The Giltrap Group/Miles Advisory Partners/Doric NZ/Bell sponsored No. 18 of Hunter McElrea on track in St. Petersburg. The American-born Kiwi scored his and the team’s first Indy Pro 2000 wins in the final race of the season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

That Hunter McElrea and Pabst Racing won an Indy Pro 2000 race in 2020 isn’t a surprise. That it took until the final race of the season was a surprise.

The 20-year-old McElrea started fourth, moved to third on the start, and got by pole sitter Robb and his teammate Kaminsky on Lap 5, leading the final 21 laps to capture his team’s first Indy Pro 2000 win.

It’s the fifth career Road To Indy win for the American born, Kiwi citizen, who was raised in Australia.

McElrea is the eighth different driver to win an Indy Pro 2000 race in 2020. That ties the series record for winners.

Coming across the line just behind his Pabst Racing teammate was Colin Kaminsky. The 21-year-old finished the season on a high note, standing on the podium’s middle step in two of the last three races.

Grabbing the final spot on the podium in the last race of the season was Turn 3 Motorsport driver Danial Frost.

Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing) solidified the second spot in the championship, finishing ahead of his closest rival Artem Petrov (Juncos Racing) on the track and the points table.

Petrov was not able to finish the race, finishing in the ninth spot. The low finish combined with Frost’s podium means the Russian driver falls to fourth in the final standings.

The final Road To Indy race of the 2020 season, the Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Allied Building Products, got the command to fire their engines at 11:26 am. The race followed a busy NTT INDYCAR® SERIES warm-up session, giving the engineers a challenge to find an effective set-up to work with different rubber.

After one pace lap, the front row of Robb and Kaminsky brought the front row down the long front straight, the 3,677-foot Runway 7/25 at the Albert Whited Airport.

Robb got a good jump on Kaminsky, getting cleanly through Turn 1 first, bringing Kaminsky through behind him.

Behind the first few rows, Nate Aranda (Juncos Racing) took too much of the curb in Turn 1, bounding into DEForce Racing drivers Parker Thompson and Moisés de la Vara. Also involved was Tristan Charpentier and Charles Finelli.

The incident knocked Thompson, de la Vara, Charpentier, and Finelli out of the race, while Aranda could continue.

While under yellow, race control announced that Kory Enders (DEForce Racing) was being penalized for jumping the start. He took the restart at the back of the field.

The running order as the green flag came back out to start Lap 4 was Robb, Kaminsky, McElrea, Frost, Petrov, Rasmus Lindh (Turn 3 Motorsport), Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Autosport), Manuel Sulaiman (DEForce Racing), Nate Aranda (Juncos Racing) and Kory Enders (DEForce Racing).

Kaminsky got a great restart, putting immense pressure on Robb. Robb placed his car in the middle of the track to defend. The 2020 champion got a little too deep into the corner, making the corner, but running wide. That allowed Kaminsky and McElrea to move past Robb.

Kaminsky held the lead for only a few corners before giving up the lead to his teammate McElrea. Behind the leaders, Sulaiman’s Mandala/Viva Aerobus/Telcel/La Santa sponsored No. 8 ended up in the tires in Turn 4. That brought out the second caution of the race.

The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team cleared the No. 8 quickly, and the green flag came out on Lap 7.

On the first lap after the restart, Frost and Petrov were got around Robb, dropping the veteran to fifth.

On Lap 9, Lindh made a move on Robb for fifth. Upfront, McElrea had pulled a 3-second gap over his teammate Kaminsky, who was being pressured by Frost and Petrov.

At just past the halfway point of the race, McElrea’s lead over his teammate was 1.6 seconds.

Further back, Lindh made an inside pass of Petrov in Turn 1, moving to fourth and taking off after his Turn 3 Motorsport teammate Frost for the podium’s final spot.

Also, getting by Petrov was his teammate Robb, who moved back into the top five.

On the next lap, Kaminksy’s lead over McElrea had shrunk to 1.2 seconds.

With ten laps remaining, the lead out front was 0.9 seconds, but it was Frost in third who was the quickest driver on the track. The No. 68 was less than a second behind the No. 19.

