Sting Ray Robb in the Firehouse/Goodheart Animal Health Centers sponsored No. 2 on the way to his 4th Indy Pro 2000 pole of the 2020 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

2020 Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires champion Sting Ray Robb will lead the field to the green flag for the fourth time this season. It’s the 19-year-old Indy Lights bound driver’s sixth career pole.

The pole is seventh for Juncos Racing on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit, including two NTT INDYCAR® SERIES drivers – Conor Daly and Rinus van Kalmthout (VeeKay) competing in the 2020 race.

Fourteen of the 18 pole winners in ‘St. Pete’ have gone on to win the race, including 11 of the past 12. The pole sitter’s average finishing position is 1.4, and no pole winner has finished worse than fourth.

Outside of Robb’s two-tenth of a second plus gap to Danial Frost (Turn 3 Motorsport), who will start outside the front row, the top nine qualified within one second of the pole time.

Starting on the second row, within a tenth of a second of Frost, are Parker Thompson (DEForce Racing) and Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing).

The first 17 minutes of qualifying was mostly uneventful, with Robb holding the provisional pole for much of the time.

With just under three minutes remaining in the session, Frost grabbed the provisional pole. At that point in the session, the top five were within three-tenths of a second, and the top eight were within a half-second.

With just over a minute remaining in the session, Robb grabbed the top spot, turning a lap at 68.172 seconds, an impressive 0.255 seconds quicker than Frost.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires Qualifying #1

The Road To Indy’s middle rung is back on track tomorrow at 10:10 am for their second qualifying session.

DEForce Racing’s Cameron Shields on the way to pole for the 2020 USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

For the first time in the team’s history, a pair of DEForce Racing drivers will lead a USF2000 series race to the green flag.

Cameron Shields, who was the quickest in the morning practice, backed up that speed in qualifying, grabbing his first career USF2000 pole.

Shields and teammate Kiko Porto, who will start on the outside of the front row, went quickest on their 13th and final laps of the 20-minute session.

The pole is the third of the USF2000 season and fourth overall in DEForce Racing’s history.

Starting right behind Shields is Eduardo Barrichello (Pabst Racing), who was within a tenth of a second of Shields and two-hundredths behind his best friend and fellow Brazilian Porto.

Rounding out the top five are Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports) and Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport).

2020 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Series title winner Christian Rasmussen will start from the outisde of the third row, leaving him with some work to do if he wants to win his 13th career USF2000 race. A win this weekend would tie the Dane with Chip Ganassi Racing engineer Chris Simmons on the career totals list.

The Elite Engine prepared 2.0L engines powering the USF2000 field were fired for Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark qualifying.

The sun that drenched downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. in the morning was hiding behind cloud cover, but it was still warm. The ambient temperature was 85F, and the humidity was an oppressive 66%. Rain is forecast for later in the evening.

After most of the field had completed two laps, Rasmussen held the top spot with a lap at 73.511 seconds.

Brooks was the next driver to jump to the top of the timing screens holding that spot until first Rasmussen and then Barrichello turned the first sub-73-second laps.

Lowering the provisional pole with a lap at 72.837 seconds, just before the halfway point of the session was Gold. Brooks, Barrichello, Rasmussen, Shields, Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), Josh Green (Cape Motorsports), Matthew Round-Garrido (Jay Howard Driver Development), and Michael d’Orlando rounded out the top 10.

Gold still held on the provisional pole with five minutes left in the 20-minute session, with Brooks, Barrichello, Rasmussen, and Shields all within two-tenths of a second of the sophomore’s quickest lap.

With three minutes remaining, Porto turned his quickest lap of the session. That lap was within four -hundredths of a second of Gold.

With just over a minute left in the session, Barrichello grabbed the provisional pole away, but all 20 cars in the session were still on track.

That didn’t last long as Porto and Shields went quicker on their final laps of the session. The teammates were the only drivers to turn their fastest laps on their final laps.

USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark Qualifying #1 Results

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track on Saturday morning for a second qualifying session at 9:30 am.

The DEForce Racing/Valkyrie Velocity sponsored No. 10 of DEForce Racing veteran Parker Thompson on pit road in New Jersey. The Canadian led the first practice session in St. Petersburg (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

DEForce Racing veteran Parker Thompson, twice a winner that Indy Pro 2000 raced on Tampa Bay’s shores in 2019, led the series solo practice in 2020.

