Josh Green and Turn 3 Motorsport led the fourth test session during USF2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

A new leader, Turn 3 Motorsport sophomore Josh Green, emerged during the fourth USF2000 spring training test session at Barber Motorsports Park.

Once again, the session was veteran dominant, with seven of the top ten times being returned by USF2000 veterans.

Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport), who led the first three sessions, was the fourth quickest driver, slotting in behind a pair of DEForce Racing racers, Nolan Siegel and Prescott Campbell.

Pabst Racing newcomer Jace Denmark was the quickest rookie, ending the session with the fifth-fastest lap in finishing just ahead of his teammate Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Josh Pierson.

Rounding out the top ten were Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsport), and rookie USF2000 team and driver Velocity Racing Development and Erik Evans.

The penultimate USF2000 session of spring training at Barber Motorsports Park got started at 10:50 am (CT), with the track quickly buzzing with the distinctive note of the Elite Engine prepared 2.0L power plants.

Veterans Campbell, Sundaramoorthy, Green, Siegel, and Porto were the quickest over the test’s first fifteen minutes.

With only two sets of Cooper Tire slicks and three sessions, the final two test sessions will feature varying test plans.

Campbell’s quickest lap with 45-minutes remaining was 81.8358 seconds, significantly slower than the earlier session and an indication that he was on scuffed tires.

Brooks sat out the first 15-minutes of the session, but when he did take to the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course, he quickly retook his usual spot at the top of the timing screens.

With 40-minutes remaining in the session, the top seven spots were all veteran drivers and were within a half-second of each other.

Green moved to the head of the class with 38 minutes remaining, an impressive feat for brand new USF2000 team Turn 3 Motorsport and the 2019 Team USA Scholarship winner.

Also moving into the top ten were rookies Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsports) and Erik Evans (Velocity Racing Development).

At the halfway point of session number four, the top seven spots were still held by veterans. Green led the way with a lap at 81.2641 seconds and was followed by fellow series returnees Siegel, Campbell, Brooks, Sundaramoorthy, Pierson, and Porto.

Turn 3 Motorsport also held the top rookie spot at the halfway point, with Christie slotting in ahead of Evans and Frazer.

With 25-minutes remaining, Pabst Racing rookie Denmark interrupted the ‘old-timers’ party’ moving into the top five.

The first red flag of the session was unfurled from the starters stand with 17-minutes left for an incident involving Christie. After a spin, the Turn 3 Motorsport driver made contact with the barriers in Turn 1.

Once the No. 34 of Christie was rescued, the green flag came back out with 11-minutes remaining in the hour-long session.

The last ten minutes of the session were quiet, with none of the drivers improving on their times.

The 23 drivers completed 568 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #4 timesheet.

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 33 Josh Green Turn 3 Motorsport 1:21.2641 0.000 28
2 10 Nolan Siegel DEForce Racing 1:21.5987 0.3346 18
3 11 Prescott Campbell DEForce Racing 1:21.6683 0.4042 22
4 44 Christian Brooks Exclusive Autosport 1:21.6769 0.4128 30
5 23 Jace Denmark Pabst Racing 1:21.7574 0.4933 26
6 22 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 1:21.8583 0.5942 24
7 24 Josh Pierson Pabst Racing 1:21.8823 0.6182 26
8 12 Kiko Porto DEForce Racing 1:21.9436 0.6795 16
9 34 Dylan Christie Turn 3 Motorsport 1:22.0004 0.7363 19
10 29 Erik Evans Velocity Racing Development 1:22.0346 0.7705 28
11 91 Billy Frazer Exclusive Autosport 1:22.1235 0.8594 22
12 99 Myles Rowe Force Indy 1:22.1516 0.8875 28
13 1 Ely Navarro DEForce Racing 1:22.1939 0.9298 23
14 2 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports 1:22.3165 1.0524 29
15 4 Michael d’Orlando Cape Motorsports 1:22.3324 1.0683 24
16 6 Bijoy Garg Jay Howard Driver Development 1:22.3921 1.1280 28
17 5 Spike Kohlbecker Cape Motorsports 1:22.4122 1.1481 25
18 9 Peter Vodanovich Jay Howard Driver Development 1:22.5233 1.2592 30
19 90 Grant Palmer Exclusive Autosport 1:22.5430 1.2789 22
20 3 Evan Stamer Cape Motorsports 1:22.6331 1.3690 24
21 8 Jackson Lee Jay Howard Driver Development 1:22.7639 1.4998 25
22 16 Kent Vaccaro Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:23.4345 2.1704 23
23 63 Trey Burke Joe Dooling Autosports 1:23.7341 2.4700 28

The last opportunity for the USF2000 teams and drivers to get their cars sorted will start at 2 pm (central).

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