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  usf PRO2000 series

   

www.usfpro2000.com

the USF Pro Championships: The USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires is an evolution of the Road to Indy, one of the most successful driver development programs in the world. Comprised of USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires and USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires, the ladder system provides a unique, scholarship-funded path to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis 500. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid is comprised of numerous graduates and, in 2022, 20 of the 33 starters in the Indianapolis 500 were alumni. The mission of the USF Pro Championships is to develop and advance, and that includes not only drivers but teams and personnel as well. For more information, visit usfpro2000.com, usf2000.com and usfjuniors.com.

 

 

USF Pro Championships Announces Marelli Technical Partnership

 

PALMETTO, Fla. – Andersen Promotions today unveiled a new four-year technical partnership with Marelli as the Official Data/Telemetry Partner to its USF Pro Championships driver development ladder series USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors, all presented by Continental Tire.


 

Marelli is a global technology partner to the automotive industry, with a strong and established track record in innovation and manufacturing excellence. The company is dedicated to co-creating the mobility of the future with customers, suppliers and partners. In the motorsports field, Marelli has been developing advanced systems and components for racing for over 100 years, supplying all the top teams in all the most important four and two-wheels world championships.


 

In a gradual rollout, USF Pro Championships teams will utilize the Marelli SRG-141 ECU (Engine Control Unit) with internal data logger and a complete suite of analysis software developed for the highest levels of motorsport.


 

A seminar was held at the series’ annual Spring Training at NOLA Motorsports Park earlier this year to introduce team engineers to Marelli tools including WinTAX4 and SYSMA. Marelli also provided trackside technical support in the series’ two opening rounds at St. Petersburg and NOLA.


 

In addition, the Marelli Engineer of the Year Award will be assigned to recognize outstanding professionalism in the engineering field in each of the three series.


 

“We have had a relationship with Marelli for several years now in an optional role, and I am pleased to announce our new partnership which will see Marelli components as our new standard,” said Dan Andersen, Owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions. “Marelli has had a long presence in racing on a global scale and we are excited to bring its expertise to our USF Pro Championships paddock.”


 

All 60+ entries across the three series will display a Marelli logo to support the new partnership.


 

“We are proud to support the USF Championships by providing our advanced vehicle control and data analysis tools,” said Riccardo De Filippi, Head of Marelli Motorsport. “Being a partner of a developmental championship allows us to assist young engineers and drivers at the very start of their professional journeys. We are excited to offer them our technologies, contributing to their success and to innovation in motorsport.”


 

XXX


 

About Marelli: Marelli is a leading mobility technology supplier to the automotive sector. With a strong and established track record in innovation and manufacturing excellence, our mission is to transform the future of mobility through working with customers and partners to create a safer, greener, and better-connected world. With around 45,000 employees worldwide, the Marelli footprint includes over 150 sites globally.


 

 
 

USF Pro Championships Set for Lone Oval Event at Lucas Oil IRP

gavin baker

 

PALMETTO, Fla. – A traditionally busy Memorial Day weekend of racing kicks off on Friday evening with the Carb Night Classic at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Ind. The top two rungs of the USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire open-wheel development ladder, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, will share top billing with the USAC Silver Crown and USAC Midget stars.


 

The always exciting, high-banked 0.686-mile paved oval represents the only opportunity of the season for young drivers in the series to hone their left-turn-only skills. All competitors will benefit from a special Oval Clinic on Thursday morning during which tips and advice will be provided by past IRP race winners Louis Foster, who on Sunday will make his Indy 500 debut with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, Salvador de Alba, who now competes in INDY NXT, and the only two-time USF2000 IRP winner Michael d’Orlando.


 

Exclusive Looks to Continue Win Streak

Exclusive Autosport has been the USF Pro 2000 team to beat in recent years at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The team based within earshot of the track in Brownsburg, Ind., has shown the way in each of the past three years through the efforts of Foster, de Alba and Braden Eves. Of the three, only Eves qualified on pole position; the other two started third, but all three posted the fastest race lap.


