By Steve Wittich
The winner, barely, of the first day of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship testing was Pabst Racing sophomore Eduardo Barrichello. The second-generation pilot of the Bib’s Chocolate sponsored #22 Pabst Racing USF-17 turned in a quick lap of 84.3979 seconds.
Pabst Racing USF2000 sophomore Eduardo Barrichello on track for spring training at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)
The top four drivers were covered by less than one-tenth of a second, and the top 15 were all within the Brazilians best lap on the 2.21-mile, 14-turn Homestead-Miami Speedway roval.
Rounding out the top five on Saturday were fellow USF2000 veterans Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Cameron Shields (Legacy Autosport).
Josh Green (Cape Motorsports) was the quickest rookie and had the sixth-fastest time of the day, going only two-hundredths quicker than Exclusive Autosport’s Prescott Campbell.
The 20 drivers completed 845 laps (1,867.5 miles) of testing.
Session #1
Sophomore Barrichello led the first one-hour USF2000 session with a quick lap timed at 84.485 seconds.
Not surprisingly, the top five was made up of drivers representing Pabst Racing and Cape Motorsports. Gold (2nd), Green (3rd), and d’Orlando (5th) for Cape Motorsports. Barichello (1st) and Matthew Round-Garrido (4th) for Pabst Racing.
Green was the quickest of the rookies, followed by Campbell (Exclusive Autosport) and Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport).
The 20 drivers completed 445 laps of the 2.21-mile, 14-turn Homestead-Miami Speedway roval. Californian Campbell was the busiest driver, completing 31 circuits in the Lucas Oil School of Racing sponsored No.1 Exclusive Autosport USF-17.
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Session #2
Once again, it was Barichello that found himself at the top of the timesheets when the checkered flag came out to end the final USF2000 session of Road To Indy Spring Training. Gold found himself just behind Barrichello again. It was a two-tenth of a second gap in session #1, but the difference dropped to razor-thin five-hundredths in the final session of the day.
The top five were rounded out by Sundaramoorthy, Rasmussen, and Shields, who were all within one-tenth of a second of Barrichello.
The top 15 drivers were all within one second of the Pabst Racing sophomore.
A trio of Cape Motorsports drivers, Gold, Green, and d’Orlando, were the busiest drivers, each turning 26 laps. The 20 drivers completed 400 circuits of the 2.21-mile, 14-turn Homestead-Miami Speedway roval.
The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship series is back on track tomorrow (Sunday) for a trio of 45-minute sessions.
A pair of Cape Motorsports drivers, Reece Gold and Josh Green were quick in USF2000 testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)
Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship testing – combined timesheet
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | QUICK LAP | BACK | TOTAL LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Eduardo Barrichello | Pabst Racing | 1:24.398 | –.—- | 30 |
| 2 | 3 | Reece Gold | Cape Motorsports | 1:24.452 | 0.0545 | 53 |
| 3 | 21 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | 1:24.488 | 0.0899 | 34 |
| 4 | 6 | Christian Rasmussen | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:24.492 | 0.0945 | 27 |
| 5 | 20 | Cameron Shields | Legacy Autosport | 1:24.512 | 0.1139 | 40 |
| 6 | 2 | Josh Green | Cape Motorsports | 1:24.560 | 0.1619 | 53 |
| 7 | 1 | Prescott Campbell | Exclusive Autosport | 1:24.585 | 0.1873 | 53 |
| 8 | 44 | Christian Brooks | Exclusive Autosport | 1:24.623 | 0.2249 | 39 |
| 9 | 12 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 1:24.696 | 0.2982 | 47 |
| 10 | 4 | Michael d Orlando | Cape Motorsports | 1:24.747 | 0.3490 | 53 |
| 11 | 5 | Wyatt Brichacek | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:24.864 | 0.4656 | 39 |
| 12 | 23 | Matt Round-Garrido | Pabst Racing | 1:24.979 | 0.5815 | 30 |
| 13 | 9 | Nolan Siegel | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:25.065 | 0.6667 | 36 |
| 14 | 7 | Christian Bogle | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:25.189 | 0.7906 | 42 |
| 15 | 8 | Kyle Dupell | Cape Motorsports | 1:25.331 | 0.9329 | 45 |
| 16 | 10 | Mathias Ramirez | DEForce Racing | 1:25.632 | 1.2337 | 47 |
| 17 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1:25.851 | 1.4527 | 50 |
| 18 | 27 | Ayrton Ori | Legacy Autosport | 1:26.288 | 1.8897 | 42 |
| 19 | 91 | Manuel Cabrera | Exclusive Autosport | 1:26.507 | 2.1088 | 34 |
| 20 | 41 | Max Kaeser | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1:26.590 | 2.1925 | 51 |