Wyatt Brichacek, a Jay Howard Driver Development rookie, was the quickest driver during the first day of Indy Pro 2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)
By Steve Wittich
What the quickest driver of the day had to say:
“Just got out of the car,” said Brichacek. “P1 for both sessions, so the Jay Howard boys are looking strong. The car felt really good, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I want to thank our sponsors CSU One Cure and Capri Tools.”
- Sixteen drivers were below the race track record of 78.4901 seconds set by Parker Thompson in 2018. Brichacek was still a half-second off Thompson’s qualifying mark set the same year.
- Only nine of the 16 drivers were within one second of the top qualifying time when Indy Pro 2000 visited Barber Motorsports Park in 2018.
- Eight of the top ten, including the top three drivers, are Indy Pro 2000 rookies.
- The only Indy Pro 2000 veterans in the top five were the Pabst Racing duo of Hunter McElrea and Colin Kaminsky.
- Seven different teams, Jay Howard Driver Development (2), Juncos Racing (2), Pabst Racing (2), DEForce Racing (1), RP Motorsport (1), Turn 3 Motorsport (1) and Velocity Racing Development (1), were represented in the top ten.
- Two of those teams, Jay Howard Driver Development and Velocity Racing Development, are newcomers to Indy Pro 2000.
- The highest placed driver for Juncos Racing, winners of three of the last four Indy Pro 2000 drivers championships, was Reece Gold in eighth.
- The 17 Indy Pro 2000 drivers combined to turn 718 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. That equates to 1,651.4 laps.
- Enzo Fittipaldi, an RP Motorsport rookie, was the busiest of the Indy Pro 2000 drivers, turning 53 laps across the two testing hours.
A quick caveat. TSO Ladder considers but doesn’t rely on testing times to predict season-long success. Different drivers and teams will be utilizing this track time to try out different things. Some may be running low fuel and performing qualification simulations, while some might be on full fuel and worn tires to help their engineers and drivers know what a car needs to be quick late in a race.
Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park Day #1 combined timesheet
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | QUICK LAP | DIFFERENCE | TOTAL LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Wyatt Brichacek – r | Jay Howard Driver Development | 77.3432 | — | 42 |
| 2 | 3 | James Roe – r | Turn 3 Motorsport | 77.5966 | -0.2534 | 40 |
| 3 | 1 | Christian Rasmussen -r | Jay Howard Driver Development | 77.6287 | -0.2855 | 26 |
| 4 | 18 | Hunter McElrea | Pabst Racing | 77.6317 | -0.2885 | 48 |
| 5 | 7 | Cameron Shields – r | DEForce Racing | 77.6603 | -0.3171 | 43 |
| 6 | 77 | Enaam Ahmed – r | RP Motorsport USA | 77.7393 | -0.3961 | 49 |
| 7 | 11 | Hunter Yeany -r | Velocity Racing Development | 77.8468 | -0.5036 | 49 |
| 8 | 55 | Reece Gold -r | Juncos Racing | 77.8653 | -0.5221 | 42 |
| 9 | 27 | Colin Kaminsky | Pabst Racing | 77.9078 | -0.5646 | 49 |
| 10 | 21 | Kyffin Simpson – r | Juncos Racing | 77.9930 | -0.6498 | 43 |
| 11 | 22 | Manuel Sulaiman | Juncos Racing | 78.1558 | -0.8126 | 31 |
| 12 | 74 | Enzo Fittipaldi – r | RP Motorsport USA | 78.1651 | -0.8219 | 53 |
| 13 | 42 | Artem Petrov | Exclusive Autosport | 78.2731 | -0.9299 | 44 |
| 14 | 91 | Braden Eves | Exclusive Autosport | 78.4206 | -1.0774 | 42 |
| 15 | 40 | Jack William Miller – r | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 78.4398 | -1.0966 | 50 |
| 16 | 51 | Jacob Abel – r | Abel Motorsports | 78.4834 | -1.1402 | 52 |
| 17 | 20 | Flinn Lazier – r | Legacy Autosport | 79.6739 | -2.3307 | 16 |
Monday’s schedule
| TIME | EVENT |
|---|---|
| 9:40am-10:40am | Indy Pro 2000 Test Session |
| 12:50pm-1:50pm | Indy Pro 2000 Test Session |
| 3:05pm-4pm | Indy Pro 2000 Test Session |