Pabst Racing duo of Barrichello and Sundaramoorthy lead lone USF2000 session at Mid-Ohio

By Steve Wittich

Missing the recent USF2000 open test certainly didn’t slow down the Pabst Racing sophomore duo of Eduardo Barrichello and Yuven Sundaramoorthy. Second-generation racer Barrichello led the way with a lap timed at 82.356 seconds, which was only two-hundredths quicker than his teammate in second place.

A baker’s dozen drivers were within Barichello, with championship leader Christian Rasmussen in only ninth place.

The lone 30-minute practice session of the USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders event got underway promptly at 10 am.

The 20 USF-17s powered by Elite Engine 2.0L power plants took to the track with sunny skies and warm temperatures. The ambient temperature was 79F, and the humidity was a sticky 66%.

Sophomore Rasmussen was the early leader in the practice session.

At the halfway point of the session championship points leader, Rasmussen had the quickest lap time at 83.035 seconds. He was followed in the top five by Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport), Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development), Sundaramoorthy, and Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports). At that point in the session, the top 12 drivers were all within one second of the top spot.

Times quickly started to fall as the drivers got the green race track cleaned off and their Cooper Tires up to the proper operating temperature. Green was the first driver to turn a sub-83-second lap, but Brooks quickly surpassed that.

With 11-minutes remaining in the session, the red flag came out for a quick tow-in.

Brooks was still the quickest at that time with a lap of 82.677 seconds. The driver of the HotWheels/Chaco Flaco/Bell Helmets sponsored No. 44, was followed in the top ten by Barrichello, Sundaramoorthy, Josh Green (Cape Motorsports), Rasmussen, Siegel, Miller, Kyle Dupell (Cape Motorsports), Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Matthew Round-Garrido (Pabst Racing).

With seven minutes left in the 30-minute session, the green flag came back out, and all of the drivers were quickly back on the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course.

The first driver to improve his time was sophomore Siegel, but it didn’t take long for the timing screen to light up with green laps as drivers lowered their quickest times.

With two minutes remaining, Barrichello moved to the top of the timing screen, but that didn’t last long. Green and Sundaramoorthy knocked the Pabst Racing sophomore from the top spot. However, on his very last lap of the session, the Brazilian went quicker, ending the long practice session at the top of the timing screen.

The 20 drivers turned a total of 305 laps, with six drivers leading the way with 19 laps completed.

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track for a half-hour qualifying session at 1:30 pm.

USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders practice session results.