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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.

 

 

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.



Fisher Scores Narrow Win Over Wheldon in Wet Barber Finale

gavin baker

 

LEEDS, Ala. – The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix for USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire tripleheader race weekend came to a dramatic conclusion this morning as the two youngest drivers in the field, Ty Fisher and Oliver Wheldon, waged a tremendous battle for victory at the challenging Barber Motorsports Park.


 

The pair of 14-year-olds were separated by a scant 0.6432 of a second at the checkered flag as Fisher, from White Rock, B.C., Canada, scored his second win of the season for Zanella Racing. It was enough to vault him into the championship lead over teammate Leonardo Escorpioni, from Windermere, Fla., who finished third after sweeping both dry-weather races on Saturday.


 

Wheldon, from St. Petersburg, Fla., had to be content with another second-place finish – his third – for VRD Racing, thereby missing his final opportunity to eclipse Nikita Johnson and Fisher as the youngest ever USF Juniors winners. But Wheldon remains solidly in the chase for a scholarship valued at almost $250,000 to graduate onto the next step of the USF Pro Championships ladder, USF2000, in 2026.


 

Race 3 Results


 

The starting order for today’s 20-lap race was set according to each driver’s second-fastest lap from the second qualifying session on Friday afternoon. Escorpioni once again was fastest, his lap of 1:25.1282 only fractionally slower than his own new lap record of 1:25.1109 and comfortably good enough for his third consecutive Continental Tire Pole Award.


 

A major switch in the weather conditions brought a wet track for this morning’s race, so officials wisely permitted the drivers one additional pace lap before mandating a single-file start.


 

Unsurprisingly, a couple of early incidents led most of the opening six laps to be run behind the Safety Car with Escorpioni holding onto his lead ahead of Fisher. The man on the move, however, was former Australian Formula Ford frontrunner Liam Loiacono, who charged from eighth on the grid to fifth on the opening lap and then overtook both Vilho Aatola (DEForce Racing), from Turku, Finland, and Wheldon shortly after the restart on Lap Seven to move into third.


 

Loiacono’s deficit of over 1.7 seconds to the two leaders was instantly wiped out due to another appearance by the Safety Car following an incident further down the field after 10 laps.


 

Fisher saw his opportunity at the restart, with 12 laps in the books, capitalizing on a small error in Turn One by Escorpioni. Fisher drove clear around the outside of Escorpioni in Turn Two before completing his move by taking the lead under braking at Turn Five.


 

Moments later, at the tricky Turn Seven/Eight complex of corners, Loiacono attempted a bold maneuver by again trying the outside line, only to run wide onto the grass at the exit. He had slipped down to 10th before being able to regain his momentum.


 

Not to be outdone, Wheldon also nipped past Escorpioni on the next lap for second before setting his sights on the new leader, whom he caught with four laps remaining.


 

Wheldon placed Fisher under intense pressure in the closing stages, but the Canadian stood his ground to ensure a narrow and well-deserved victory.


 

Escorpioni fell back to a clear third ahead of Aatola, who capped a breakthrough weekend with his third straight top-six result, while Vergara once again fought a rearguard action by rising from eighth to fifth over the course of the final eight laps.


 

DEForce Racing’s Lincoln Day, from Wilson, Wyo., took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 20th on the grid to 14th.


 

Jose Zanella claimed his fifth PFC Award of the season as the winning car owner.


 

Next up for USF Juniors is a two-day official series test at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, in Lexington, Ohio, on May 13/14, followed by a return to the fabled venue in conjunction with IMSA for a doubleheader race weekend on June 7-8.


 

Provisional championship points after six of 16 races:

1. Ty Fisher, 145

2. Leonardo Escorpioni, 144

3. Oliver Wheldon, 131

4. Joao Vergara, 125

5. Vilho Aatola, 101

6 Liam Loiacono, 98

7 Rodrigo Gonzalez, 98

8. Diego Guiot, 67

9. Michael Suco, 61

10. Karel Staut, 61


 

Ty Fisher (#37 Cedar Coast/Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was really good. I knew it was going to be tough in the rain, but once I saw how grippy it was and how good the car was set up, I knew that we would have a good chance at the win. We definitely had a podium car, a winning car. And I saw Leo make a bit of a mistake, so I took advantage of that and was able to get the win.”