 

Mac Clark, from Milton, Ont., Canada, will lead a trio of Exclusive cars and will surely start as a firm favorite after winning the 2023 USF2000 race from the pole and finishing sixth last year as a USF Pro 2000 rookie. Clark will be joined by Joey Brienza, from Golden, Colo., and Carson Etter, from Villa Park, Calif.


 

Entry List


 

So far as the championship is concerned, Florida’s Max Garcia has carried on his winning ways from last year. Driving for Pabst Racing, the 16-year-old USF2000 champion has taken to the faster, more powerful USF Pro 2000 cars like a duck to water. He has also displayed admirable consistency by taking two wins and a worst finishing position of fourth from the opening eight races.


 

Garcia currently holds a healthy 57-point edge over a trio of contenders currently battling in his wake: fellow Floridian Alessandro de Tullio (Turn 3 Motorsport), Israeli rookie Ariel Elkin, who has stepped up impressively from USF Juniors with TJ Speed Motorsports and Clark, who has yet to win a race this year but already has four podium finishes to his credit.


 

Other probable contenders on Friday night include Brownsburg, Ind., resident Jace Denmark (TJ Speed), who finished a strong second last year and is still searching for an elusive first USF Pro 2000 victory, and Tanner DeFabis, from nearby Avon, Ind., who dominated last year’s USF2000 Freedom 75 for Jay Howard Driver Development.


 

A pair of 45-minute test sessions on Thursday, May 27, will precede the all-important single-car qualifying session later that same afternoon at 5:30 p.m. EDT. The only other opportunity to gain some track time will be a 15-minute practice session at 4:50 p.m. on Friday prior to the 90-lap Freedom 90 which is slated to start at 9:30 p.m.


 

Door Wide Open in USF2000

The first five races of the USF2000 season were dominated by Englishman Liam McNeilly and his Jay Howard Driver Development team. The feat left him one shy of matching the all-time record start to a campaign of six straight wins shared by, coincidentally, his team owner Jay Howard in 2005 and another of Howard’s charges, Denmark’s Christian Rasmussen, in 2020. Rasmussen this weekend will make his second Indianapolis 500 start for Ed Carpenter Racing.


 

Unfortunately, visa woes prevented McNeilly from attending the two most recent races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix road course, and he is likely to be absent this week, too.


 

Thus, the door has been left wide open for someone else to set their sights on the ultimate prize of a championship and a scholarship valued at over $405,000 to graduate onto the next step of the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF Pro 2000, in 2026.


 

Entry List


 

A maiden USF2000 race win and a podium finish just over one week ago at Indianapolis was enough for Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, to take a slender two-point lead over McNeilly. A similar result – a second-place run followed by a first-ever win on the road course – for Thomas Schrage (VRD Racing), from Bethel, Ohio, moved him to within 13 points of Jeffers after rebounding strongly from a disappointing start to the season on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.


 

Only four of the 18 drivers entered for Friday evening’s Freedom 75 have prior USF2000 experience on the IRP oval: Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., DEForce Racing’s Brazilian Lucas Fecury, and local drivers Elliot Cox and Ayrton Houk.


 

Cox, from Indianapolis, Ind., is set to return with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing after experiencing budgetary problems while attempting to graduate to USF Pro 2000 earlier this year, while Houk, from McCordsville, Ind., will drive for his family’s Benchmark Autosport team. Houk proved to be one of the stars one year ago, starting on the outside of the front row.


 

Both Houk and Schrage also have previous oval track experience from competing in the Kenyon Midget series.


 

A couple of 45-minute USF2000 test sessions on Thursday will be followed by single-car qualifying at 4:45 p.m., and then one more 15-minute practice at 4:30 p.m. on Friday prior to the green flag of the 75-lap Freedom 75 at 8:30 p.m.


 

Full coverage, including timing and live streaming, can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and respective series’ websites, usfpro2000.com and usf2000.com.

 
 

Five Races on Deck for USF Pro Championships at Indianapolis

 

gavin baker
 

PALMETTO, Fla. – A busy month of May for the USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire open-wheel development ladder continues this week, May 8-10, as the top two rungs, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, convene at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix road course for the VP Racing Grand Prix of Indianapolis.


 

As with last weekend’s exciting USF Juniors tripleheader at Barber Motorsports Park, the event once again will be held in conjunction with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.