Only 1.5 seconds covered the top three the next time they crossed the start-finish line, with Kaminsky within a half-second of McElrea.

On Lap 16, Petrov was defending against DeFrancesco and was given a penalty for blocking. The penalty was to give up the sixth spot to the driver he was battling for second in the championship. A few laps later, Petrov brought the No. 42 to pit road, retiring in the ninth position.

Over the next two laps, the gap among the top three remained steady at 1.5 seconds.

Lindh, in fourth, was slowly eating into the gap to the front three. The Swede was going to have to start watching his mirrors. The driver chasing him for fourth, Robb, was the quickest driver on the track.

With five laps remaining, the top three were covered by less than a second, running nose-to-tail around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit.

With three laps remaining, the gap between the front three had increased to 1.4 seconds, with 0.7 seconds between each position.

McElrea’s lead when he took the white flag was 0.5 seconds. Frost had fallen 1.2 seconds behind Kaminsky.

Kaminsky hassled McElrea for the final 14 corners, but McElrea held on for his first Indy Pro 2000 win.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Allied Building Products Results

Christian Brooks behind the wheel of the Hot Wheels/Chaco Flaco/Bell Helmets sponsored No. 44 Exclusive Autosport USF-17 on the Streets Of St. Petersburg, Fla. – the rookie won his first race in the final race of the 2020 USF2000 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Veteran drivers were the story of the 2020 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship season, but it was rookies that stole the headlines in the final race weekend.

Christian Brooks, an Exclusive Autosport rookie, joined Saturday’s winner, DEForce Racing rookie Kiko Porto, as the only freshman to win this season.

Brooks’ green to checkered flag win is the 20-year-olds first trip to victory lane and his third visit to the podium in 2020.

Joining Brooks on the podium was Saturday’s race winner, DEForce Racing rookie Kiko Porto, and Pabst Racing veteran Eduardo Barrichello.

With his ninth podium of the season, Barrichello clinched second place in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship standing.

Rounding out the top five were Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports) and 2020 USF2000 champion Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development).

One quick note from yesterday’s race – after being involved in a Lap 1, Turn 1 incident on Saturday, the No. 21 Pabst Racing machine, who was scheduled to start seventh, could not take the start on Sunday morning. Also missing the start was Josh Pierson (Exclusive Autosport).

The call to start the 2.0L engines powering the 20 USF2000 cars was given at 9:29 am.

The skies were sunny, and the temperature was already 78F with a sticky 87% humidity.

After one lap behind the Road To Indy pace-car, the front row of Porto and Brooks brought the field to the green flag.

Pole sitter Brooks got the jump on Porto and was the first car to arrive in Turn 1. The rest of the field got cleanly through Turn 1 and, after going three-wide in Turn 4, completed the first lap cleanly.

The running order after the first lap was: Brooks, Porto, Barrichello, Rasmussen, d’Orlando, Cameron Shields (DEForce Racing), Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports), Matthew Round-Garrido (Pabst Racing), Prescott Campbell (Exclusive Autosport), Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development), Kyle Dupell (Cape Motorsports), Josh Green (Cape Motorsports), Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development), Christian Bogle (Jay Howard Driver Development), Simon Sikes (Legacy Autosport), Gil Molina (DEForce Racing), Michael Myers (Legacy Autosport), Bijoy Garg (Jay Howard Driver Development),

d’Orlando, who started ninth, moved to fourth place, passing Rasmussen in Turn 1 on Lap 2.

On Lap 6, Molina, who was running 15th, spun in Turn 1. The DEForce Racing newcomer was able to get the No. 11 re-fired and continue keeping the track green.

Brooks had a comfortable lead, but with a non-functioning transponder, was not showing up on the timing screens.

On Lap 10, Shields once again had a mechanical issue, coming to a stop on the track between Turn 9 and Turn 10. The Aussie had been running fifth.

The running order under yellow was Brooks, Porto, Barrichello, d’Orlando, Rasmussen, Gold, Round-Garrido, Miller, Campbell, Brichacek, Green, Dupell, Siegel, Sikes, Myers, Garg, Bogle, Molina, Shields (out), Sundaramoorthy (DNS), and Pierson (DNS).

