By Steve Wittich
The largest USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires field in over a decade – 21 cars – will contest a pair of 15-lap L&W Supply Grand Prix of Road America races as the series that has already had five drivers and four teams visit victory lane, hits the halfway point. The most different drivers to visit victory lane during a season occurred in 2020 when eight drivers were winners.
Through the season’s first seven races, seven different drivers have started from the pole, which is only one driver short of the record eight pole winners, which happened twice (2007 and 2020).
Despite scoring only the ninth most points across three races in Indianapolis, Pabst Racing w/ Force Indy rookie Myles Rowe holds a 32-point championship advantage as the series heads to the iconic Road America.
When the USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires started their three-race “Month of May,” Rowe held a 42-point championship lead over rookie Francesco Pizzi (TJ Speed Motorsports) and veteran Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing).
However, Italian Pizzi and Brazilian Porto didn’t fare much better than their title-leading rival. Porto collected six fewer markers than Rowe, leaving him 48 points out of the championship lead in fifth place. Pizzi was only five points better than the driver of the flat black, brick red and blue No. 99, leaving him in third in the championship, 37 points away from the $664,500 Discount Tire Driver Advancement Scholarship.
The big winners across the trio of races in Indianapolis were the Exclusive Autosport duo of veteran Salvador de Alba and rookie Joel Granfors.
de Alba, a Mexican mentored by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race winner Michel Jourdain, Jr., started May in 12th place in the championship, trailing Rowe by 79 points. A win in the points-heavy Freedom 90 oval race, combined with a second and sixth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, meant the 23-year-old outscored all other drivers over the trio of races. de Alba moved to fourth on the points table, making up 38 points and moving to within 41 points of Rowe.
GB3 standout Granfors parlayed a win on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and a second-place finish on the oval into the second most points in the Hoosier State. The Swede moved to second place in the title chase and trails Rowe by 32 points.
USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires points scored in the three races held in Indianapolis, Ind during the “Month of May”
| RANK | DRIVER | INDY RACE PTS. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salvador de Alba | 87 | |
| 2 | Joel Granfors (rookie) | 70 | |
| 3 | Jonathan Browne | 59 | |
| 4 | Jack William Miller | 57 | |
| 5 | Francesco Pizzi (rookie) | 54 | |
| 6 | Reece Ushijima (rookie) | 52 | |
| 7 | Michael d’Orlando (rookie) | 52 | |
| 8 | Myles Rowe (rookie) | 49 | |
| 9 | Kiko Porto | 43 | |
| 10 | Ricardo Escotto (rookie) | 43 | |
| 11 | Jordan Missig | 35 | |
| 12 | Christian Weir (rookie) | 34 | |
| 13 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | 33 | |
| 14 | Jace Denmark (rookie) | 32 | |
| 15 | Jackson Lee (rookie) | 29 | |
| 16 | Nicholas Monteiro (rookie) | 24 | |
| 17 | Bijoy Garg | 23 | |
| 18 | Lindsay Brewer | 20 | |
| 19 | Lirim Zendeli (rookie) | 19 | |
| 20 | Charles Finelli | 10 |
What could have quickly become a dominant Rowe championship after four races has become a five-driver battle, showing how quickly things can change. The season-long championship chase will finally click just over the halfway point after Sunday’s L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America, the ninth of 18 races.
There is still so much more action before a champion is crowned in Portland, Ore., including this weekend’s doubleheader at the highly unpredictable and newly resurfaced Road America, a trip north of the border to a tight street circuit in Toronto, Ont., and a visit to an unfamiliar Circuit of The Americas.
USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires championship table headed to Road America
| RANK | DRIVER | TEAM | TOTAL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Rowe (rookie) | Pabst Racing w/Force Indy | 165 | |
| 2 | Joel Granfors (rookie) | Exclusive Autosport | 133 | |
| 3 | Francesco Pizzi (rookie) | TJ Speed Motorsports | 128 | |
| 4 | Salvador de Alba | Exclusive Autosport | 124 | |
| 5 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 117 | |
| 6 | Reece Ushijima (rookie) | Jay Howard Driver Development | 101 | |
| 7 | Jonathan Browne | Turn 3 Motorsport | 101 | |
| 8 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 101 | |
| 9 | Jace Denmark (rookie) | Pabst Racing | 96 | |
| 10 | Lirim Zendeli (rookie) | TJ Speed Motorsports | 83 | |
| 11 | Michael d’Orlando (rookie) | Turn 3 Motorsport | 81 | |
| 12 | Jackson Lee (rookie) | Turn 3 Motorsport | 70 | |
| 13 | Jordan Missig | Pabst Racing | 69 | |
| 14 | Christian Weir (rookie) | TJ Speed Motorsports | 68 | |
| 15 | Ricardo Escotto (rookie) | Jay Howard Driver Development | 66 | |
| 16 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Exclusive Autosport | 66 | |
| 17 | Bijoy Garg | DEForce Racing | 55 | |
| 18 | Christian Brooks (rookie) | Turn 3 Motorsport | 47 | |
| 19 | Nicholas Monteiro (rookie) | NeoTech Motorsport | 44 | |
| 20 | Lindsay Brewer | Exclusive Autosport | 42 | |
| 21 | Charles Finelli | FatBoy Racing | 10 |
Road America, also known as ‘America’s National Park Of Speed,’ will play host to it’s 23rd and 24th USF Pro 2000 races on the newly repaved 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course.
Previous USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires winners at Road America
| YEAR | DRIVER | TEAM |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Race #2 | Braden Eves | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 2022 Race #1 | Louis Foster | Exclusive Autosport |
| 2021 Race #2 | Christian Rasmussen | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 2021 Race #1 | Manuel Sulaiman | Juncos Hollinger Racing |
| 2020 Race #2 | Artem Petrov | Juncos Racing |
| 2020 Race #1 | Danial Frost | Turn 3 Motorsport |
| 2019 Race #2 | Kyle Kirkwood | RP Motorsport |
| 2019 Race #1 | Kyle Kirkwood | RP Motorsport |
| 2018 Race #2 | David Malukas | BN Racing |
| 2018 Race #1 | David Malukas | BN Racing |
| 2017 Race #2 | Anthony Martin | Cape Motorsports |
| 2017 Race #1 | Victor Franzoni | Juncos Racing |
| 2016 Race #2 | Aaron Telitz | Team Pelfrey |
| 2016 Race #1 | Aaron Telitz | Team Pelfrey |
| 2010 | Conor Daly | Juncos Racing |
| 2008 | Peter Dempsey | Andersen Racing |
| 2007 | Ron White | Maxwell Racing |
| 2006 | Ron White | Ross Smith Racing |
| 2005 | James Hinchcliffe | AIM Autosport |
| 2004 | Michael McDowell | Star Race Cars |
| 2003 | Michael McDowell | Star Race Cars |
| 2002 | Guy Cosmo | Racers Edge Motorsports |
The Elkhart Lake, Wisc. circuit was once the domain of pole winners, with the driver starting inside the front row winning eight of the first 14 races between 2002 and 2018. However, only one pole sitter has won in the eight races since 2019, and the average starting position of the driver that visited victory lane is 4.5. During those same eight races, the average finishing position of the pole winner is 4.8.
Historically, winning at Road America has gone a long way to securing a championship with Guy Cosmo (2002), Michael McDowell (2004), Conor Daly (2010), Aaron Telitz (2016), Victor Franzoni (2017), Kyle Kirkwood (2019), Christian Rasmussen (2021) and Louis Foster (2022) converting victories into championships.
The recently departed Juncos Hollinger Racing leads all teams with four wins at Road America, with active teams – Jay Howard Driver Development (two), Exclusive Autosport (one), and Turn 3 Motorsport (one) – all collecting wins.
Podiums for teams competing this weekend include:
- Jay Howard Driver Development – three
- Turn 3 Motorsport – three
- Exclusive Autosport – two
- Miller Vinatieri Motorsports – one
- Pabst Racing – one
Avoiding the early caution will be critical, with half of the ten races since the introduction of the Tatuus chassis in 2018 starting with a first-lap yellow flag.
The weekend schedule is as follows:
Friday
- 9:20 am – 9:50 am – USF Pro 2000 Practice
- 11:30 am – noon – USF Pro 2000 Qualifying (Race #1)
Saturday
- 8 am – 8:30 am – USF Pro 2000 Qualifying (Race #2)
- 12:55 pm – USF Pro 2000 Autograph Session (fan zone)
- 2:40 pm – L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America – Race #1 (15 laps or 50 minutes)
Sunday
- 8:50am – L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America – Race #2 (15 laps of 50 minutes)