DEForce Racing rookie Kiko Porto was all smiles after grabbing his second straight Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship pole on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)
By Steve Wittich
For the second straight race, DEForce Racing rookie Kiko Porto will start a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course from the pole.
The 17-year-old has now led three of the four Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Indy Grand Prix sessions and will attempt to make that four of five, with his first race win in race #2, which starts at 11 am (EDT).
Starting beside Porto will be his best friend and fellow Brazilian Eduardo Barrichello. The race #1 winner missed on his second pole of the season by a slim 0.03 seconds.
The second row will consist of Jack William Miller, who improved on his fourth-place starting spot from race #1 and will inside start on the inside of the first row.
Starting on the outside of Miller will be points leader and Jay Howard Driver Development veteran Christian Rasmussen.
After five straight outside front row starts, Cape Motorsports sophomore and the driver closest to Rasmussen in the championship, Reece Gold, will begin on the inside of the third row.
Starting beside Gold, in the sixth spot, will be Exclusive Autosport rookie Christian Brooks. The front row was all within two-tenths of a second of the pole-sitter Porto.
The entire field is super tight, with the top 11 drivers were all within a half-second of Porto, and the 20 drivers that turned a lap were all within one second of the pole,
With the cooler, less humid weather, lap times were down, with Porto’s quickest lap timed at 84.752 seconds was almost a full second faster than his pole lap yesterday morning. It wasn’t quite track record quick, though. Braden Eves, the reigning USF2000 champion, set that mark of 84.5396 seconds during qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 2019.
With 20-minutes of guaranteed running time, the session was interrupted by one red flag when Legacy Autosport newcomer Michael Myers had an incident in the Turn 5 and Turn 6 chicane.
Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Indy Grand Prix race #2 qualifying results (unofficial)
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | FAST LAP | DIFFERENCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 1:24.752 | –.—- |
| 2 | 22 | Eduardo Barrichello | Pabst Racing | 1:24.791 | 0.0390 |
| 3 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1:24.809 | 0.0574 |
| 4 | 6 | Christian Rasmussen | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:24.910 | 0.1581 |
| 5 | 3 | Reece Gold | Cape Motorsports | 1:24.975 | 0.2235 |
| 6 | 44 | Christian Brooks | Exclusive Autosport | 1:24.991 | 0.2390 |
| 7 | 9 | Nolan Siegel | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:24.991 | 0.2391 |
| 8 | 4 | Michael d’Orlando | Cape Motorsports | 1:25.136 | 0.3840 |
| 9 | 21 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | 1:25.200 | 0.4484 |
| 10 | 10 | Cameron Shields | DEForce Racing | 1:25.206 | 0.4543 |
| 11 | 23 | Matt Round-Garrido | Pabst Racing | 1:25.219 | 0.4667 |
| 12 | 41 | Max Kaeser | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1:25.429 | 0.6776 |
| 13 | 2 | Josh Green | Cape Motorsports | 1:25.431 | 0.6793 |
| 14 | 20 | Simon Sikes | Legacy Autosport | 1:25.464 | 0.7117 |
| 15 | 1 | Prescott Campbell | Exclusive Autosport | 1:25.527 | 0.7754 |
| 16 | 5 | Wyatt Brichacek | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:25.574 | 0.8219 |
| 17 | 18 | Bijoy Garg | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:25.580 | 0.8280 |
| 18 | 8 | Kyle Dupell | Cape Motorsports | 1:25.612 | 0.8597 |
| 19 | 16 | Josh Pierson | Exclusive Autosport | 1:25.674 | 0.9226 |
| 20 | 7 | Christian Bogle | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:25.682 | 0.9298 |
| 21 | 24 | Michael Myers | Legacy Autosport | No Time | — |
The remainder of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship schedule
Friday, September 4, 2020
11am – 11:45am – USF2000 Race #2 (15 laps)
2:45pm – 3:30pm – USF2000 Race #3 (20 laps or 50 minutes)
In case you missed it, we added some notes to Friday coverage – Notes and points from the Road To Indy action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday. https://www.tsoladder.com/2020/09/04/notes-and-points-after-usf2000-and-indy-pro-2000-race-1-at-ims/