 

Oliver Wheldon (#98 Gainbridge/Big Machine Racing-VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The conditions were crazy. We had two of the races, qualifying and all of the practices in the dry, so I had to adapt in the race. In the beginning, I was soaking up the rain line and trying to find the grip. Liam was pretty quick and was able to get by me on the restart. And then he had a moment in the grass and I capitalized on that and got around him. Then Leo did the same thing. He almost hit the tires so I got around him. After that, my eyes just had to focus on catching Ty. I caught him in the end but not to where I could win. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend.”


 

Leonardo Escorpioni (#55 Qwilt/Peer 1/Mensalize-Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was pretty hard. I knew from the beginning I didn't have quite the pace that Oliver and Ty did. The Safety Car really helped me to stay up front. I made a mistake in Turn One on the restart and that was on me. And then Ty got to the outside in [Turn] Two. I made another mistake going down the hill and I went off. After that it was about staying clean, finishing third and getting points for the championship. With two wins already this weekend, I was happy with third place.”


 

Perfection for Escorpioni at Barber Brings USF Juniors Points Lead

gavin baker

 

LEEDS, Ala. – The USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire leg of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix today at Barber Motorsports Park was all about Leonardo Escorpioni and Zanella Racing. The 15-year-old Brazilian who is now based in Windermere, Fla., romped to a pair of victories, scoring a maximum possible 66 points. The victory double saw Escorpioni regain the lead of the points chase with five of 16 races now completed.


 

Escorpioni was chased home by impressive 14-year-old rookie teammate Ty Fisher, from White Rock, B.C., Canada, in this afternoon’s second race as erstwhile points leader Oliver Wheldon (VRD Racing), from St. Petersburg, Fla., bounced back from a problem this morning to claim third.


 

The remaining two steps on the podium in the opening race of the day were filled by the DEForce Racing pair of Vilho Aatola, from Turku, Finland, and Rodrigo Gonzalez, from Mexico City, Mexico.


 

Race 1 Results

Race 2 Results


 

Escorpioni began as he meant to continue after securing his first (and second) Continental Tire Pole Award during qualifying on Friday. The 15-year-old Brazilian established a new lap record in the first of two dedicated qualifying sessions and was joined on the front row of the grid for the opening race by Aatola.


 

The top four positions remained unchanged throughout the opening 20-lap race. A couple of full-course cautions for incidents further down the order kept things fairly tight at the front, although Escorpioni always seemed to have something in hand. He set a new race lap record while edging out to a lead of just over two seconds by the halfway point, then reset the standard with another improvement as he romped away during the final eight-lap segment to finish just over 2.7 seconds clear of Aatola.


 

Gonzalez remained hot on his heels throughout, although the Mexican second-year driver had his work cut out on the final lap to hold onto third from Joao Vergara (VRD Racing), from Miami, Fla., and a charging Fisher, who had slipped to sixth behind Australian Liam Loiacono (Jay Howard Driver Development) on the opening lap.


 

Loiacono couldn’t quite match the front-running pace but still came home sixth after a lengthy battle with Rodrigo Gonzalez’s younger brother Patricio.


 

A shuffling of positions just outside the top 10 on the final lap saw DEForce Racing’s Thomas Nordquist, from Omaha, Neb., emerge in 12th to claim the Tilton Hard Charger Award after having lined up 18th on the starting grid.


 

The second qualifying session on Friday saw Escorpioni improve upon his new lap record to snag a second Continental Tire Pole Award, although behind him it was all change with Fisher joining him on the front row of the grid and Wheldon ahead of Aatola on row two.


 

After a couple of brief early cautions, Escorpioni once more took off into the lead, although this time he was unable to shake off Fisher, who shadowed him throughout the race. The pair even exchanged fastest laps at one point before Escorpioni reestablished his authority to ensure a maximum points haul.


 

Behind, Wheldon lost third place to Aatola soon after the restart, but quickly redressed the balance to maintain his championship challenge.