The lone practice session for the Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires got underway at 11:55 am.

The lone practice session in March was led by Exclusive Autosport rookie and 2019 USF2000 champion Braden Eves. Report here —> Braden Eves dominates Indy Pro 2000 practice with four different teams in the top four spots https://www.tsoladder.com/2020/03/13/braden-eves-dominates-indy-pro-2000-practice-with-four-different-teams-in-the-top-four-spots/

While on his out lap, series champion Sting Ray Robb brought out the red flag when the No. 2 Juncos Racing PM-18 came to a stop in Turn 4.

The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to flat tow the Firehouse/Goodheart Animal Health Centers back to pit road.

The green flag came back out with 21 minutes remaining in the half-hour session. The field had only been able to complete a single out-lap of the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit.

Robb was able to get out on track right away and quickly jumped to the top of the timing screens.

With a lap at 69.914 seconds, Robb held the top spot on the timing screens at the halfway point of the session.

Just before the halfway point of the 30-minute session, returnee Rasmus Lindh (Turn 3 Motorsport) made contact with the wall in Turn 10. The Swede was able to limp his damaged steed back to pit road.

The No. 3 of Rasmus Lindh heads back to the Indy Pro 2000 paddock after contact with the concrete barriers (Photo Courtesy of Ghost Photog)

The rest of the top five were Danial Frost (Turn 3 Motorsport), Parker Thompson (DEForce Racing), Artem Petrov (Juncos Racing), and Lindh were all in the top five.

The second red flag of the session – for an incident involving DEForce Racing veteran Kory Enders in Turn 1 – came out with ten minutes remaining.

At that point in the session, Frost had supplanted Robb at the top of the timing screens, turning a less than a tenth of a second slower than the Singaporean.

Veteran Thompson was the next driver to “go purple,” and the Canadian and Robb spent the final few minutes of the session trading quickest lap times, with Thompson ending the session on top.

The top eight drivers were all within one second of Thompson.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented By Cooper Tires Practice #1

The middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track at 3:25 pm for qualifying.

DEForce Racing driver Cameron Shields led the lone USF2000 practice session in St. Petersburg behind the wheel of the Valkyrie Intel sponsored No. 10 (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

DEForce Racing’s Cameron Shields, with a lap timed at 73.485 seconds, led the lone USF2000 practice session that saw the top 13 drivers all within one second of the Aussie.

The first Road To Indy action got underway 225 days to the hour that the St. Petersburg, Fla. event was promptly halted due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic in March.

Since that memorable day, the bottom rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires has contested 15 races at six events and crowned Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development) as the champion.

That practice session in March was led by three-time USF2000 race winner Eduardo Barrichello (Pabst Racing). You can read that session report here: Eduardo Barrichello and Pabst Racing lead first USF2000 session dominated by veterans https://www.tsoladder.com/2020/03/13/eduardo-barrichello-and-pabst-racing-lead-first-usf2000-session-dominated-by-veterans/

The 23 cars entered in the USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark took to the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit at 11:05 am for a lone 30-minute practice session.

The red flag came out with nine minutes remaining for an incident involving newcomer Gil Molina (DEForce Racing) in Turn 9. The Monterey, Mexico native had just turned his quickest lap of the session, the 10th fastest of the field.

Molina’s DEForce Racing teammate Cameron Shields, with a lap timed at 74.827 seconds, was the quickest of the drivers, with most drivers completing five or six laps.

The rest of the top 10 were Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), Rasmussen, Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports), Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports), Barrichello, Kyle Dupell (Cape Motorsports), Josh Pierson (Exclusive Autosport), Michael Myers (Legacy Autosport) and Molina.

The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team cleared Molina’s No. 12, and the green flag came back out at the half-way point of the half-hour session.

With ten minutes remaining, Shields was knocked off the top of the timing screens by first Barrichello and then Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport).

Brook and Barrichello went back and forth for the next five minutes as the only drivers with laps under 74 seconds.

Shields and Gold were the next drivers to turn laps in the 73-second range and with three minutes left in the
the session, the top 13 were all within a second of Brooks.

Times continued to fall late in the session, but a few late flyers were thwarted when the red flag came out for the No. 4 of d’Orlando, who had an incident in Turn 9.

