Over the next week and a couple of days, a 2.258-mile, 13-Turn road course will help determine the favorites to win the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship title and generous advancement scholarship that goes with it.

The lowest rung on the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is set to contest their 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th, and 60th series races at the Lexington, Ohio road course between now and August 9th.

The 180 points on offer in the six races equate to a little more than a third of the points on offer for the entire season.

There is an excellent chance that the season-long champion will win one of the six races. Last year’s champion Braden Eves was only the fourth eventual champion that did not win a race in the 21 previous seasons that USF2000 has competed at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Previous Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race winners at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

YEAR	DRIVER	TEAM	STARTING SPOT
2019 Race #2	Hunter McElrea	Pabst Racing	1
2019 Race #1	Christian Rasmussen	Jay Howard Driver Development	2
2018 Race #3	Kyle Kirkwood	Cape Motorsports	2
2018 Race #2	Kyle Kirkwood	Cape Motorsports	2
2018 Race #1	Kyle Kirkwood	Cape Motorsports	1
2017 Race #2	Parker Thompson	Exclusive Autosport	1
2017 Race #1	Oliver Askew	Cape Motorsports	1
2016 Race #3	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports	1
2016 Race #2	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports	1
2016 Race #1	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports	1
2015 Race #3	Nico Jamin	Cape Motorsports	1
2015 Race #2	Nico Jamin	Cape Motorsports	1
2015 Race #1	Nico Jamin	Cape Motorsports	1
2014 Race #3	Florian Latorre	Cape Motorsports	1
2014 Race #2	Jake Eidson	Cape Motorsports	6
2014 Race #1	RC Enerson	Team E Racing	2
2013 Race #3	Garett Grist	Andretti Autosport	1
2013 Race #2	Neil Alberico	Cape Motorsports	1
2013 Race #1	Neil Alberico	Cape Motorsports	1
2012 Race #2	Scott Anderson	Belardi Auto Racing	1
2012 Race #1	Spencer Pigot	Cape Motorsports	1
2011 Race #2	Petri Suvanto	Cape Motorsports	1
2011 Race #1	Petri Suvanto	Cape Motorsports	1
2006 Race #4	JR Hildebrand	Cape Motorsports	2
2006 Race #3	JR Hildebrand	Cape Motorsports	1
2006 Race #2	JR Hildebrand	Cape Motorsports	1
2006 Race #1	JR Hildebrand	Cape Motorsports	1
2005 Race #4	Jay Howard	Aiken Racing	2
2005 Race #3	Joey Foster	Cape Motorsports	1
2005 Race #2	Jay Howard	Aiken Racing	2
2005 Race #1	Jay Howard	Aiken Racing	1
2004 Race #4	Adam Pecorari	Andersen Walko Racing	1
2004 Race #3	Adam Pecorari	Andersen Walko Racing	1
2004 Race #2	Adam Pecorari	Andersen Walko Racing	5
2004 Race #1	Andre Prendeville	Andersen Walko Racing	2
2003 Race #4	Jonathan Bomarito	PR1 Motorsports	2
2003 Race #3	Jonathan Bomarito	PR1 Motorsports	1
2003 Race #2	Westley Barber	Cape Motorsports	1
2003 Race #1	Tonis Kasemets	Pabst Racing	2
2002 Race #3	Ross Fonferko	Cape Motorsports	5
2002 Race #2	Bryan Sellers	Cape Motorsports	1
2002 Race #1	Tonis Kasemets	Pabst Racing	3
2001 Race #3	Jason LaPoint	Richard Morgan Racing	1
2001 Race #2	Doug Bell	Cape Motorsports	2
2001 Race #1	Tonis Kasemets	Tonis Kasemets	1
1999 Race #2	Jeff Wright	Cape Motorsports	4
1999 Race #1	Dan Wheldon	Primus Racing	2
1998 Race #2	David Besnard	Primus Racing	1
1998 Race #1	David Besnard	Primus Racing	1
1997	Zak Morioka	Hayes Motorsports	1
1996	Steve Knapp	Miller Miling/Elite Engines	1
1995 Race #2	Jeret Schroeder		2
1995 Race #1	Memo Gidley	Cape Motorsports	2
1993	Chris Simmons	SOTARE Racing	2

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TSO Ladder Five

1) Can anybody stop the dominant Dane?

