The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship field on pit road during spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

What the quickest driver of the day had to say:

“It feels great to finish the weekend on the top of the charts,” said Brooks, last year’s Hyperco Rookie of the Year. “The Exclusive Autosport car has been on rails all weekend long. We definitely put in some consistent results. We know it is practice, but it always feels good to be on top, and it is definitely a nice confidence booster going into the season. We are just going to put our heads down and push for some good results at Barber.”

Christian Brooks, in the Hot Wheels/Chaco Flaco/Bell Helmets sponsored No. 44 sets up for Turn 8 during spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

  • 21 of the 23 drivers were below the track record set by Michael Epps (Belardi Auto Racing) during qualifying for the 2014 Cooper Tires Winterfest.
  • The top six and seven of the top ten drivers on the combined timesheet were veterans. Pabst Racing rookie Jace Denmark was the quickest of the rookies and was joined in the top ten by fellow rookies Billy Frazer (Exclusive Autosport) and Myles Rowe (Force Indy).
  • Are the Pabst Racing drivers identical triplets? Josh Pierson, Denmark, and Yuven Sundaramoorthy each turned 121 laps and finished the test in positions six-seven-eight, separated by a minuscule 0.1052 seconds.
  • Three teams dominated the top ten on the combined timesheet. DEForce Racing and Pabst Racing placed three drivers in the top ten and were joined by a pair of Exclusive Autosport pilots. Turn 3 Motorsport and Force Indy each put a lone driver in the top ten.
  • Sixteen of 23 drivers were within one second of Brooks, the fastest driver of the test. That compares similarly to the past two USF2000 spring training tests. Seventeen of 20 drivers were within one second of leader Prescott Campbell in 2019, and 13 of 18 drivers were within one second of leader Darren Keane in 2018.
  • Jay Howard Driver Development and Cape Motorsports, whose drivers have won the last ten driver’s champions, were surprisingly missing from the top ten.
  • The 23 USF2000 drivers combined to turn 2,725 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. That equates to 6,267.5-miles.
  • Joe Dooling Autosports rookie Trey Burke was the group’s busiest, completing 139 laps or 27.8 laps per session.
  • Seven drivers turned more than 130 laps, while only two – veterans Brooks and Nolan Siegel (DEForce Racing), turned less than 100 laps.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship combined timesheet from spring training at Barber Motorsports Park

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM SESSION QUICK LAP DIFF. TOTAL LAPS
1 44 Christian Brooks Exclusive Autosport 3 80.7981 97
2 11 Prescott Campbell DEForce Racing 3 80.9386 -0.1405 116
3 10 Nolan Siegel DEForce Racing 3 81.0929 -0.2948 90
4 33 Josh Green Turn 3 Motorsport 4 81.2641 -0.466 106
5 12 Kiko Porto DEForce Racing 3 81.3141 -0.516 107
6 24 Josh Pierson Pabst Racing 3 81.3248 -0.5267 121
7 23 Jace Denmark Pabst Racing 3 81.3891 -0.591 121
8 22 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 3 81.4300 -0.6319 121
9 91 Billy Frazer Exclusive Autosport 3 81.4547 -0.6566 132
10 99 Myles Rowe Force Indy 3 81.4773 -0.6792 113
11 5 Spike Kohlbecker Cape Motorsports 3 81.4872 -0.6891 122
12 4 Michael d’Orlando Cape Motorsports 3 81.5406 -0.7425 133
13 90 Grant Palmer Exclusive Autosport 3 81.5938 -0.7957 133
14 34 Dylan Christie Turn 3 Motorsports 3 81.5938 -0.7957 103
15 6 Bijoy Garg Jay Howard Driver Development 3 81.7041 -0.906 109
16 1 Ely Navarro DEForce Racing 3 81.7234 -0.9253 115
17 9 Peter Vodanovich Jay Howard Driver Development 3 81.9157 -1.1176 132
18 8 Jackson Lee Jay Howard Driver Development 3 82.0041 -1.206 134
19 29 Erik Evans Velocity Racing Development 4 82.0346 -1.2365 120
20 3 Evan Stamer Cape Motorsports 3 82.0362 -1.2381 132
21 2 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports 4 82.3165 -1.5184 115
22 16 Kent Vaccaro Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 3 83.1678 -2.3697 114
23 63 Trey Burke Joe Dooling Autosports 3 83.6030 -2.8049 139

