Rowe with those 81 points to draw down, and he holds second in the standings on the strength of five podiums, but he’s yet to win for his DEForce Racing team.
A nice surprise has been Swedish newcomer Joel Granfors with Exclusive Autosport. Among the better finds of the season, fifth-place Granfors has a win and three podiums. Granfors arrived in Toronto in third place, but a clash on Sunday ended his race with broken suspension and a two-spot drop in the championship.
After Rowe, d’Orlando is the main USF Pro 2000 driver to consider, and regardless of where he places in this year’s standings, the reigning USF2000 champion has the goods to win more titles. If we’re fortunate, the Rowe vs d’Orlando rivalry will continue upwards and onto IndyCar, just as we had with Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward.
Indy NXT by Firestone also has a couple of potential stars brewing, but unlike the USF Championships, IndyCar’s top development category has no clear favorite to claim the title. From the opening half of the season, six drivers have won from seven races; only HMD Motorsports’ Nolan Siegel has won twice, which is making it quite hard to identify a standout in the group.
Last year, Linus Lundqvist put a beating on his rivals with four wins by the halfway point; there was the Swede, gone into the distance, and everybody else in one of the most lopsided seasons on record. The year before, it was a two-driver affair with champion Kyle Kirkwood and his four halfway wins, followed by longtime rival David Malukas, who had four as well and put up a great fight to finish second in the standings. And what about this year? The spotlight is empty.
That’s not to say NXT is lacking in seriously talented drivers, but it’s also fair to say that we aren’t staring at four or five Lundqvists locked in a battle for championship supremacy. It would be great to have a single Lundqvist or Kirkwood emerge from the herd.
There are no runaway favorites in Indy NXT this year, but Nolan Siegel has established himself as one of the standouts. James Black/Penske Entertainment
HMD’s Danial Frost won the first race but hasn’t been near a podium since St. Petersburg. HMD’s Christian Rasmussen won the second race and has been fast and consistent with two more podiums added to his tally. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Matteo Nannini claimed the season’s third race, but it’s his only finish inside the top 10. HMD’s Reece Gold won the next race, and in a growing theme, it’s his only podium visit to date.
Siegel claimed the next two, and Andretti Autosport’s Louis Foster won the last race, which was long overdue for the reigning USF Pro 2000 champion. Andretti’s Hunter McElrea, a pre-season title favorite after winning two races as a rookie, has put his year of NXT experience to good use but hasn’t won, and again, only has one podium to his credit.
Siegel’s championship lead over Denmark’s Rasmussen is down to 16 points, and New Zealand’s McElrea is 39 points shy in third. Foster, who endured a luckless start to his NXT season, might be the readiest of all for IndyCar. The Briton is fourth with a 42-point margin to Siegel and hopes to keep carving into his championship lead. Kentucky’s Jacob Abel, in fifth with his family-run Abel Motorsports team, has shown immense growth in his second year of NXT, and has two podiums, but awaits his first win and has 48 points to find over the next seven races to catch California’s Siegel.
So who will end up owning the 2023 NXT championship?
Speak to IndyCar team owners, and they mention Siegel, Rasmussen, and Foster as the ones they’re currently tracking. But the honest ones will also tell you they’re largely apathetic to what they’ve seen this season in NXT. They’re always on the lookout for homerun hitters, and Giaffone, Sikes, and Rowe are knocking it out of the park in the USF Championships. But they aren’t ready for IndyCar in 2024.
Until someone starts swinging for the fences in NXT and places their stamp of authority on the series, Lundqvist’s successor will remain a mystery. The quest to identify NXT’s next star continues this weekend in Iowa.
USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires championship leader Myles Rowe overcame a disappointing result on Saturday to take a clear victory for Pabst Racing with Force Indy in Sunday’s Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto. A fifth win of the season for …
USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires championship leader Myles Rowe overcame a disappointing result on Saturday to take a clear victory for Pabst Racing with Force Indy in Sunday’s Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto. A fifth win of the season for the 22-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y., stretches his advantage to a whopping 81 points as he chases a Discount Tire Driver Development Scholarship valued at $664,500 to graduate to INDY NXT in 2024.
Lirim Zendeli, from Bochum, Germany, finished second for TJ Speed Motorsports. Rowe’s Pabst Racing teammate Jordan Missig, from Channahon, Ill., matched his career-best result in third. Missig also set the fastest race lap for good measure.
Rowe paved the way for his triumph by starting at the head of the field after earning his fourth Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season and third in succession during qualifying on Saturday morning.
He took full advantage by leading from the start. Behind, a bold move around the outside of Turn One by teammate Jace Denmark netted the resident of Scottsdale, Ariz., second place after starting in fourth.
After an early caution following an incident in the midfield, Denmark tried to execute a similar move on Rowe under braking for Turn 3 at the end of the back straightaway. Unfortunately, Rowe slipped a little wide at the exit and made contact with Denmark’s front wing, which immediately became detached, forcing him into the pits and out of contention.