The field completed a total of 329 laps.

Shields’ quickest lap was a little under a tenth-of-a-second quicker than Barrichello’s fastest lap in March.

USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented By Andersen Racepark Practice #1 Results.

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy will be back in action at 2:35 pm for qualifying.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship field goes four-wide into the Turn 1 braking zone at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

The Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000 schedules for the 2021 seasons were released recently and feature 18 race title quests.

To help the teams with budgets, both series have had their schedules trimmed by one event and will be forgoing their annual trip to the West Coast.

Indy Pro 2000

The middle rung on the Road To Indy, the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires schedule, has the teams and drivers visiting nine different circuits.

The schedule that stretches from March to August and from St. Petersburg, Fla. to Millville, N.J. features 12 natural terrain road course races, four races on city streets, and a pair of oval events.

Highlights include an April return to Barber Motorsports Park, a return to Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ont. and a season finale triple header at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Also included in the schedule are nine official test days, including Spring Training at Homestead-Miami Speedway in February.

For the 2021 season, the scholarship that the Indy Pro 2000 drivers will be chasing will be increased by almost 18% to $718,065.

USF2000

The eight-event, 18 race USF2000 schedule includes one oval race, four street course races, and 13 races on natural terrain road courses.

The season will start in the Sunshine City of St. Petersburg, Fla., and feature a return to Barber Motorsports Park, a triple header at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and the finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

The season will include eight official test days, including two days at Homestead-Miami Speedway, to start the season in February.

The drivers will be chasing after a scholarship valued at $401,305, a 22% increase over this season.

Coverage of Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000 will feature worldwide live streaming on RoadToIndy.TV, the Road to Indy TV App, and the series’ respective websites – indypro2000.com and usf2000.com – as well as live and on demand coverage on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku.

Peter Dempsey leads a four-wide finish across the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Yard Of Brick during the 2013 Freedom 100 presented by Cooper Tires (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

The Indy Lights championship, the top level of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires, returns to action in 2021 with a ten event/20 race schedule.

The season opens up on March 6 and 7, 2021, with a doubleheader on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Doubleheaders at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, Road America, the Streets of Exhibition Place in Toronto, World Wide Technology Raceway At Gateway, Portland International Raceway, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and a circuit to still be announced round out the series schedule.

The series returns to Belle Isle, a circuit that has played host to 10 previous Indy Lights races, including a win by Gustavo Yacaman in 2012, the last time the championship visited Detroit, Mich. Other Indy Lights winners on Belle Isle include Adrian Fernandez, Robbie Buhl and Tony Kanaan (twice).

The winner of the 2021 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires championship will take home a $1,289,425 scholarship for entry into at least three NTT INDYCAR® SERIES races, including the Indianapolis 500.

The schedule has one glaring omission, the fan-favorite Freedom 100 presented by Cooper Tires has been discontinued.

The 100-mile, the 40-lap race has been contested 17 times since the inaugural race in 2003. The first two Freedom 100 races were held in conjunction with Indianapolis 500 qualifying before the race became a Carb Day Tradition in 2005.

Per a tweet from Indy Lights, the decision was made by INDYCAR, which does own the top level of the Road To Indy.

Link to tweet

When TSO Ladder reached out to IMS / INDYCAR / Penske Entertainment, we were given the following statement:

“Reserving the Month of May schedule for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES provides maximum flexibility to prioritize Indy 500 on-track activities. In 2020, we’ve learned this flexibility is key to ensure we’re able to successfully race the Indianapolis 500.”

Over half of the 2020 Indianapolis 500 field of 33 drivers had started at least one Freedom 100 before taking on the iconic 2.5-mile oval in an Indy car. The 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge field included Freedom 100 winners Ed Carpenter (2003), Josef Newgarden (2011), Jack Harvey (2015), Colton Herta (2018), and Oliver Askew (2019).

Current NTT INDYCAR® SERIES series rookie Oliver Askew beat his Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Norman to the ‘Yard Of Bricks’ by a slim 0.0067-second margin in a 100-mile race that featured 12 official lead changes among four different drivers, and 134 official passes for position.

