USF2000 Race #1 Qualifyng

Braden Eves, who is making his second appearance in a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship used a last-second lap to grab his first career Road To Indy pole.

It’s the first pole for Cape Motorsports in their hometown race since 2013, and the sixth for the team on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit.

The first of two red flags in the session came out five minutes into the 20-minute late afternoon session when the No. 40 of Jack William Miller, who had the ninth quickest lap in Practice #1, made contact with concrete barriers in Turn 3.

At that point of the session, the top five were: Hunter McElrea, Christian Rasmussen, Colin Kaminsky, Manuel Sulaiman, and Alexandre Baron.

The 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit went back to green with eight minutes remaining but was only active for three minutes before the second red flag of the session came out when Newman Wachs Racing rookie made light left rear contact with the wall.

At that point, the Pabst Racing quartet held down four of the top five with Sulaiman sandwiched between the top two of McElrea, and Kaminsky and their teammates Bruna Tomaselli and Yuven Sundaramoorthy in fourth and fifth.

The green flag came out one last time with three minutes remaining for an out lap and one flying lap.

At the end of the flying lap rookie, Braden Eves quick lap of 63.528 seconds was faster than McElrea by a tenth-of-a-second.

The top 10 drivers – Eves, McElrea, Sulaiman, Zach Holden, Kaminsky, Tomaselli, Baron, Sundaramoorthy, Rasmussen and Manuel Cabrera – were all within one second of Eves.

Three drivers did not register as turning any laps in the session.

Darren Keane, the quickest driver in Practice #1, had a transponder issue and will have to start near the rear of the 21-car grid. Rookie Eduardo Barrichello had the same fate befall him.

TSO Ladder caught up with Keane after the session, and Cape Motorsports driver knows he has his work cut out for him, but at the same time was looking forward to having the opportunity to work on his passing.

Matthew Round-Garrido, was dealing with a throttle sensor issue that persisted from the first practice session and was unable to turn any laps.

Cooper Tires Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by Andersen RacePark Qualifying 1 Results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 8 Braden Eves Cape Motorsports 1:13.528 –.—- 7
2 22 Hunter McElrea Pabst Racing 1:13.650 0.1227 11
3 12 Manuel Sulaiman DEForce Racing 1:13.689 0.1608 8
4 27 Zach Holden BN Racing 1:13.718 0.1904 8
5 23 Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing 1:13.744 0.2159 11
6 24 Bruna Tomaselli Pabst Racing 1:13.851 0.3235 10
7 14 Alex Baron Legacy Autosport 1:13.879 0.3511 8
8 21 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 1:14.332 0.8042 9
9 6 Christian Rasmussen Jay Howard Driver Development 1:14.379 0.8510 7
10 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:14.629 1.1016 4
11 3 Reece Gold Cape Motorsports 1:14.698 1.1701 8
12 28 Anthony Famularo BN Racing 1:14.974 1.4466 4
13 36 Nolan Siegel Newman Wachs Racing 1:15.461 1.9333 8
14 77 Jose Sierra Legacy Autosport 1:15.688 2.1606 7
15 69 Nate Aranda Team E JAY Racing 1:15.738 2.2101 8
16 7 Christian Bogle Jay Howard Driver Development 1:16.303 2.7753 4
17 40 Jack William Miller Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:17.703 4.1749 2
18 73 Cameron Shields Newman Wachs Racing 1:20.403 6.8748 5
19 2 Darren Keane Cape Motorsports No Time
20 5 Matt Round-Garrido Jay Howard Driver Development No Time
21 41 Eduardo Barrichello Miller Vinatieri Motorsports No Time

USF2000 Race #2 Qaulifying

For the second straight day, USF2000 qualifying was a disjointed session that was interrupted by a pair of red flags.

And also, for the second straight day, a last-second hot lap by a Cape Motorsports driver captured the coveted inside front row starting spot.

This time it was Darren Keane, who’s lap of 62.653 him a dominant pole. The 19-year-old’s lap was over three-tenths ahead of his teammate and Race #1 pole-sitter Braden Eves.

This is the first career poll for Keane, and the seventh at Cape Motorsports’ home track.

The 20-minute session was only a few minutes old when the red flag came out when Manuel Sulaiman, who will start Friday’s first USF2000 race from the inside of the second row, hit the tire barriers. The No. 12 DEForce Racing USF-17 sustained damage to the left rear and was not able to continue.

The green flag came out with just over half of the twenty minutes session remaining on the clock, but that didn’t last long.

The red flag flew again after only three minutes of green flag running when rookie Eduardo Barrichello’s No. 41 Miller Vinatieri Motorsports machine came to a halt on track.

The top 10 after one green flag lap were Alexandre Baron (Legacy Autosport), Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development), Keane, Colin Kaminsky (Pabst Racing), Eves, Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Bruna Tomaselli (Pabst Racing), Zach Holden (BN Racing) and Matthew Round-Garrido (Jay Howard Driver Development)

The efficient AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to move the stricken car quickly and the track went back green for a four-minute pole shootout.

Baron was the first to improve his time, but was quickly bumped by Kaminsky first and Keane second.

On the second flying lap, McElrea was the first to jump to the provisional pole, but it was Keane who eventually ended up in the top spot.

The second row is made up of Jay Howard Driver Development rookie Rasmussen and Legacy Autosport veteran Baron.

The Pabst Racing quartet of McElrea, Kaminsky, Tomaselli and Sundaramoorthy will all start in the top ten with Holden and Cameron Shields (Newman Wachs Racing).

St. Petersburg Grand Prix Presented by Andersen Interior Contracting Race 2 Qualifying Results.

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 2 Darren Keane Cape Motorsports 1:12.653 –.—- 8
2 8 Braden Eves Cape Motorsports 1:13.016 0.3627 8
3 6 Christian Rasmussen Jay Howard Driver Development 1:13.018 0.3643 8
4 14 Alex Baron Legacy Autosport 1:13.232 0.5782 8
5 22 Hunter McElrea Pabst Racing 1:13.239 0.5859 8
6 23 Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing 1:13.251 0.5975 9
7 27 Zach Holden BN Racing 1:13.409 0.7553 8
8 73 Cameron Shields Newman Wachs Racing 1:13.510 0.8566 8
9 24 Bruna Tomaselli Pabst Racing 1:13.545 0.8920 8
10 21 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 1:13.594 0.9407 8
11 5 Matt Round-Garrido Jay Howard Driver Development 1:13.725 1.0720 8
12 77 Jose Sierra Legacy Autosport 1:13.853 1.1997 8
13 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:13.902 1.2484 8
14 3 Reece Gold Cape Motorsports 1:14.206 1.5530 8
15 69 Nate Aranda Team E JAY Racing 1:14.529 1.8755 8
16 28 Anthony Famularo BN Racing 1:14.596 1.9422 8
17 36 Nolan Siegel Newman Wachs Racing 1:14.784 2.1311 8
18 40 Jack William Miller Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:14.895 2.2421 8
19 7 Christian Bogle Jay Howard Driver Development 1:16.280 3.6268 8
20 12 Manuel Sulaiman DEForce Racing No Time
21 41 Eduardo Barrichello Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 7:12.191 0.0000 2

The first USF2000 race of the year gets the green flag at 11:45 am.

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