 

Qualifying for both series on Friday morning will assume critical importance. The sole session for USF Pro 2000 at 8:40 a.m. EDT will help form the starting grid for all three 25-lap races that will follow, while the earlier USF2000 qualifying period, set for 7:55 a.m., will determine the order for the pair of 15-lap races.


 

Turn 3 Seeks to Join the Club

Intriguingly, the last five USF Pro 2000 races held on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course dating back to 2023 have been won by five different drivers representing five different teams.


 

Ricardo Escotto (Jay Howard Driver Development), Joel Granfors (Exclusive Autosport), Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing), Liam Sceats (TJ Speed Motorsports) and Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) are the drivers and teams who have populated the top step of the podium over the course of the past two years.


 

Entry List


 

Pabst Racing will certainly enter the weekend with high hopes as the Wisconsin-based operation currently leads in both the Team and Driver standings. Rookie Max Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., has taken an early points advantage on the strength of two race wins and three second-place finishes from the opening five races. Garcia also enjoyed success at Indianapolis last year, winning one of the two USF2000 races en route to clinching the championship.


 

Garcia’s closest rival so far in the quest for a scholarship worth almost $600,000 to advance into INDY NXT for 2026 has been Alessandro de Tullio, from Miami, Fla. De Tullio has won three races to Garcia’s two, but he also failed to finish the second race at St. Petersburg, Fla., and thus trails by a 16-point margin as the protagonists head to Indianapolis.


 

De Tullio will head a strong five-car lineup for Turn 3 Motorsport. The organization based in Mundelein, Ill., has yet to win at the hallowed Speedway, although it guided Australian Lochie Hughes to the USF Pro 2000 championship one year ago – and team principal Peter Dempsey played a starring role in the oval track’s closest ever finish when he famously came from behind to edge out three other rivals in the 2013 Freedom 100 Indy Lights race.


 

In addition to regular teammates Tyke Durst, from Charlotte, N.C., and Cooper Becklin, from Portland, Ore., Turn 3 also will enter cars for Brazilian Nicolas Monteiro and Brady Golan, from Austin, Texas, who will make his USF Pro 2000 debut after competing previously in USF Juniors and USF2000.


 

Additional contenders will include the Pabst Racing pair of Jacob Douglas, from Christchurch, New Zealand, and Michael Costello, from Naples, Fla., VRD Racing’s Max Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., Israeli Ariel Elkin (TJ Speed Motorsports) and Canadian Mac Clark (Exclusive Autosport), all of whom have podium finishes to their names already this season.


 

After two hour-long test sessions and 30 minutes of official practice on Thursday, May 8, the lone qualifying session will precede the first of three races at 3:20 p.m. on Friday. Two more races will follow on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. and then at 2:20 p.m., immediately prior to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES headline event.


 

McNeilly on the Cusp in USF2000

Liam McNeilly, from London, England, has dominated thus far in USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire, winning all five races and leading all but three of the 85 laps for Jay Howard Driver Development. If he wins the opening race at Indianapolis on Saturday, the recently turned 19-year-old Englishman will match the record set by 2020 champion Christian Rasmussen, who won the opening six races of the season. Rasmussen went on to win the title comfortably and now drives in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for Ed Carpenter Racing.


 

McNeilly’s excellent start to his campaign has taken him into a commanding 51-point lead over Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, who finished second in each of the first three races.


 

Entry List


 

Since then, the mantle of closest challenger has been grasped by Thomas Schrage, who bounced back from a difficult weekend in the opening event of the season at St. Petersburg, Fla., to claim a trio of podiums at NOLA Motorsports Park for VRD Racing. Schrage now lies third in the title-chase.


 

Other challengers likely will include Pabst Racing’s Caleb Gafrarar, from Charlotte, N.C., and G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif, plus Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., who made an impressive USF2000 debut one year ago at Indianapolis by claiming two pole positions, two fastest race laps and a best finish of third.


 

All eyes, however, will be on Simon Sikes, who is set to make a surprise return to the USF2000 ranks with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development. Sikes, from Augusta, Ga., won at Indy in 2023 en route to winning the championship for Pabst Racing. He also finished fourth in his rookie season of USF Pro 2000 in 2024. Enter Sarah Fisher’s team, which has offered Sikes an opportunity to drive alongside South African rookie Wian Boshoff aboard a second SFHR Tatuus USF-22.


