By Tony DiZinno
Jack William Miller will lead the 18-car field of USF Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires competitors to the green flag for Friday night’s Cooper Tires Freedom 90 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The Carmel, Indiana native in his No. 40 Miller Vinatieri Motorsports lapped the 0.686-mile oval in a total of 41.726 seconds over two laps, equating to an average speed of 118.372mph.
Miller’s MVM Tatuus IP-22 was ahead of two Exclusive Autosport entries, Joel Granfors and Salvador de Alba. Granfors, the 18-year-old Swede, is fresh off his first USF Pro 2000 win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course earlier this month and will look to emulate last year’s series champion and Exclusive Autosport driver, Louis Foster, in winning on the IRP oval shortly after capturing his first series win on the IMS road course.
TJ Speed Motorsports’ Francesco Pizzi and Pabst Racing with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe complete the top five on the grid.
Rowe enters the race with a 39-point lead on Kiko Porto, who only qualified his DeForce Racing entry in 11th place (139-100). Pizzi is third on 99, Granfors fourth on 95 and Jace Denmark fifth on 91.
The only oval on the schedule means the USF Pro 2000 field has a slightly different points structure.
A win is 45 points, second 38, third 33, fourth 29, fifth 26, with the remainder of the top 10 23-21-20-18-17 and then 15 for 11th down to 2 for 20th.
Key to the race in recent years? Tire management. Drivers need to hold onto their Cooper Tires over the course of 90 laps, and often times, managing the fall-off and keeping enough in hand when encountering slower traffic decides the winner.
Foster’s win last year was for Exclusive Autosport. Other recent winners with the Tatuus chassis include: Christian Rasmussen for Jay Howard Driver Development (2021), Kody Swanson for Legacy Autosport (2020), Danial Frost for Exclusive Autosport (2019) and Parker Thompson for Exclusive Autosport (2018).
Qualifying Results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Lap 1 | Lap 2 | Total Time | Avg. Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 20.758 | 20.968 | 41.726 | 118.372 |
| 2 | 92 | Joel Granfors | Exclusive Autosport | 20.910 | 20.849 | 41.759 | 118.279 |
| 3 | 91 | Salvador de Alba | Exclusive Autosport | 21.022 | 20.873 | 41.895 | 117.895 |
| 4 | 55 | Francesco Pizzi | TJ Speed Motorsports | 21.066 | 20.896 | 41.962 | 117.706 |
| 5 | 99 | Myles Rowe | Pabst Racing w/Force Indy | 21.137 | 20.893 | 42.030 | 117.516 |
| 6 | 20 | Jace Denmark | Pabst Racing | 21.182 | 20.950 | 42.132 | 117.232 |
| 7 | 1 | Michael d’Orlando | Turn 3 Motorsport | 21.119 | 21.210 | 42.329 | 116.686 |
| 8 | 2 | Jonathan Browne | Turn 3 Motorsport | 21.144 | 21.245 | 42.389 | 116.521 |
| 9 | 32 | Christian Weir | TJ Speed Motorsports | 21.187 | 21.236 | 42.423 | 116.427 |
| 10 | 47 | Jackson Lee | Turn 3 Motorsport | 21.291 | 21.250 | 42.541 | 116.104 |
| 11 | 12 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 21.384 | 21.204 | 42.588 | 115.976 |
| 12 | 4 | Ricardo Escotto | Jay Howard Driver Development | 21.415 | 21.297 | 42.712 | 115.640 |
| 13 | 81 | Nicholas Monteiro | NeoTech Motorsport | 21.421 | 21.308 | 42.729 | 115.594 |
| 14 | 7 | Bijoy Garg | DEForce Racing | 21.376 | 21.362 | 42.738 | 115.569 |
| 15 | 90 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Exclusive Autosport | 21.478 | 21.363 | 42.841 | 115.291 |
| 16 | 93 | Lindsay Brewer | Exclusive Autosport | 21.678 | 21.715 | 43.393 | 113.825 |
| 17 | 6 | Reece Ushijima | Jay Howard Driver Development | -.—- | -.—- | No Time | No Speed |
| 18 | 19 | Jordan Missig | Pabst Racing | -.—- | -.—- | No Time | No Speed |