Brooks led the field back to green to start Lap 13 with Porto tucked under the Exclusive Autosport race car’s gearbox. Brooks used the middle of the track defensively, holding the Race #1 winner behind him.

Further back in the field, Round Garrido was able to get passed Gold, who fell from fifth to eighth, also losing spots to Miller and Campbell.

With five laps remaining, Porto was still hounding Brooks but had company. d’Orlando and Rasmussen were hounding the Race #1 winner.

Over the next three laps, Porto continued to hound Brooks, but with two laps remaining, Brooks was able to pull a three-car length gap over the DEForce Racing driver. Porto was starting to get immense pressure from his friend Barrichello.

Brooks received the white flag four car lengths ahead of Porto and completed the final lap cleanly, grabbing his first win of the season.

USF2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires

Sting Ray Robb gets fist bumps from Indy Pro 2000 promotor Dan Andersen and Cooper Tire’s Chris Pantani after his seventh win of the 2020 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Juncos Racing veteran Sting Ray Robb came to ‘St. Pete’ looking to put an exclamation point on his 2020 Indy Pro 2000 championship. So far, the 19-year-old has a win, two poles, and two new track records and still has Sunday’s final race of the season to contest.

Robb’s victory was his seventh of the season and sixth in the last nine races.

Robb led from green to checkered flag, never having a competitor with a second of him, and hold a 3+ second lead for the majority of the race.

“That was a hard race, even though I was leading the whole way,” said Robb. “The team set a goal for me to hold a certain lap time and I did, until I saw Danial starting to catch me. I started pushing harder and set the quick race lap time, bettering my own race record from last year. Two lap records in one day here, that’s pretty special! Huge thanks to the team, I don’t know what more I can say that I haven’t said all year. They are so amazing. And I’m so happy to have so many of my friends and family here, they get to see me on the top of the podium, and I get to share it with them. And the glory goes to God, as always!”

Robb’s win is the seventh in St. Pete for Juncos Racing. The Indy Pro 2000 pole-sitter has now won 15 times on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit.

Crossing the line behind Robb, was Turn 3 Motorsport sophomore Danial Frost. The second-place finish is the Singaporean driver’s fifth podium of the season.

“It’s been strange, being here in an Indy Lights car last March and now back here in the Indy Pro 2000 car, but I’m so glad to be racing here again, St. Pete is one of my favorite races on the calendar,” explained Frost. “It’s such a challenging track, it’s so physical and you really have to stay focused, so it’s mentally difficult as you get toward the end of the race, but I like that kind of attack. It’s nice to get the podium, but I want to get the next spot! I have one more chance tomorrow to get that race win.”

Robb’s teammate Artem Petrov was the third driver to cross the start/finish line.

The Russian’s seventh trip to the podium moves him to within 12 points of Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Autosport) for second place in the championship with one race remaining.

The command to fire the engines for the final race on a busy Saturday in St. Petersburg, Fla., The Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires was given at 5:40 pm.

The front row of Robb and Frost brought the seven rows of two to the green flag.

Robb got a great jump from the inside of the front row. Also getting a significant jump from third was Thompson, who moved to second in Turn 2.

After Robb’s excellent jump, race control did review the start, but they decided that no action was necessary.

Behind them, the field went side-by-side and cleanly through Turn 1.

The running order at the end of the first lap was Robb, Thompson, Frost, Petrov, McElrea, Manuel Sulaiman (DEForce Racing), Moisés de la Vara (DEForce Racing), Colin Kaminsky (Pabst Racing), Rasmus Lindh (Turn 3 Motorsport), Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Autosport), Nate Aranda (Juncos Racing), Kory Enders (DEForce Racing), Tristan Charpentier (Exclusive Autosport) and Charles Finelli (Fatboy Racing!).

After only two laps, Robb’s lead was already 2 seconds over fellow veteran Thompson.

Lap 4 was rough for DEForce Racing veterans de la Vara and Enders. de la Vara lost four spots falling to 10th, and Enders spun at the exit of Turn 1. Enders was able to continue, keeping the track green.