 

The USF2000 schedule is very similar to that for USF Pro 2000 with two test sessions and official practice on Thursday, followed by qualifying and the first of two races on Friday at 12:10 p.m. Race Two will see a green flag at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.


 

Full coverage of both series, including timing and live streaming, can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and the respective series’ websites, usfpro2000.com and usf2000.com.


 
 
USF2000 USF /JUNIORs SERIES

 

usfjuniors.com.

the USF Pro Championships: The USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires is an evolution of the Road to Indy, one of the most successful driver development programs in the world. Comprised of USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires and USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires, the ladder system provides a unique, scholarship-funded path to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis 500. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES grid is comprised of numerous graduates and, in 2022, 20 of the 33 starters in the Indianapolis 500 were alumni. The mission of the USF Pro Championships is to develop and advance, and that includes not only drivers but teams and personnel as well. For more information, visit usfpro2000.com, usf2000.com and usfjuniors.com.

 

Wide-Open USF Juniors Field Heads to Barber

Gavin BAKER

 

PALMETTO, Fla. – USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire returns to action this week, May 1-3, at the scenic and challenging Barber Motorsports Park road course situated just a few miles from Birmingham, Ala., in support of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.


 

No clear leader emerged from the opening USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire tripleheader event earlier this month at NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, La. Instead, three drivers shared the spoils of victory, while another, VRD Racing’s Oliver Wheldon, failed to win a race but earned enough points from a hat-trick of podium finishes to secure an early championship lead. The 14-year-old second-generation racer from St. Petersburg, Fla., has every intention of breaking through into Victory Lane and extending his points advantage at this week’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.


 

Entry List


 

At stake is a scholarship prize valued at almost $250,000 for the series champion to graduate onto the next step of the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF2000, in 2026.


 

Each of the USF Juniors’ three prior events at the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course have resulted in one driver sweeping the race wins. The inaugural visit in 2022 saw eventual champion Mac Clark, from Canada, win both races for the DEForce Racing team. One year later, Brazilian Nicolas Giaffone repeated the feat for the Texas-based team also en route to the championship crown.


 

A different organization broke through during the 2024 doubleheader as InterMS ensured its first visit to the top step of the podium through the efforts of Israeli Ariel Elkin.


 

This time there will be three races and at least as many teams with the potential to emerge on top.


 

Aside from Wheldon, whose older brother Sebastian recorded a second-place finish at Barber in 2024 and placed third in the title-chase, all three NOLA winners – VRD Racing teammate Joao Vergara, from Miami, Fla., and the Zanella Racing duo of Leonardo Escorpioni, from Windermere, Fla., and Canadian Ty Fisher – are sure to be among the leading contenders.


 

So, too, is Australian Formula Ford graduate Liam Loiacono, who claimed a pole position and runner-up finish in Louisiana.


 

Others to watch will include young Finn Vilho Aatola (DEForce Racing), Mexican teammates and brothers, Rodrigo and Patricio Gonzalez, and Exclusive Autosport’s Brenden Cooley, from Mokena, Ill.


 

The field also will include three female drivers – Maddie Colleran (Zanella Racing), from Hunting Valley, Ohio, Kaylee Countryman (Exclusive Autosport), from Chandler, Ariz., and Emma Scarbrough (InterMS), from Senoia, Ga. – who made appreciable steps at NOLA after stepping up from karting.


 

All 22 drivers will have one final opportunity to gain valuable track time with a pair of 50-minute test sessions on Thursday, May 1, prior to 30 minutes of official practice and a pair of 20-minute qualifying sessions later in the afternoon. Two 20-lap races will see the green flag on Friday, May 2, at 9:45 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. CDT, with the third and final race set for Saturday at 8:05 a.m.


 

Coverage of the event, including timing and live streaming, can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and at usfjuniors.com.

 

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2025 USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires 2023 Schedule

 

 

2025 USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires  Schedule

 

 

 

2025 USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires Schedule

 

 
       

 

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