 

The battle for fourth provided the main focal point of the race as Aatola was pursued initially by Rodrigo Gonzalez. Vergara, a race winner at NOLA last month, found himself shuffled down to 10th place in the early stages, but then mounted a sterling comeback to usurp Aatola from fourth on the final lap and narrowly hold onto third in the championship chase.


 

Gonzalez completed a solid day by finishing sixth ahead of Loiacono and local driver Michael Suco, from Auburn, Ala., who mirrored his result from the morning when he had nipped past InterMS teammate Hudson Potter, from Lexington, Ky., on the final lap.


 

Belgium’s Karel Staut lost out to Jay Howard Driver Development teammate JT Hoskins, from Sarasota, Fla., for ninth place in the closing stages, but that was still enough to ensure himself the Tilton Hard Charger Award after starting 14th.


 

Jose Zanella and his team manager and wife Jessica mirrored the final day at NOLA Motorsports Park by securing both race wins and the two PFC Awards as the winning car owners. Zanella Racing also took over the lead in the coveted Teams Championship from VRD Racing.


 

The weekend will wrap up with a third race tomorrow morning. The green flag is set to fly at 8:05 a.m. CDT. Full coverage, including timing and livestreaming, can be found on the free USF Pro Championships App, YouTube channel and at usfjuniors.com.


 

Provisional championship points after 5 of 16 races:

1. Leonardo Escorpioni, 120

2. Ty Fisher, 114

3. Joao Vergara, 108

4. Oliver Wheldon, 106

5. Liam Loiacono, 85

6. Rodrigo Gonzalez, 83

7. Vilho Aatola, 82

8. Diego Guiot, 53

9. Michael Suco, 51

10. Karel Staut, 50


 

Race One Quotes:

Leonardo Escorpioni (#55 Qwilt/Peer 1/Mensalize-Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was amazing. The safety car restarts and the yellow flags kept me on my toes. It was about keeping my head down, making a smooth race and trying not to go off. I led start to finish, and it was just amazing.”


 

Vilho Aatola (#14 Mad Croc/Anti Skid Life/X-1R-DEForce Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I think it's a very good feeling to get to the podium and now I'm ready to get more. I think we have still more pace. We just have to drive and get more experience.”


 

Rodrigo Gonzalez (#18 Arkansas State University Queretaro/Torre Skala-DEForce Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I feel a lot more confident this season. I can still find more pace for myself. Overall, I am pretty happy with the results and happy with the team putting two cars on the podium. I mean, it's incredible. It's my first podium here. At the end, it was a little bit tough. He [Vergara] was challenging me in two corners, but I believe I defended him well and held on to the end.”


 

Race Two Quotes:

Leonardo Escorpioni (#55 Qwilt/Peer 1/Mensalize-Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “If you told me I would be doing this last year, I wouldn’t have believed it. This is a big step up from last year. We got so much better, the whole team. Honestly, I can't believe it. How crazy it's been. A few months ago in Portland, we were in the top 10 and not even close to being able to fight for the win. Now, in already the fifth race, we have three wins. So, it's honestly amazing.”


 

Ty Fisher (#37 Cedar Coast/Zanella Racing Tatuus JR-23): “The race was really good. We had a good restart, were able to get a bit of a gap. And from there on, I was just pushing but not 100 percent – I was saving the tires for the end. The last five laps I tried pushing a bit harder, but the track was greasy by then. I wasn't able to catch up to Leo, but this result is really good for the team and one-two is really good for the points.”


 

Oliver Wheldon (#98 Gainbridge/Big Machine Racing-VRD Racing Tatuus JR-23): “I had a pretty good start and stayed in the same position. A couple laps later after the restart, I had to let the DEForce car behind me go by. I’m not sure what happened. I was behind him for a lap or two and then I was able to get by. And by then, Leo and Ty were already gone. So, I was just saving tires and trying to learn the track. The track got really bad in the end, pretty greasy, and I think that's when I was quicker than the Zanella guys. I caught them a bit in the end, but just wasn't close enough. So overall, pretty good race.”

 

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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