By Steve Wittich

USF2000 practice at 8 AM kicks off a busy day of Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires (MRTI) action at Road America.

Today will feature two practice sessions, four qualifying sessions, a Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire race and a pair of autograph sessions. If you are a fan of the ladder series (like we are), today is a perfect day for you.

I (Steve) will be handling the majority of the MRTI coverage this weekend, with help from Tony DiZinno.

Pabst Racing began the Road America race weekend right where they left off in 2017. Rasmus Lindh had the quickest lap of the half-hour session and was joined in the top 10 by his teammates Kohl, Frederick, and Ming.

Championship leader Kirkwood and his closest competitor ended up with the second and third quickest times.

The 26 Mazda powered Tatuus machines were headed to the false grid just as Tony and I were walking back from The Gearbox concession stand where I devoured a Wieser egger (egg, bacon, sausage, ham and cheese on a kaiser roll).

If they were still asleep at 8 AM, the plethora of campers were the recipients of alarm clock consisting of 26 buzzing Mazda 2.0L engines.

At the halfway mark of the lone half-hour session, the top ten were: Lucas Kohl, Kyle Kirkwood, Kory Enders, Calvin Ming, Kyle Dupell, Alex Baron, Colin Kaminsky, Jose Sierra, Julian Van der Watt, and Keith Donegan.

With eight minutes remaining in the session, Lindh turned the first sub-130-second lap of the weekend, and after the 30-minute session, five drivers had gone under that mark.

The lap of 129.509 by the Swedish 16-year-old was under the track record of 129.656 seconds.

The final five minutes of the session saw the most driver turn their quickest laps, but nobody could surpass the Pabst Racing rookies fast lap.

The drivers turned a total of 286 laps.

Sabre Cook does not turn up on timing and scoring, but the BENIK racer was on track with a faulty transponder.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda practice #1 results

RANK CAR NO DRIVER QUICK LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 23 Rasmus Lindh 2:09.509 –.—- 12
2 8 Kyle Kirkwood 2:09.644 0.1354 12
3 19 Alex Baron 2:09.823 0.3135 12
4 22 Lucas Kohl 2:09.853 0.3438 13
5 51 Michael d’Orlando 2:09.888 0.3789 11
6 24 Kaylen Frederick 2:10.097 0.5877 10
7 80 Julian Van der Watt 2:10.139 0.6303 13
8 21 Calvin Ming 2:10.285 0.7761 12
9 11 Kory Enders 2:10.385 0.8760 11
10 81 Kyle Dupell 2:10.421 0.9115 12
11 28 Keith Donegan 2:10.599 1.0899 12
12 12 Jose Sierra 2:10.608 1.0989 10
13 91 Igor Fraga 2:10.807 1.2980 12
14 5 Mathias Soler-Obel 2:10.822 1.3130 12
15 82 Bruna Tomaselli 2:10.906 1.3967 12
16 36 Darren Keane 2:10.921 1.4114 12
17 27 Colin Kaminsky 2:10.943 1.4342 11
18 79 Jacob Abel 2:11.659 2.1497 9
19 9 Dakota Dickerson 2:11.728 2.2185 12
20 37 David Osborne 2:11.933 2.4237 12
21 29 Russell McDonough 2:12.084 2.5750 11
22 90 Manuel Cabrera 2:12.168 2.6587 12
23 92 Danial Frost 2:13.150 3.6414 13
24 38 Oscar DeLuzuriaga 2:13.420 3.9108 12
25 14 Max Peichel 2:16.354 6.8453 6
26 31 Sabre Cook No Time — —

There has been some movement between teams and a new addition to the grid overnight.

After starting the season with ArmsUp Motorsports, Keith Donegan, the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout winner, has moved to BN Racing to partner with Russell McDonough.

The Borland’s drafted in a familiar face to USF2000 fans to fill in. Dakota Dickerson who made 22 USF2000 starts across the 2016 and 2017 seasons will be in the local team’s second car this weekend.

If you are at Road America make sure you head to the Verizon IndyCar Series fan village for the USF2000 autograph session at 11:10 AM. The next track activity for the lowest rung of the Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires ladder is their first qualifying session at 12:45 PM.

 

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