Oliver Askew and Ryan Norman, both Andretti Autosport drivers, drag race across to the checkered flag in the 2019 Freedom 100 presented by Cooper Tires (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

The Freedom 100 presented by Cooper Tires has had the two closest finishes in the 111-year history of the iconic 2.5-mile oval.

In 2013, current Road To Indy team owner Peter Dempsey crossed the finish line 0.0026 seconds ahead of Gabby Chaves in a four-wide finish that also included Indianapolis 500 starters Sage Karam and Carlos Munoz.

Three years later, Dean Stoneman edged Ed Jones, lowering the closest Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval finish to 0.0024 seconds.

You can watch that 2016 race here.

This story will be updated as we hear from more Indy Lights stakeholders.

Sting Ray Robb in the Firehouse/Goodheart Animal Health Center sponsored No. 42 crosses the start finish line at the Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park – the Juncos Racing driver won his sixth race of the 2020 season in Race #2 (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich – TSO Ladder

With a dominant pole to checkered flag win, and some misfortune for his closest championship contender, a 2021 seat in Indy Lights is within grasp for Sting Ray Robb.

Much like he dominated qualifying, the 19-year-old dominated the 25-lap race, beating fellow veteran Parker Thompson to the finish line by 8.2 seconds.

Robb’s win, combined with Andretti Steinbrenner Racing rookie Devlin DeFrancesco’s first turn mistake, gives the Juncos Racing driver a 62 point lead headed to the third race of the weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

To clinch the championship in the Garden State, Robb needs to have a 67 point lead after Race #3. If Robb outscores DeFrancesco by five points, he won’t even need to turn up at the St. Petersburg, Fla. finale in two-weeks.

The trip to the podium for Thompson is the fourth this season and the 40th in his Road To Indy career.

Robb’s Juncos Racing teammate Artem Petrov spent most of the race within one second of Thompson, settling for third place. It’s the Russian driver’s sixth podium of the season and his sixth straight top-five finish.

With the grid for Race #3 set according to a driver’s quickest lap in Race #2, some drivers opted to come to pit road to affix fresher Cooper Tires in an attempt to go faster with a light fuel load.

That strategy worked out for Colin Kaminsky, who turned the only lap under 73-seconds and will start Race #3 from the pole.

Robb will start outside the front row, with Turn 1 combatants DeFrancesco and Sulaiman starting beside each other on row two.

The ambient temperature was 69F, the skies were cloudy, and rain showers were in the area when the call to fire the Indy Pro 2000 engines was given at 2 pm.

After one pace lap of the 2.14-mile, 12-turn road course behind the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires pace car, Robb and Thompson’s front row led the field to the green flag to start the 25-lap Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at NJMP Race #2.

Robb got a significant jump, with Thompson following him into Turn 1. Behind the front three, Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing) locked up the brakes in the braking zone of the right-hander.

DeFrancesco’s neon-yellow No. 17 tagged the back of Sulaiman. That sent the No. 8 into a spin and broke the front wing of DeFrancesco’s machine. DeFrancesco was adjudged to be at fault by the steward’s and was given a drive-through as his penalty.

Both drivers came to pit road for repairs. The Andretti Steinbrenner Racing crew was able to affix a new front wing to the No. 17, and he rejoined the field in tenth.

Sulaiman was able to limp the Mandala/Viva Aerobus/Telcel/La Santa sponsored No. 8 back to the pit road.

The running order at the end of the first lap was: Robb, Thompson, Petrov, Hunter McElrea, Danial Frost Turn 3 Motorsports), Colin Kaminsky, Jacob Abel (Abel Motorsports), Antoine Comeau (Turn 3 Motorsports), Kory Enders (DEForce Racing), Sulaiman and DeFrancesco.

The biggest beneficiaries of the Lap 1, Turn one incident were Frost, Abel, and Comeau, who each gained three spots.

As Robb started Lap 5, his lead was already 5.3 seconds over Thompson. The Canadian had a gaggle of drivers stacked up behind him, with the next six drivers within four seconds of Thompson.

Robb’s lead over Thompson had stabilized to 6.1 seconds after ten laps. Veteran Thompson still had Petrov and McElrea with one second. On Lap 12, Petrov and McElrea and Petrov turned their quickest laps of the race, to move even closer to Thompson.

Robb, with a lap timed at 73.241 seconds at the halfway point of the race, held the provisional pole. DeFrancesco, McElrea, and Petrov were the other drivers with sub-74 second laps.