As they started Lap 8, Robb’s lead was 2.8 seconds. A pair of former Exclusive Autosport Indy Pro 2000 drivers, Thompson and Frost, were only separated by 0.8 seconds behind the leader.

On Lap 9, Sulaiman, who was defending against Lindh, was warned by race control for blocking.

On Lap 10, the DEForce Racing/Valkyrie Velocity No. 9 of Thompson ended up in the runoff area in Turn 4. The winner of two Indy Pro 2000 races on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit in 2019 was able to continue slowly but came to pit road and the attention of the DEForce Racing crew, and the veteran climbed from the car.

That moved Frost into second place and Petrov into the final spot on the podium.

On Lap 13, Frost turned the quickest lap of the race, grabbing a new race lap record, and lowering Robb’s lead to 3.9 seconds.

With ten laps remaining, the lead was still at 3.9 seconds. Petrov, in third, had a fight on his hands, with McElrea, Sulaiman, Lindh, and Kaminsky covered by 1.5 seconds.

Robb’s lead over Frost when Lap 17 started was 3.4 seconds. Frost had a comfortable 3.0-second gap to Petrov.

Over the next two laps, Frost was able to eat into Robb’s lead, starting Lap 20 with a 2.4-second gap to the leader.

On Lap 21, Kaminsky, who was putting pressure on Lindh, got too deep into Turn 4, missing the corner and ending up in the runoff area. He was able to continue but fell down the running order to ninth.

With four laps remaining, the lead was down to 1.7 seconds.

The Juncos Racing crew must have told Robb that he had lost the quickest race lap record. With two laps remaining, the Idahoan turned a lap at 68.3621 seconds, regaining the record.

Robb’s gap to Frost when they took the white flag was 1.8 seconds. The presumptive Indy Lights driver continued to push on the final lap, lowering the race track record again.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires Race Results

The middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track Sunday at 11:30 am for their final race of the season.

DEForce Racing rookie Kiko Porto celebrates his first USF2000 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

It would have been understandable if Kiko Porto experienced flashbacks to September 3 and a race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

On that day, the DEForce Racing rookie had a late lead with his best friend Eduardo Barrichello (Pabst Racing) chasing him. In that race, the second-generation driver Barrichello got the best of Porto.

Fast forward seven weeks to the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit, and once again, Porto had Barrichello filling his mirrors. This time, the 17-year-old was able to hold off Barrichello to grab his first career USF2000 victory.

“I can’t describe this feeling! I’ve worked so hard this year, and so many things have happened – I couldn’t get to the United States, and then I got COVID,” said a smiling Porto. “But the team has worked so hard, and the car was so good today. And I’m so happy for Dudu, my brother, I am so happy to be first-second with him. I’ve loved this track from my first lap here so I’m glad we were able to come back; it’s one of my favorites. I pushed hard the whole time and it was a very difficult race, especially that first corner, so to bring home the win means so much. I will remember this moment for the rest of my life!”

Porto’s win is the first in St. Pete for DEForce Racing. The Texas-based team now has three podiums in this event.

Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports) was a late addition to the battle for the lead but had to settle for third place. The American’s 10th trip to the podium in 2020.

Gold’s podium is the 22nd for Cape Motorsports in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Barrichello’s second-place finish was his eighth podium of the year, and by finishing ahead of Gold, he takes a two-point advantage in the battle for second place into the final race of the season.

“It was a very difficult start – it’s very tricky because of the paint on the surface,” explained the Pabst Racing sophomore about the start of the race. “But it’s a street course, so that’s part of the game. We were trying to get close to Kiko but it’s really, really hard in the dirty air. There’s no room for error here, especially since I was tied with Reece in the championship. It’s so good to see Kiko win, but even though we’re friends, I would have tried a move, but I couldn’t get close to him. But I’m going to try again tomorrow!”

Barrichello’s podium is the 13th in the ‘Sunshine City” for Pabst Racing.

Rounding out the top five were Gold’s Cape Motorsports teammates Josh Green and Michael d’Orlando.

Pole sitter Cameron Shields led the first nine laps but unfortunately suffered a mechanical issue, forcing him to pit road and dropping him nine laps behind Porto.

