By Steve Wittich
The USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires, travels to Indianapolis, Ind., where 25% of the season’s points are available between now and Memorial Day Weekend.
The “Month of May” begins with a triple-header on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the 22nd, 23rd and 24th races on the infield road course.
With a 30-point advantage over the competitors, Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) and Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development) are the favorites to win the $433,200 Discount Tire Driver Advancement Scholarship. However, there is still plenty of time for other drivers to get in the mix for the title, but they can’t waste any more time.
Georgian Sikes holds a razor-thin three-marker advantage over Hughes, despite the Aussie having a two-to-one advantage in the wins column. Both drivers have an average finish of 2.3 after four races, with Sikes’ edge coming from scoring five more bonus points. Sikes has started from the pole in the last three races, led the most laps in the second race at Sebring International Raceway and had the quickest lap in all four races to start the 2023 season.
Hughes, the reigning F4 United States Champion, has six wins in 22 North American starts, equating to an impressive win percentage of 27.3%.
A pair of youngsters, 15-year-old Evagoras Papasavvas (Jay Howard Driver Development) and 14-year-old Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing), trail championship leader Sikes by 30 and 33 points, respectively.
Cypriot-American Papasavvas started the season with three straight top fives before a mid-race incident dropped him back in the final race at Sebring International Raceway. If the driver who calls Loveland, Ohio home, continues to collect top fives, he’ll find himself in the championship hunt as the season progresses.
“I’m really looking forward to all the excitement of the Month of May in Indianapolis and at the Speedway this weekend,” said Papasavvas. “I’ve earned a podium on each track we have competed at this season, and I’m not looking to slow down now. Indy is always an interesting race, and I think the team, and I are on track to compete for that top spot.”
Johnson, a winner at home in St. Petersburg, Fla., has had one of the four quickest laps of the race in all of his starts this season and trails only Sikes in the fastest lap of the race category, averaging 3.3 over the first four races of the season.
The following four drivers on the points table – reigning USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires champion Mac Clark (DEForce Racing), improving Jorge Garciarce, who had his best finish last year on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course (DEForce Racing), Kiwi sophomore Jacob Douglas (Exclusive Autosport), and Chase Gardner (Exclusive Autosport), who made his series debut on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in a one-off effort last year – are all within ten points, and still in play for the championship.
Canadian Clark and 17-year-old Douglas are coming off hard-fought podiums in the second race at Sebring International Raceway. However, both drivers qualifying efforts – Clark’s average is 10.3, and Douglas’ average is 9.0 – will need to be better if they want to fight for wins.
USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires points standings after four of 18 races.
RANK | DRIVER | TEAM | TOTAL | BEHIND | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Simon Sikes | Pabst Racing | 107 | ||
2 | Lochie Hughes (rookie) | Jay Howard Driver Development | 104 | -3 | |
3 | Evagoras Papasavvas | Jay Howard Driver Development | 77 | -30 | |
4 | Nikita Johnson | Velocity Racing Development | 71 | -36 | |
5 | Mac Clark (rookie) | DEForce Racing | 55 | -52 | |
6 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | 52 | -55 | |
7 | Jacob Douglas | Exclusive Autosport | 49 | -58 | |
8 | Chase Gardner (rookie) | Exclusive Autosport | 45 | -62 | |
9 | Sam Corry (rookie) | Velocity Racing Development | 42 | -65 | |
10 | Elliot Cox (rookie) | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development | 37 | -70 | |
11 | Danny Dyszelski | Velocity Racing Development | 34 | -73 | |
12 | Gordon Scully (rookie) | Velocity Racing Development | 33 | -74 | |
13 | Al Morey (rookie) | Jay Howard Driver Development | 33 | -74 | |
14 | Trey Burke | Future Star Racing | 29 | -78 | |
15 | Max Garcia (rookie) | Pabst Racing | 29 | -78 | |
16 | Maxwell Jamieson (rookie) | DEForce Racing | 27 | -80 | |
17 | Nicholas d’Orlando | Exclusive Autosport | 23 | -84 | |
18 | Louka St-Jean (rookie) | Jay Howard Driver Development | 22 | -85 | |
19 | Avery Towns (rookie) | Exclusive Autosport | 22 | -85 | |
20 | Joey Brienza (rookie) | Exclusive Autosport | 16 | -91 | |
21 | Zack Ping (rookie) | Velocity Racing Development | 15 | -92 | |
22 | Andre Castro | Future Star Racing | 13 | -94 | |
23 | Ethan Ho | DC Autosport | 9 | -98 |
Home race
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development rookie Elliot Cox, from Indianapolis, Ind., will make his first USF2000 start at his home track. The 15-year-old, who has his own charity – Driving For Dyslexia – has fellow dyslexic, the late Justin Wilson, as his racing hero.
