Hunter McElrea used a last-minute flyer at 130.783 seconds to lead the lone USF2000 practice session that saw three of the top five times set by drivers representing Oconomowoc, Wisconsin’s Pabst Racing.

McElrea’s lap was just over one-tenth of a second quicker than his teammate Colin Kaminsky. The third Pabst Racing pilot, Bruna Tomaselli was fifth fastest, just behind Darren Keane (Cape Motorsports) and Alexandre Baron (Legacy Autosport).

The green flag to start the REV Group Grand Prix officially At Road America waved promptly at 8 am, as the multitude of campers surrounding the scenic road course were roused by the buzzing of the 2.0L engines powering the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship cars.

The ambient temperature when the session started was 64F (up 15 degrees from when I woke up at 6 am), and the track temperature was 69F.

With only 30-minutes of practice before qualifying, it was paramount for the drivers and teams to make the most of the early morning practice.

At the half-way point of the session veteran, Kaminsky with a lap of 130.897 seconds was the quickest driver, as most drivers were able to complete five laps of the 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course in the first 15 minutes.

Kaminsky was joined in the top five by Darren Keane (Newman Wachs Racing), McElrea (Pabst Racing), Alexandre Baron (Legacy Autosport) and Tomaselli (Pabst Racing).

The red flag came out just after the half-way point of the session for the No. 28 BN Racing machine of Anthony Famularo, who made contact with the concrete barriers on drivers left at the exit of Canada Corner (Turn 12).

Famularo was just about to complete his sixth lap of the day and

The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to get the Venezuelan’s USF-17 on the hook quickly, and the green flag came back out with six minutes and 20 seconds remaining.

Most drivers were able to get one out lap and three flying laps in the time remaining, and nine of the 18 drivers were able to turn their quickest lap on their final flying lap.

The 18 entries were able to complete 151 laps.

Nine drivers were within one second of McElrea’s quick lap, including championship leader, Cape Motorsports rookie Braden Eves, in ninth.

Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Elite Engines USF2000 Practice Results

RANK CAR NO DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 22 Hunter McElrea Pabst Racing 2:10.783 –.—- 9
2 23 Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing 2:10.897 0.1141 8
3 2 Darren Keane Cape Motorsports 2:11.085 0.3027 8
4 14 Alex Baron Legacy Autosport 2:11.175 0.3928 10
5 24 Bruna Tomaselli Pabst Racing 2:11.259 0.4767 10
6 12 Manuel Sulaiman DEForce Racing 2:11.606 0.8234 10
7 3 Reece Gold Cape Motorsports 2:11.729 0.9468 9
8 73 Cameron Shields Newman Wachs Racing 2:11.812 1.0297 10
9 8 Braden Eves Cape Motorsports 2:11.832 1.0496 9
10 6 Christian Rasmussen Jay Howard Driver Development 2:11.919 1.1361 10
11 36 Nolan Siegel Newman Wachs Racing 2:11.956 1.1733 9
12 52 Jak Crawford DEForce Racing 2:12.083 1.3002 10
13 28 Anthony Famularo BN Racing 2:12.532 1.7492 5
14 41 Eduardo Barrichello Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 2:13.187 2.4045 9
15 21 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 2:14.005 3.2226 9
16 40 Jack William Miller Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 2:14.052 3.2696 9
17 7 Christian Bogle Jay Howard Driver Development 2:14.720 3.9372 7
18 27 Matt Round-Garrido BN Racing No Time

The next Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship session is the first qualifying session, which is scheduled to roll off at 1:05 pm.