The command to start the 21 Elite Engine 2.0L engines behind the USF2000 drivers was given at 4:55 pm. That was 15-minutes late due to a long but entertaining NTT INDYCAR® SERIES qualifying session.

After one pace lap behind the Road To Indy pace car, the all-DEForce Racing front row of Shields and Porto brought the 21 starters to the green flag on the 3676 foot Runway 7/25 at the Albert Whited Airport.

After being warned to take care of each other in Turn 1, the drivers did not take heed.

There was chaos as Yuven Sundaramoorthy, who started seventh, ran into the back of Christian Brooks on the inside line. The Pabst Racing sophomore went over the rear wing of the No. 44 and hitting the 2020 champion, Christian Rasmussen. Also dropping back was Wyatt Brichacek, who spun while trying to avoid the incident.

The Wisconsin born Sundaramoorthy was asked to report to the race director after the conclusion of the day’s Road To Indy activity.

The running order under yellow was Shields, Porto, Barrichello, Gold, Green, Simon Sikes (Legacy Autosport), Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports), Bijoy Garg (Jay Howard Driver Development), Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Matthew Round-Garrido (Pabst Racing), Christian Bogle (Jay Howard Driver Development), Josh Pierson (Exclusive Autosport), Kyle Dupell (Cape Motorsports), Gil Molina (DEForce Racing), Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development), Prescott Campbell (Exclusive Autosport), Mike Myers (Legacy Autosport) and Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development)

The biggest gainer throughout the chaos was Garg, who moved from his 20th starting spot to eighth.

The green flag came back out to start Lap 4. That lap was completed cleanly, with the running order after the first green lap was Shields, Porto, Barrichello, Gold, Green, d’Orlando, Sikes, Miller, Garg, Dupell, Pierson, Molina, Campbell, Siegel, Brichacek, Myers, Rasmussen (out), Brooks (out) and Sundaramoorthy (out).

As they started Lap 6, Shield’s lead over his teammate was 0.7 seconds. Barrichello and Gold were pressuring Porto.

Just before receiving the crossed flags signifying the 20 lap race’s the halfway point, Shields slowed on the front straight, with Porto getting by him before the next lap began.

The Aussie fell to the back of the pack, coming to pit road and the attention of his DEForce Racing crew.

That turned the lead over to his teammate Porto, who had Barrichello right on his gearbox. The lead to start Lap 13 was 0.3 seconds.

With five laps remaining, Porto’s lead was only 0.4 seconds over his best friend. However, the quickest driver on track was Gold, who was within a second of the driver he is fighting for second.

Further back in the field, d’Orlando and Miller were putting pressure on Green for fourth. Also, Sikes had his mirrors full of Round-Garrido. On the next lap, Round-Garrido got around Sikes to move up to seventh.

The gap between the front two had decreased to 0.3 seconds, with two laps remaining.

The top three – Porto, Barrichello, and Gold – saw the white flag covered by less than one second.

Barrichello and Gold put immense pressure on Porto but couldn’t get around him for the lead, with all three drivers seeing the checkered flag within 0.9 seconds of each other.

USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark Race Results

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy will be back on track Sunday at 9:30 am for their final race of the 2020 season.

Sting Ray Robb in the Firehouse/Goodheart Animal Health Centers sponsored No. 2 on the way to his 5th Indy Pro 2000 pole of the 2020 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

For the third straight qualifying session, 2020 Indy Pro 2000 champion Sting Ray Robb put an exclamation point on his title.

The Juncos Racing veterans gap in the final three qualifying sessions of the 2020 season was 0.3135 seconds (New Jersey Motorsports Park Race #2), 0.1619 seconds (Streets of St. Petersburg Race #1), and 0.3274 seconds (Streets of St. Petersburg Race #2).

The 19-year-old turned a pole lap of 67.602 seconds, smashing the Streets of St. Petersburg track record by over three-tenths of a second.

Robb’s pole is the eighth in St. Petersburg, Fla. for Juncos Racing.

Pabst Racing rookie Colin Kaminsky was the first driver to break the track record, and for the second time in 2020, will start an Indy Pro 2000 from the outside of the front row.