Christian Rasmussen, a Jay Howard Driver Development sophomore, started the 2020 USF2000 season with a perfect weekend at Road America. The 20-year-old scored the maximum 66 points, starting on pole, leading all the available laps, and setting the fastest lap in each race.

That performance leaves Rasmussen with a 19 point championship lead as the series heads to the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course for six straight races.

2020 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship points table

RANK	DRIVER		TOTAL	BACK
1	Christian Rasmussen		66
2	Josh Green – R		47	-19
3	Michael d’Orlando		42	-24
4	Eduardo Barrichello		39	-27
5	Matthew Round-Garrido		38	-28
6	Cameron Shields		29	-37
7	Christian Bogle		27	-39
8	Yuven Sundaramoorthy		25	-41
9	Prescott Campbell – R		20	-46
10	Kyle Dupell		18	-48
11T	Bijoy Garg – R		16	-50
11T	Reece Gold		16	-50
13T	Christian Brooks – R		14	-52
13T	Ayrton Ori – R		14	-52
13T	Nico Christodoulou – R		14	-52
16	Jack William Miller		11	-55
17	Josh Pierson – R		10	-56
18T	Max Kaeser – R		9	-57
18T	Wyatt Brichacek – R		9	-57
20	Nolan Siegel		8	-58

“Race wins are always the goal, but the main focus right now is to extend the points lead and continue being consistent and winning races,” said Rasmussen. “We are thinking championship, so that’s the most important thing right now. Mid-Ohio has always been good to me: I won there in F4 and won there again last year. It’s a very technical, flowing track and I love that. And the team has always been strong there so I’m looking forward to keeping the winning streak going. I need to keep my head down and keep doing what I’m doing. The team is doing a good job, and I’m doing everything I can away from the track to stay fit, ready and sharp. We’re on the right path and we want to stay that way.”

Rasmussen’s recent on-track prowess goes back to the middle of the 2019 season; he has five wins and nine trips to the podium in the last ten USF2000 races.

How has the Coppenhagen, Denmark native faired in his past visits to the demanding central Ohio road course?

Superb, and that might be an understatement. Rasmussen won his second career USF2000 start at Mid-Ohio last year, and in five races across USF2000 and the F4, United States Championship has three wins, two second-place finishes and has led a total of 40-laps.

The one hope that his competition has is Rasmussen’s results in official series testing at Mid-Ohio in June. The sophomore could only manage the 7th best time.

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2) Will Cape dominance at Mid-O return?

Before last year, the last time that a Cape Motorsports driver didn’t visit victory lane at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was in 2004. The Brownsburg, Ind. team leads all of the pertinent categories at the Lexington, Ohio road course.

• Wins – 28
• Poles – 27
• Podiums – 55

The list of drivers who have podiums for Cape Motorsports includes six drivers who have made NTT INDYCAR® SERIES starts. Neil Alberico, Oliver Askew, Westley Barber, Matthew Brabham, Doug Bell, Dane Cameron, Wade Cunningham, Jake Eidson, Ross Fonferko, Joey Foster, Peter Gray, Memo Gidley, Scott Hargrove, JR Hildebrand, Trent Hindman, Nico Jamin, Kyle Kirkwood, Florian Latorre, Anthony Martin, Chris Meredith, Spencer Pigot, Bryan Sellers, Petri Suvanto, Aaron Telitz, Parker Thompson, Bobby Wilson, and Jeff Wright are the drivers that have stood on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course podium for Cape Motorsports.

Drivers representing the team led three of the four test sessions during the recent open test at Mid-Ohio. They ended the test with four of the top five spots on the combined timesheet, including the quickest lap of the test, set by Michael d’Orlando.

3) Start up front, finish up front

In the previous 54 USF2000 races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the average starting position of the winning driver is 1.6. The driver starting on pole has won 62.9% (34 of 54) races and the the winner has come from outside of the front two rows on only five occasions. That includes a ten-race stretch between 2014 and 2018 where the pole sitter also visited victory lane.