Cox scored two top tens, including a fifth-place finish at Sebring International Raceway, to move into tenth on the points table.
Al Morey, from Fortville, Ind, will be making only his 14th start in cars this weekend. But, despite his lack of experience, the 17-year-old has completed every lap this season and found more pace every time he’s on track.
“I am really looking forward to racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway later this week,” said Morey. “I live not that far away so we will have a ton of family and friends on site. It will be a great time, and I will be aiming to reset my series best results this weekend.”
“I want to be consistent and learn,” continued Morey. “If I can do that each race weekend, I will be able to accomplish the goals that I set forth at the beginning of the year.”
Welcome back
Canadian Lucas Mann will join Exclusive Autosport (The Eh! Team) for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway triple-header. Mann made his series debut at the Portland International Raceway season finale last year.
“I am super happy to be back racing in the USF2000 Series,” enthused Mann. “I am excited to experience Indy during the Month Of May, even if we are racing the opposite direction. Thank you to Exclusive Autosport for the opportunity to run at IMS and to ANSE3D.com. This track always promotes great racing and I can’t wait to be a part of it.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway notes and numbers.
- Active teams Pabst Racing (five), VRD Racing (three) and DEForce Racing (one) have all won on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
- The pole sitter has won 11 of the 21 races but only one of the nine races since 2020.
- The average starting position of the winner is 2.4. The average starting position of the winner since 2020 is 2.8.
- Will Owen won the first race in 2014 from 13th, the lowest on the grid a winner has started.
Previous USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires winners on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
YEAR | DRIVER | TEAM |
---|---|---|
2022 Race #3 | Alex Quinn | Velocity Racing Development |
2022 Race #2 | Alex Quinn | Velocity Racing Development |
2022 Race #1 | Alex Quinn | Velocity Racing Development |
2021 Race #3 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing |
2021 Race #2 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing |
2021 Race #1 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing |
2020 Race #3 | Reece Gold | Cape Motorsports |
2020 Race #2 | Eduardo Barrichello | Pabst Racing |
2020 Race #1 | Eduardo Barrichello | Pabst Racing |
2019 Race #2 | Braden Eves | Cape Motorsports |
2019 Race #1 | Braden Eves | Cape Motorsports |
2018 Race #2 | Alex Baron | Swan-RJB Motorsports |
2018 Race #1 | Kyle Kirkwood | Cape Motorsports |
2017 Race #2 | Oliver Askew | Cape Motorsports |
2017 Race #1 | Oliver Askew | Cape Motorsports |
2016 Race #2 | Parker Thompson | Cape Motorsports with /WTR |
2016 Race #1 | Anthony Martin | Cape Motorsports with /WTR |
2015 Race #2 | Nico Jamin | Cape Motorsports with /WTR |
2015 Race #1 | Nico Jamin | Cape Motorsports with /WTR |
2014 – Race #2 | Adrian Starrantino | JAY Motorsports |
2014 – Race #1 | Will Owen | Pabst Racing |
- Active teams Pabst Racing (three), DEForce Racing (two) and Exclusive Autosport (one) have had drivers start from the pole.
- The average finishing position of the pole sitter is 2.7.
- Current INDY NXT pilot Jagger Jones, who started from the pole in three races last year, finished 18th in the second race, the lowest of any pole sitter.
- Pabst Racing (13), DEForce Racing (six), Exclusive Autosport (five) and VRD Racing (three) are the active teams that have had drivers stand on the podium.
- Eight races on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course have been caution free. The average number of caution laps across all of the races is 2.5. In addition, there have been only four first-lap cautions.
- A dozen races have had a lead change, with the first race in 2014 leading the way with four lead changes among four drivers.
- All 21 races have finished under the green flag.
- The most significant margin of victory came in 2014 when Will Owen beat Jake Eidson to the line by 15.994 seconds.
- In 2020, second-generation racer Eduardo Barrichello beat current INDY NXT driver Reece Gold to the twin checkers by only 0.2834 seconds, the closest margin of victory.
- Braden Eves (Cape Motorsports) holds the track record at 84.5396 seconds.
- Simon Sikes (nine starts – best 9th), Jacob Douglas (three starts – .st 13th), Danny Dyszelski (three starts – best third), Jorge Garciarce (three – best finish 7th), and Chase Gardner (three – best finish 10th) have all made starts here.