Averaging things out

Studying the combined timesheet and timesheets from individual sessions is only part of the story when predicting how a driver’s season could turn out.

With teams and drivers working on varying test programs across five one-hour test sessions, the outright pace isn’t always the goal. That is why it’s vital to average how a driver does across all five sessions.

TSO Ladder likes to drop the lowest finishing session when utilizing this method because teams work on different items in sessions or might skip a session due to limited tires.

Here are a few observations:

  • The top eight drivers were extremely consistent, with only one of 32 possible placements in the sessions that we counted that was outside of the top ten.
  • DEForce Racing veteran Nolan Siegel led the final session after finishing the other sessions in 5th, 3rd, 3rd, and 2nd.
  • Lucas Oil Formula Championship Series champion and DEForce Racing rookie Ely Navarro was the only rookie driver that improved each time he took to the tracks. The 16-year-old who calls Fishers, Ind. home improved from the 20th to 19th, to 16th, to 13th, to 6th.

The Lucas Oil School Of Racing sponsored No. 1 from the DEForce Racing stable heads down pit road with rookie Ely Navarro behind the wheel (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions).

  • Pabst Racing rookie Jace Denmark had the highest average of the 14 rookies. The 16-year-old was also the most consistent newcomer, finishing each session between fourth and sixth on the timesheet.

Average placement in spring training sessions (worst finish is dropped)

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM AVERAGE
1 44 Christian Brooks Exclusive Autosport 1.8
2 10 Nolan Siegel DEForce Racing 2.3
3 11 Prescott Campbell DEForce Racing 3.8
4 33 Josh Green Turn 3 Motorsport 4.5
5 24 Josh Pierson Pabst Racing 5.0
6T 23 Jace Denmark – r Pabst Racing 5.3
6T 12 Kiko Porto DEForce Racing 5.3
8 22 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 5.8
9T 90 Grant Palmer – r Exclusive Autosport 9.8
9T 29 Erik Evans – r Velocity Racing Development 9.8
11T 34 Dylan Christie – r Turn 3 Motorsport 10.3
11T 91 Billy Frazer – r Exclusive Autosport 10.3
13 99 Myles Rowe – r Force Indy 10.5
14 4 Michael d’Orlando Cape Motorsports 11.3
15 5 Spike Kohlbecker – r Cape Motorsports 12.5
16 1 Ely Navarro – r DEForce Racing 13.5
17 8 Jackson Lee – r Jay Howard Driver Development 13.8
18 6 Bijoy Garg Jay Howard Driver Development 14.0
19 9 Peter Vodanovich – r Jay Howard Driver Development 15.0
20 2 Thomas Nepveu – r Cape Motorsports 16.5
21 3 Evan Stamer – r Cape Motorsports 18.3
22 16 Kent Vaccaro – r Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 20.5
23 63 Trey Burke – r Joe Dooling Autosports 21.5

 

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A note about our presenting sponsor. 

Once again, a huge thank you to Cooper Tires for coming back to be the presenting sponsor of TSO Ladder for the fourth season. Without them, we would not be able to bring you our extensive Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires coverage. If you require tires, I highly recommend them. Our family has the Discover ® AT3 4S  on our SUV and CS5 Grand Touringon our car.

Cooper Tires 2021 Spring Promotion runs through April 12 and has some great bargains. Click here to learn more and find out where to purchase your Coopers.