With 10 of the 25 lap race remaining, Robb’s gap to Thompson was a stable 6.0 seconds. Thompson’s gap to Petrov was a comfortable 1.4 seconds.

On lap 15, Enders came to pit road from the ninth position to put on fresher Cooper Tires to turn a quick lap and improve on his starting spot for Race #3

On the next lap, DeFrancesco came to pit road for a better set of Cooper Tires, to start Race #3 as high as possible.

After a furious thrash by the DEForce Racing crew to repair the damaged No. 8, Sulaiman could get back out on track with eight laps left in the race.

A lap later, Kaminsky came to his crew’s attention on pit road for a set of sticker Cooper Tires.

Robb’s lead with five laps remaining was 6.2 seconds over Thompson. Petrov was 1.6 seconds adrift of Thompson with McElrea within a second of Petrov.

On his fourth lap on the track, Sulaiman cranked out a lap at 73.990 seconds. His next lap was at 73.798 seconds.

Kaminsky and Enders were starting to go quicker on the fresher tires, and with three laps remaining, Kaminsky was the first driver to turn a sub-73-second lap, provisionally grabbing the pole for Race #3

With three laps remaining, the gap between the front two drivers was 7.2 seconds.

When he took the white flag, Robb’s lead was 7.4 seconds, and he cruised to an 8.2-second win.

Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at NJMP Race #2 unofficial race results

The final Indy Pro 2000 race of the weekend is scheduled to get the green flag at 5 pm.

Christian Rasmussen is focused on winning the USF2000 title. A win in Race #2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park certainly helps (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich – TSO Ladder

For the eighth time in 2020, the Road To Indy starter waved the twin-checkered flags over Christian Rasmussen when he was the first to cross the start/finish line.

The win is the Jay Howard Driver Development sophomore’s 11th in his two seasons of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship action. It increases his championship lead over Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports), who finished sixth to 50 points with three races remaining.

DEForce Racing’s Cameron Shields’ was never more than a second behind Rasmussen, but couldn’t quite get close enough to make a pass attempt for the lead. It’s the 19-year-old’s best finish of 2020, his second podium of the season, and fourth in his Road To Indy career. The second-place finish moved Shields up to spots into sixth place in the championship fight.

Finishing just behind Shields was Race #1 winner Eduardo Barrichello. The third-place finish is Barichello’s seventh podium of the season, and while still third in the championship standings, the second generation driver has moved to within two points of Gold.

Coming home in fourth place was New York state resident, Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports). It’s the 18-year-olds ninth top-five finish of the season.

Rounding out the top five was Yuven Sundaramoorthy. The fifth-place finish is the second year driver’s best this season.

Jay Howard Driver Development sophomore Nolan Siegel pitted halfway through the race for fresh Cooper Tire and was able to turn the quickest lap of Race #2, earning him the pole for Sunday afternoon’s final race.

The command to fire the 18 Elite Engine prepared 2.0L engines in the back of the USF2000 drivers race car was given at 11:55 am.

The ambient temperature was 69F, and the skies were getting darker as the front row of Rasmussen and Shields brought the field to the green flag on the front straight of the Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Pole sitter Rasmussen got a good jump on Shields and quickly got to Turn 1 alone. Behind him, the drivers were two-wide. The field could get cleanly through the first lap, and the running order to complete Lap 1 was.

Rasmussen, Sheilds, Barrichello, Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports), Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports), Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Matthew Round-Garrido, Josh Green (Cape Motorsports), Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport), Josh Pierson (Exclusive Autosport), Prescott Campbell (Exclusive Autosport), Christian Bogle (Jay Howard Driver Development), Kent Vaccaro (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Nico Christodoulou (DEForce Racing), Kyle Dupell (Cape Motorsports), Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development).

Rasmussen had a one-second lead at they started lap four. Behind the front four, Sundaramoorthy was able to get around gold for fifth, and Brooks could get past fellow rookie Green for tenth.

With six laps complete, Shields did not allow Rasmussen to get away, staying within a second of the race leader.

Shields was facing pressure from Barrichello, who had a slight gap of 1.3 seconds to d’Orlando. The gap back to Sundaramoorthy in fifth place was 3.3 seconds.