If you need more proof that qualifying well on the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course is essential – in the last 33 races, the eventual winner has started from outside the first row on a single occasion. In 2014, Cape Motorsports pilot Jake Eidson won a very wet race from sixth on the starting grid.

4) Making his first Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires appearance

Unfortunately, due to travel restriction brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazilian rookie Kiko Porto was forced to miss the season-opening pair of races at Road America.

The 16-year-old was able to re-enter the United States recently and will start his season with DEForce Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Porto spent the 2019 racing season with the Houston, Texas-based DEForce Racing and finished second in the season-long F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda championship. He also had some success at Mid-Ohio, winning once and finishing in the top ten in all three of his starts in 2019.

“I can’t say how happy I am to finally be able to go back and do my first race in USF2000,” said Porto. “All these months of expectation and uncertainty are left behind, and now all I want to do is get in the car and do my job. I will do my best to make sure our results make up for the time we lost due to the pandemic.”

5) Three other stories/drivers to watch

#1

Pabst Racing sophomore Yuven Sundaramoorthy made his Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship debut at Mid-Ohio in 2018, twice finishing in the top ten in his first series action.

The recent high-school graduate, a native of Oconomowoc, Wisc., made a total of eight F1600 Championship Series starts in 2017 and 2018, winning once and standing on the podium five times.

The 17-year-old showed a lot of pace during the Mid-Ohio weekend last year, starting the pair of races in third and fourth, and collecting his best finish of the season. A sixth place in Race #1.

TSO Ladder expects Sundaramoorthy to contend for podiums this week.

#2

The Cape Motorsports quartet, consisting of Michael d’Orlando, Kyle Dupell, Josh Green, and Reece Gold scored four of the top five spots on the combined timesheet during a late June test at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Rookie Green, with a pair of podiums at Road America, currently sits second in the championship, only five points ahead of d’Orlando, his sophomore teammate.

Green will be making his first Road To Indy starts at Mid-Ohio, but does have a win and a pair of podium finishes in three F1600 Championship Series races last year.

Eighteen-year-old d’Orlando has three USF2000, and three F4 United States Championship starts at Mid-Ohio, finishing in the top ten twice in each series.

“I have some great teammates and that helps, since we’re always pushing each other to get faster,” said d’Orlando, who posted the fastest time during a preseason test at Mid-Ohio last month. “We’re sharing information, so we don’t have to do it on our own – but that can be a hindrance as well because I know three other fast guys are learning the exact same things I am. That means I have to try just that little bit more to try and beat them.

“I’m super excited to get to Mid-Ohio. We learned so much from the test, so that’s good knowing we have six races there over the next two weeks. It’s a track I feel we’re strong at so I’m ready to go out and give it my all.”

Gold, who needs to put a disappointing Road America weekend in the rearview mirror, led one of the recent test session at the central Ohio track. Gold made two starts at Mid-Ohio last year, finishing ninth and 12th.

The fourth member of the Cape Motorsports squad, Kyle Dupell, has three previous starts at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and was the fourth quickest driver during the recent open test.

TSO Ladder enjoys watching intra-team battles, and in just over a week, we should have a good idea which of the Cape Motorsports drivers has distinguished themselves as the team leader.

#3

During the late June test at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Jack William Miller was the only driver that was not part of the Cape Motorsports squad to crack the top five on the combined timesheet.

The 17-year-old Miller Vinatieri Motorsports ended the test with the third quickest lap and was the fastest driver during the third test session.7