Starting immediately behind Robb is Turn 3 Motorsport veteran Danial Frost. Rooke Hunter McElrea will start behind his teammate, on the outside of the second row.

The final Indy Pro 2000 qualifying session of the 2020 season immediately followed a track record-setting USF2000 qualifying session at 10:10 am.

Mimicking Friday’s qualifying session, Robb quickly grabbed the provisional pole, turning a lap at 68.345 seconds. With 15-minutes left in the 20-minute session, that was two-tenths of a second of Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing). Only five-hundredths behind McElrea was his teammate Colin Kaminsky.

Just before the halfway point of the session, Frost grabbed the provisional pole away from Robb.

The rest of the top five at that point in the session were McElrea, Kaminsky, and DeFrancesco. Lindh and Thompson were also within a half-second of Frost on the provisional pole.

However, most of the field visited their crews on pit road for adjustments and fresh Cooper Tires.

The first driver to improve in the second half of the session was Canadian Thompson.

The next driver to improve, with five minutes left in the session, was Kaminsky, who took over the provisional pole with a lap timed at 68.121 seconds.

Kaminsky went quicker on his next lap, moving to within a super slim five-thousandth of a second of the track record set by Parker Thompson in 2019.

Kaminsky’s hold on the provisional pole and track record held until Robb turned in a lap of 67.602 seconds, shattering the track record by over three-tenths of a second.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Allied Building Products Qualifying results.

The Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires rolls off at 5:40 pm.

The Hot Wheels/Chaco Flaco/Bell Helmets sponsored No. 44 of Christian Brooks on track in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Exclusive Autosport rookie grabbed his first career pole and set a new track record (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

Exclusive Autosport rookie Christian Brooks turned a lap of 71.966 seconds on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit to grab his first career USF2000 pole and set a new track record for the Streets Of St. Petersburg, Fla.

The 20-year-old has nine top-five finishes in 2020 but is still looking for his first trip to the podium’s top step.

DEForce Racing teammates Kiko Porto and Cameron Shields backed up a one-two in yesterday’s qualifying by turning the second and third quickest laps of the 20-minute session.

Starting fourth and fifth are Eduardo Barrichello (Pabst Racing) and Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports), the two drivers who are tied for second in the championship.

Qualifying for Sunday’s USF2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires got underway at 9:30 am. The sun was shining brightly, the temperature was 78F, and the wind was blowing lightly from the east.

The early leader was 2020 USF2000 champion Rasmussen, but drivers kept going quicker on each lap. With 15-minutes remaining in the session, the Cape Motorsports foursome of Reece Gold, Michael d’Orlando, Kyle Dupell, and Josh Green were still sitting pit road, waiting for the other drivers to put some of the Cooper Tire rubber down.

Brooks was the first driver to go quicker than Rasmussen, turning a lap at 72.500 seconds just before the session’s halfway point.

The rest of the top ten after ten of 20 minutes were Rasmussen, Gold, d’Orlando, Campbell, Pierson, Green, Shields, and Round-Garrido.

Several drivers came to pit road for fresh Cooper Tire slicks before heading back out on track to try and improve their standing.

With nine minutes left in the session, Gold grabbed the provisional pole, going nine-hundredths than Brooks.

Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports) was the first driver to improve after moving to new tires, moving to the seventh spot.

The other drivers were getting their tires in the proper operating window, with Porto grabbing the provisional pole, with a track record lap of 62.110 seconds.

Porto’s hold on the track record didn’t last long. Brooks was able to go two-hundredths quicker than the DEForce Racing rookie.

Brook went a little quicker on his next lap, lowering the provisional pole lap to just slightly higher than 62 seconds. On his next lap, the Californian broke the 62-second barrier.

Brooks was the only driver to break into the 61-second range.

USF2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires Qualifying.

The USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark Race is scheduled to roll off at 4:40 pm.

The Hot Wheels/Chaco Flaco/Bell Helmets sponsored No. 44 of Christian Brooks on track in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Exclusive Autosport rookie grabbed his first career pole and set a new track record (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)