Shields set his quickest lap of the race on Lap 8, closing the gap to Rasmussen to 0.8 seconds. The front four were covered by only 2.3 seconds.

Further back, Sundaramoorthy had five drivers backed up in a nose to tail train of USF-17s.

At the halfway point of the 20 lap race, Rasmussen’s lead over Shields was 1.1 seconds. The Aussie’s gap to Barrichello was a slim 0.4 seconds. The rest of the top ten were d’Orlando, Sundaramoorthy, Gold, Miller, Round-Garrido, Brooks, and Green.

On Lap 11, Siegel came to pit road to bolt on a fresh set of Cooper Tire slicks to attempt to set a quick lap. The grid for Race #3 is set by the fastest race lap in Race #2, making this a sound strategy for a driver running near the back of the pack.

On lap 15, Siegel set the quickest lap of the race to that point, turning the only lap under 78 seconds to that point.

On the next lap, Christodoulou employed the same strategy, coming to pit road for sticker Coopers.

Rasmussen’s lead to start Lap 13 was just under a second. Shields was still under immense pressure from Barrichello.

On Lap 14, Round-Garrido was penalized for blocking Brooks. The second-year driver had to serve a drive-thru penalty. That changed the Englishman’s strategy, and he came to pit road on the next lap for fresh Cooper Tire slicks.

Round-Garrido set his quickest lap of the race on his final circuit, but it wasn’t fast enough to knock Siegel off the pole for Race #3.

Rasmussen’s lead was only 0.7 seconds over Shields with four laps remaining, with the top four covered by only 1.9 seconds.

Further back, Brooks was able to get around Miler for seventh.

With three laps left, the lead was 0.6 seconds. Shields had his mirrors full of Barrichello and d’Orlando.

To start the penultimate lap, Rasmussen’s lead was only 0.4 seconds, and when he took the white flag, his lead was back up to 0.8 seconds.

Rasmussen was able to hang on for a vital win. It wasn’t easy, though, with the top four separated by only 2.1 seconds.

The biggest mover in the race was Brooks, who moved from 13th to seventh.

The Andersen Companies USF2000 Grand Prix Race #2 unofficial results

The final Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race of the weekend is scheduled to get the green flag at 3:45 pm.

Sting Ray Robb during a break in track activity at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

0.3135!!!

That is just how dominant was Sting Ray Robb’s pole run for Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at NJMP Race #2 was.

The Juncos Racing sophomore’s gap to the second quickest of 0.3135 seconds is huge.

How huge?

The most significant time gap between the pole winner and the outside front row starter in the past seven Indy Pro 2000 road courses was 0.0785 seconds, and the combined gap between the pole and second place starting in those seven races was 0.2827 seconds.

The pole is the 19-year-olds third pole of the 2020 season, tying him with Manuel Sulaiman (DEForce Racing) and Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing) for the season lead.

The bonus point for winning the pole increased Robb’s championship lead to 42 points.

Starting outside of Robb on row one will be DEForce Racing veteran Parker Thompson; the second-place start matches his best qualifying effort of the year.

Thompson’s DEForce Racing teammate, Sulaiman, will start from the fourth spot, and championship contender Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing) will start in fifth.

Thompson, Petrov, Sulaiman, and DeFrancesco were separated by only 0.1765 seconds.

Starting directly behind Robb is his Juncos Racing teammate Artem Petrov, who begins in the first two rows of an Indy Pro 2000 race for the seventh time in 2020.

The green flag to bin the second Indy Pro 2000 qualifying session of the weekend was shown from the starters stand at 10:45 am.

After most of the drivers had completed their first two laps, Sulaiman held the provisional pole with a lap timed at 73.396 seconds.

After four laps, Sulaiman had improved on his lap time, lowering the provisional pole to 73.036 seconds.

After less than nine minutes of the session was completed, most drivers were in the pit lane for adjustments.

Sulaiman still held the provisional pole at the halfway point of the session. His quick lap was 0.1520 seconds faster than his teammate Thompson. Petrov and Robb were within a half-second in third and fourth. Race #1 winner DeFrancesco had the fifth quickest lap.

The first two drivers to improve in the second half of the session were teammates Colin Kaminsky and Hunter McElrea, who moved into the top five.

On his next lap, McElrea moved to third, two-tenths of a second behind Sulaiman.