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship combined timesheet

RANIK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	QUICK LAP	DIFFERENCE	TOTAL LAPS
1	4	Michael d’Orlando	Cape Motorsports	81.8805		68
2	2	Josh Green	Cape Motorsports	81.9810	-0.1005	67
3	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	82.1118	-0.2313	78
4	8	Kyle Dupell	Cape Motorsports	82.2840	-0.4035	49
5	3	Reece Gold	Cape Motorsports	82.3429	-0.4624	56
6	9	Nolan Siegel	Jay Howard Driver Development	82.3527	-0.4722	51
7	6	Christian Rasmussen	Jay Howard Driver Development	82.4220	-0.5415	48
8	5	Wyatt Brichacek	Jay Howard Driver Development	82.5953	-0.7148	74
9	44	Christian Brooks	Exclusive Autosport	82.6369	-0.7564	42
10	23	Matthew Round-Garrido	Pabst Racing	82.7750	-0.8945	60
11	7	Christian Bogle	Jay Howard Driver Development	82.8110	-0.9305	72
12	18	Bijoy Garg	Jay Howard Driver Development	82.8800	-0.9995	71
13	41	Max Kaeser	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	82.9691	-1.0886	77
14	20	Cameron Shields	Legacy Autosport	83.0816	-1.2011	66
15	10	Nico Christodoulou	DEForce Racing	83.1103	-1.2298	71
16	1	Prescott Campbell	Exclusive Autosport	83.4712	-1.5907	56
17	90	Josh Pierson	Exclusive Autosport	84.8264	-2.9459	30
18	27	Courtney Crone	Legacy Autosport	85.0168	-3.1363	71
19	24	Michael Myers	Legacy Autosport	Inoperative transponder

The second-generation driver has plenty of experience on the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course, making three USF2000 starts last year, and six F4 United States Championship starts between 2017 and 2018.

The first three of six races could be the event that “JWM” takes that next step forward in his development.

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Wednesday schedule

TIME	EVENT
10:30am – 11am	USF2000 Practice #1
11:15am – 11:45am	Indy Pro 2000 Practice #1
1:30pm – 2pm	USF2000 Qualifying #1
2:15pm – 2:45pm	Indy Pro 2000 Qualifying #1
4:30pm – 5:15pm	USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #1 (20 laps or 45 minutes)
5:30pm – 6:20pm	Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #1 (25 laps or 45 minutes)

Thursday Schedule

TIME	EVENT
8am – 8:30am	USF2000 Qualifying #2
8:45am – 9:15am	Indy Pro 2000 Qualifying #2
11:30am – 12:15pm	USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #2 (20 laps or 45 minutes)
12:30pm – 1:20pm	Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #2 (25 laps or 45 minutes)
3:15pm – 4pm	USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #3 (20 laps or 45 minutes)
4:15pm – 5:05pm	Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Presented by Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #3 (25 laps or 45 minutes)

You can watch last year’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship races here:

2019 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Race #1

2019 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Race #2

 

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Don’t miss any of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires action:

• download the Road To Indy TV app from the Apple App Store or on Google Play to get video, audio, timing & scoring, news from TSO Ladder and much more – you can also get Road To Indy TV via Apple TV, Amazon Video, Roku or Microsoft Xbox One
• live timing – Road To Indy TV – Indy Lights – Pro Mazda – USF2000 – IndyCar Race Control
• on twitter – TSO Ladder – Team Cooper Tire – Road To Indy TV – Indy Lights – Indy Pro 2000 – USF2000
• on all social media channels via the #TeamCooperTire and #RoadToIndy hashtags

 

By Steve Wittich

If the rest of the 2020 Indy Pro 2000 season is anything like the season opener, hang on! It’s going to be a crazy one.

Race winner Danial Frost, a sophomore driving for Turn 3 Motorsport, started in the sixteenth and final starting spot. Throughout the 15-lap race, the 18-year-old drove through the field, getting by pole-sitter Devlin DeFrancesco at the line by a slim 0.05 seconds.

The one constant, until that final run up the hill, in the first of two Friday races, was DeFrancesco running smooth, consistent laps upfront.

Behind the Canadian, it was anything but constant, with the final two spots on the podium changing with regularity. In the end, Pabst Racing rookie Colin Kaminsky was able to grab the final spot on the podium in his first Indy Pro 2000 race.

The front row of DeFrancesco and Eves brought the eight rows of two up the hill to get the green flag to get the season started.

Eves immediately tucked in behind DeFrancesco, but the Andretti Steinbrenner Racing driver was able to get through Turn 1 ahead of the rest of the field. While Eves was looking to move on the leader, Kaminsky took the opportunity to move into second place.,

When they crossed the line to complete the first lap, DeFrancesco’s lead was already 2.6177 seconds. The running order at the end of the first lap was 19 1 18 9 42 8 68 36 3 2 6 69 57 37 83

Behind DeFrancesco, Kaminsky, Eves, McElrea, and Thompson were in a tight fight for the podium’s final two spots. Kaminsky was able to hold onto second. Veteran Thompson was third, with Frost and Eves completing the top five.