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Rowe continued unscathed, and instead soon came under pressure from Saturday’s winner – and the man who narrowly beat Rowe to last year’s USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires championship crown – Michael d’Orlando, from Hartsdale, N.Y.
“First of all, the crowd here is amazing. I love Toronto. It is such a great city,” Rowe said. “It is such a tough race. The bumps are crazy. It is like New York City out there. I just have to give a huge thanks to God, my family, Force Indy, Pabst Racing, SimCraft, Sparco, Bell Helmets and the whole crew. They really put together such a package for us to have this kind of consistency this year. You need to have a certain kind of package to do really successful things at this level of motorsports. All these guys – Lirim, Jordan and the rest of the field – all of them are super competitive and super tough to beat. I just can’t ‘thank you’ enough to all of my partners.”
Gavin Baker Photography
The 25-lap race had started on a slightly damp track, but the pace gradually increased as the surface dried out completely. The two leaders remained in close contact until, quite suddenly, d’Orlando began to lose power shortly after the halfway mark. The Canadian-American soon slipped into the clutches of the pursuing pack, led by Zendeli who on lap 16 had found a way past d’Orlando’s Turn 3 Motorsport teammate Christian Brooks, from Santa Clarita, Calif., with a nice move at Turn 3.
The unfortunate d’Orlando eventually tumbled almost to the back of the field, cruelly ending his hopes of taking over second place in the points table.
Zendeli maintained second to the finish, some 4.4155s adrift of Rowe and narrowly ahead of Missig, who had started second and was the fastest man on track in the closing stages.
Indian-American Yuven Sundaramoorthy, from Delafield, Wis., (Exclusive Autosport) also displayed strong speed after a difficult season, claiming the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 16th on the grid to eighth.
Rowe’s performance capped a tremendous day for team principal Augie Pabst, who took home another PFC Award as the winning car owner.
Five more races remain this season. A doubleheader event at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, on August 26-27 is next, followed just one week later by a trip to the West Coast for a tripleheader finale at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Ore., on September 2-3.
Nico Christodoulou this weekend took a break from his regular season of contesting the GB3 Championship in the UK, returned home to his native Toronto for a one-off return to USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires and claimed an impressive victory this …
Nico Christodoulou this weekend took a break from his regular season of contesting the GB3 Championship in the UK, returned home to his native Toronto for a one-off return to USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires and claimed an impressive victory this morning for VRD Racing in the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Toronto.
Christodoulou, 18, took the lead with five laps remaining on a damp track when polesitter and championship leader Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) made a slight error under braking for Turn 3. Sikes held on for second, while Lochie Hughes profited from some last-lap shenanigans to complete the podium for Jay Howard Driver Development.
Overnight rain meant the 1.786-mile temporary circuit in Exhibition Place, just a few miles from downtown Toronto, was treacherously slippery as the 19 cars lined up for their race at a little after 8am ET. That was of no major concern for Sikes, who started as he finished yesterday’s race — at the front — after securing his seventh Cooper Tires Pole Award of the season during a dedicated qualifying session on Saturday morning.
A couple of single-car spins led the first three laps to be completed behind the pace car, after which Sikes took off confidently in the lead.
Sikes was helped when outside front row starter and Saturday polesitter Evagoras Papasavvas (Jay Howard Driver Development) made a mistake at Turn 1, although it wasn’t long before Christodoulou began to loom large in his mirrors. Christodoulou, who had lined up fifth on the grid, profited firstly when VRD teammate Nikita Johnson experienced a mechanical problem even before the start. He then took advantage of Papasavvas’ error before slipping past Sikes’ teammate Jacob Douglas on the first lap of green-flag racing.
The pace increased steadily as the 20-lap race unfolded and the track slowly began to dry, although Sikes seemed to have matters under control, despite the close attentions of both Christodoulou and fellow Toronto area native Mac Clark (DEForce Racing). But on lap 16, the leader left his braking a touch too late at Turn 3 and ran slightly wide. Christodoulou needed no second bidding. He ducked instinctively to the inside and slipped through into the lead.
One brief caution period due to a single-car incident at the back of the field was cleared in time for a one-lap dash to the checkered flag. Christodoulou, who had contested a handful of USF2000 races in 2020 before heading to Europe, was up to the challenge, clearing off to take the victory by just over 1.5 seconds.
“As I was coming here, I knew the track would be pretty wet. Racing in England, pretty much all you get is wet weather racing and I was excited to take advantage of that,” said Christodoulou. “In the race, I was maintaining second for most of it. Simon ended up making a mistake and I took the lead. We had a safety car restart and I kept the lead and just pulled away. I really loved racing this weekend. The team put a great car together for me and all the sponsors and my family were here, so it was a super good weekend.”