McElrea and Kaminsky set their quickest times on their fourth laps on a fresh set of Cooper Tire slicks.

Robb was the next driver to get his tires up to the optimal operating temperature, moving to second on the timing screen.

Just after Robb crossed the line to improve his time, Sulaiman was the first driver to go under 73 seconds.

Thompson was the next driver to grab the provisional pole, but that didn’t last long.

Points leader, Robb, grabbed the provisional pole with just under three minutes remaining in the session.

Robb went even quicker on the next lap, turning the weekend’s fastest lap, a lap timed at 72.396 seconds.

On his last lap, Robb’s teammate Petrov was able to turn his quickest lap of the session, moving Robb’s main championship rival, DeFrancesco, back another spot.

Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at NJMP Race #2 unofficial qualifying results

Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at NJMP Race #2 is scheduled to get the green flag at 2 pm.

Christian Rasmussen on track in the JHDD, CSU | One Cure/Lucas Oil sponsored No. 6. The sophomore won his 8th pole of the 2020 USF2000 Sunday at the New Jersey Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich – TSO Ladder

For the eighth time, this season and ninth time in his Road To Indy career, current points leader Christian Rasmussen will start a USF2000 from the pole.

An untimely red flag brought an early end to what was shaping up to be an exciting qualifying session for The Andersen Companies USF2000 Grand Prix Race #2.

The Jay Howard Driver Development crew could get the Danish driver on the track with just enough time to complete one extra lap on his fresh tires, which made the difference.

Aussie Cameron Shields put in his best qualifying result of the year and will start outside Rasmussen. Shields, who recently switched to DEForce Racing, has now qualified on the front three rows in five straight races.

Race #1 winner Eduardo Barrichello will start Sunday’s first race from the inside of row two. The third-place qualifying effort will be the tenth time the Brazilian has started from the front rows during the 2020 season.

Starting outside of Barrichello on row two will be Race #1 third-place finisher Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports).

Championship contender Reece Gold (Cape Motorsports) will start fifth with fellow USF2000 sophomore Yuven Sundaramoorthy starting sixth. That matches the University Of Wisconsin student’s best qualifying result of the year.

Sunday at Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park got underway with the second Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship qualifying session.

The skies were overcast, and the ambient temperature was 66F.

Fifteen of the 18 entries took to the 2.25-mile, 12-turn road course when the green flag was shown from the timing stands. Cape Motorsports drivers Green and Dupell and newcomer Kent Vaccaro were the three drivers that remained on pit road.

The first driver to turn a lap at speed was Gold.

After drivers had turned four laps, the provisional pole sitter was DEForce Racing’s Cameron Shields, with a lap timed at 78.006 seconds.

Several cars came to pit road for adjustments before the halfway point of the 20-minute qualifying session.

After ten minutes of qualifying, Sheilds sat on the provisional pole with a lap 0.0748 seconds quicker than Gold. The rest of the top 10 were Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports), Josh Pierson (Exclusive Autosport), Matthew Round-Garrido, Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development), Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development), Prescott Campbell (Exclusive Autosport), Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport) and Christian Bogle (Jay Howard Driver Development).

Rasmussen was the first driver to go quicker on the sticker Cooper Tires and was the first driver to break the 78-second barrier.

First, Michael d’Orlando, and then Barrichello grabbed the provisional pole before Rasmussen went back to the top, going quicker on his second lap with the tires up to temperature.

The red flag came out, and the clock stopped with four and a half minutes remaining in the session.

The No. 8 of Dupell came to a stop between Turn 5 and Turn 6 with the left rear suspension folded over.

The damage resulted from contact with Miller, with the incident coming under review after the session.

Rasmussen, with a lap timed at 77.533 seconds, held the provisional pole. That lap was two-tenths of a second quicker than Shields. Barrichello, d’Orlando, Gold, Sundaramoorthy, Green, Round-Garrido, Miller, and Pierson.

Unfortunately, Dupell’s car dropped some fluid, and it took a little too long to get the mess cleaned up. With a Global MX-5 Cup race next on the schedule, the checkered flag was thrown on the session, with no more green flag time.

The Andersen Companies USF2000 Grand Prix unofficial qualifying #2 results

The Andersen Companies USF2000 Grand Prix Race #2 is scheduled to get the green flag at noon.