By Steve Wittich
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires season ground to halt after each rung of the level completed only one practice session at the season-opening weekend in St. Petersburg.
The 2020 season gets re-started in only 12-days time at the iconic Road America circuit in Wisconsin. But, first on the calendar was an official Road To Indy test at another historic road course, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Ohio.
Leading the way on the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship combined timesheet was Cape Motorsports sophomore Michael d’Orlando, who completed a partial season of USF2000 action in 2018. The 18-year-old’s quick lap of 81.8805 seconds came in the second of four 45-minutes tests session held on the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn natural terrain road course.
Leading two of the test sessions, and ending the day with the fifth quickest overall time was d’Orlando’s Cape Motorsports teammate Reece Gold. The Miami, Fl. based driver turned a total of 56 laps and led the first and last sessions of the day.
Also leading a session was another sophomore driver. Jack William Miller led the way in the third session of the day, leaving the Carmel, Ind. resident, with the third quickest time of the test day.
It was another Cape Motorsports driver, Josh Green, who ended up with the second quickest time. The 2019 Team USA Scholarship winner didn’t lead a session, but was in the top three in each of the three sessions that he participated took part in.
Rounding out the top five was Kyle Dupell, making it a quartette of Cape Motorsports drivers sandwiching Miller.
The quickest dozen drivers were all within one second of d’Orlando’s fastest time with Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development), Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development), Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development), Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport), Matthew Round-Garrido (Pabst Racing), Christian Bogle (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Bijoy Garg (Jay Howard Driver Development), all a part of that club.
Missing from the test were Eduardo Barrichello and Yuven Sundaramoorthy, a pair of Pabst Racing veterans who should contend for the championship and scholarship. Second generation pilot Barrichello led the lone practice session at St. Pete, and his teammate Sundaramoorthy was seventh.
Michael Myers, a graduate of the Lucas Oil School of Racing formula car series, took part in the test with Legacy Autosport, but TSO Ladder was informed that his transponder was not working.
The 18 drivers with working transponders completed a total of 1107 laps. Miller Vinatieri Motorsports rookie Max Kaeser was the busiest of the bunch turning a total of 77 circuits.
Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship combined timesheet
RANIK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | QUICK LAP | DIFFERENCE | TOTAL LAPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Michael d’Orlando | Cape Motorsports | 81.8805 | 68 | |
2 | 2 | Josh Green | Cape Motorsports | 81.9810 | -0.1005 | 67 |
3 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 82.1118 | -0.2313 | 78 |
4 | 8 | Kyle Dupell | Cape Motorsports | 82.2840 | -0.4035 | 49 |
5 | 3 | Reece Gold | Cape Motorsports | 82.3429 | -0.4624 | 56 |
6 | 9 | Nolan Siegel | Jay Howard Driver Development | 82.3527 | -0.4722 | 51 |
7 | 6 | Christian Rasmussen | Jay Howard Driver Development | 82.4220 | -0.5415 | 48 |
8 | 5 | Wyatt Brichacek | Jay Howard Driver Development | 82.5953 | -0.7148 | 74 |
9 | 44 | Christian Brooks | Exclusive Autosport | 82.6369 | -0.7564 | 42 |
10 | 23 | Matthew Round-Garrido | Pabst Racing | 82.7750 | -0.8945 | 60 |
11 | 7 | Christian Bogle | Jay Howard Driver Development | 82.8110 | -0.9305 | 72 |
12 | 18 | Bijoy Garg | Jay Howard Driver Development | 82.8800 | -0.9995 | 71 |
13 | 41 | Max Kaeser | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 82.9691 | -1.0886 | 77 |
14 | 20 | Cameron Shields | Legacy Autosport | 83.0816 | -1.2011 | 66 |
15 | 10 | Nico Christodoulou | DEForce Racing | 83.1103 | -1.2298 | 71 |
16 | 1 | Prescott Campbell | Exclusive Autosport | 83.4712 | -1.5907 | 56 |
17 | 90 | Josh Pierson | Exclusive Autosport | 84.8264 | -2.9459 | 30 |
18 | 27 | Courtney Crone | Legacy Autosport | 85.0168 | -3.1363 | 71 |
19 | 24 | Michael Myers | Legacy Autosport | Inoperative transponder |