Clark had made a bid to overtake Sikes around the outside at Turn 1, but after running side by side almost the full length of Lake Shore Boulevard, he instead found himself under attack from Sikes’ teammate Max Garcia. Unfortunately, contact at Turn 3 sent Clark spinning. In the chaos that ensued, Hughes vaulted from fifth to third, ending his poor sequence of results, while Jorge Garciarce (DEForce Racing) picked up the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 11th on the grid to fourth, equaling his best result of the season.
A delighted Dan Mitchell claimed the PFC Award as the winning car owner.
Second position for Sikes, his 11th podium finish of the season, means that he now holds a commanding 69-point lead over Hughes in his quest for a Discount Tire Driver Development Scholarship valued at $433,200 to ensure graduation onto the next step of the ladder, USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, in 2024.
In the team championship, a once clear advantage for Jay Howard Driver Development has now been trimmed to just a single point over Pabst Racing. The outcome of both titles will be decided in the tripleheader finale at Portland International Raceway on September 2-3.
Simon Sikes this afternoon padded his lead in the USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires points table by virtue of a spectacular victory on the streets around Exhibition Place. But there is a lot more to the story than just that. While strategic calls …
Simon Sikes this afternoon padded his lead in the USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires points table by virtue of a spectacular victory on the streets around Exhibition Place. But there is a lot more to the story than just that. While strategic calls and pit stops don’t usually play a significant role on the USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires driver development ladder, they certainly did today as the 20-lap race began on a damp track which quickly dried out.
Sikes was among the first to make a pit stop for dry-weather tires, called in at the completion of the second lap by his Pabst Racing team when the race was already under a full-course caution due to an incident on the opening lap.
Sikes, aided by another full-course caution, made his way expertly to the front with six laps remaining. Teammate Max Garcia emerged from the pack to finish second, with newcomer and former karter Logan Adams claiming an equally impressive third for Jay Howard Driver Development.
The race did not begin auspiciously for Sikes, who yesterday had qualified a disappointing sixth. Instead it was Evagoras Papasavvas (Jay Howard Driver Development) who started at the front after claiming his second career Cooper Tires Pole Award.
Fellow 15-year-old Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing) charged to the front on the first lap, which ended under caution due to an incident in Turn 4. With the track already nearly dry following an earlier rain shower, a couple of drivers immediately ducked into the pit lane for slick Cooper tires. Next time around, with the field still under yellow, six more cars pitted for dries, including Sikes and fellow title contender Mac Clark (DEForce Racing).
Sikes hadn’t yet closed up to the rear of the train of cars that had elected to stay on wet tires by the time the track went back to green, but it wasn’t long before he and Clark soon began to close that gap.
Johnson, meanwhile, continued to lead from Papasavvas, who lost second place just after the halfway point to debutant Nico Christodoulou. The Toronto native’s VRD Racing team had been the first to make the call to change tires.
Moments later, another incident involving teammate Gordon Scully ensured another caution. This time Papasavvas and, one lap later, Johnson, elected to change tires. They resumed eighth and 11th.
Christodoulou led at the restart, but Sikes, who had earlier been passed by Clark, was on a mission. Sikes firstly outbraked the first of the Canadians with a bold move around the outside at Turn 3 on lap 14 to take over second place. Next time around, he repeated the maneuver on Christodoulou and never looked back as he went on to claim his fifth win of the season and second in succession.
“I don’t even know where to start!” said Sykes. “It started in wet conditions. I played it a bit too safe in the first qually (qualifying session), so I started sixth and was just trying to work my way forward to a podium. That was my end goal for this race, but we got out there and we got under this first safety car period and the team called me in for slick tires. I was questioning it, I didn’t know if it would work, but ultimately that was the best call anyone could have made.
“(Race engineer) Burke Harrison did such a fantastic job. He and Augie Pabst, the whole Pabst organization made this one happen. They made the strategy call that ended up winning the race and gave me a perfect car to go execute, so huge thanks to them, and Doug Mockett for being an awesome supporter. Just really happy to take away a Pabst one-two to start off the races in Toronto.”
The battle for second looked likely to be settled between the two Canadians, Christodoulou and Clark, but Garcia had other ideas. Clark had followed Sikes past his countryman, taking second position at Turn 5, but after one final restart, with two laps remaining, Garcia left his braking for Turn Three extremely late and Clark had little option but to cede the position. Clark also lost out to a close-following Adams and Christodoulou, although he managed to repass his local rival on the final lap to regain fourth.
Adams, taking part in just his second USF2000 weekend, earned the Tilton Hard Charger Award after lining up 13th on the starting grid.
Augie Pabst took home another PFC Award as the winning car owner. His joy was compounded by the fact that Garcia’s second-place finish moved his team within eight points of Jay Howard Driver Development in the battle for the team championship.
Sikes’ glorious day leaves him with a commanding 56-point lead in the championship with only four races remaining. Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development), who had previously taken the fight to Sikes, slipped to third in points after clipping a wall and retiring from the race. Sikes will have another opportunity to extend his advantage bright and early tomorrow at 8:10am ET having earned the pole positionfollowing a separate qualifying session earlier today.