McElrea, who was in the fight with those drivers, spun in Turn 14. The Pabst Racing rookie was able to keep his engine fired and was able to continue but fell to the back of the field.

One of the big stories going into the race was a pair of quick drivers starting on the last row. After running an incorrect top gear in qualifying, Danial Frost https://www.tsoladder.com/2020/07/10/indy-pro-2000-pole-sitter-dqed-devlin-defrancesco-nabs-first-pole-of-the-season-braden-eves-moves-to-front-row/ and Sting Ray Robb, who had mechanical issues in qualifying 15th and 16th.

When the field started the third lap, Frost was already up to fourth, while Robb had moved to 10th.

On Lap 4, Thompson had just turned the quickest lap of the race but was still five seconds behind DeFrancesco. On the next lap, Frost was the fastest driver on track and starting to put pressure on Thompson for the final spot on the podium.

Behind them, Eves was working hard to hold off Sulaiman, Petrov, Robb, and Loomis.

When DeFrancesco crossed the line to start Lap 6, his lead over Kaminsky was 2.4 seconds. Kaminsky had two seconds on Thompson, who had one second on Frost.

Further back, Robb had moved up to sixth, and took off after Eves for fifth.

At the start of the next lap, the lead had dropped to 1.9 seconds. However, Thompson and Frost were both quicker than the front pair.

Things settled down at the front of the field, but in the mid-pack, Loomis, who had just passed Sulaiman, along with de la Vera, and Comeau fought for seventh.

As they started lap eight, DeFrancesco’s lead had stabilized at just over two seconds. The quickest driver on the track at that point in the race was Robb, who was starting reel in Eves for fifth.

On Lap 8, Frost went past Thompson for third and immediately put pressure on Kaminsky for second place. Upfront, the lead had grown to 2.8 seconds.

Petrov, who was forced to pit road early in the race, held the race’s quickest lap at the ⅔rds pole of the race.

With five lap remaining, Frost gained another spot, getting past DeFrancesco, taking off after DeFrancesco.

Later in that lap, Kaminsky had an off-road excursion in Turn 13, allowing Thompson to move up to third.

With four laps remaining, the lead was 3.2 seconds. On the next lap, the lead had shrunk to 2.8 seconds, but with only three laps remaining, the Turn 3 Motorsport driver was going to dig deep.

With three laps left, Robb was putting immense pressure on Eves for fifth.

With two laps left, DeFrancesco, in the brightly colored WTF1.com sponsored No. 17, crossed the line 2.1 seconds ahead of Frost.

Thompson, who was running third, was nursing a damaged wing, and on the final lap fell down the order after coming to a stop on track.

Upfront, Frost turned his quickest lap of the race as they got the white flag, and started the final lap only 0.7 seconds behind the leader.

Frost put immense pressure on DeFrancesco on the final lap, and got a better exit of the last corner, getting a better run up the hill and crossing the line ¾ of a car length ahead of DeFrancesco.

Manuel Sulaiman, who pitted with slight damage midway through the race, ended up in 16th spot, but the DEForce Racing rookie turned the quickest lap of the race and will start the next race from the pole.

He will be joined by Frost on the front row, with Petrov (who finished 13th) and McElrea (who finished 15th) starting on the second row.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Road America Presented By Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Race #1 Results (unofficial)

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	DIFFERENCE
1	68	Danial Frost	Turn 3 Motorsport	15 laps
2	17	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	0.0556
3	19	Colin Kaminsky	Pabst Racing	7.5401
4	1	Braden Eves	Exclusive Autosport	9.2754
5	2	Sting Ray Robb	Juncos Racing	9.8668
6	36	Jacob Loomis	BN Racing with Team Benik	19.7150
7	6	Moises de la Vara	DEForce Racing	32.8402
8	3	Antoine Comeau	Turn 3 Motorsport	33.0327
9	69	Nate Aranda	Juncos Racing	46.6590
10	37	Sabre Cook	BN Racing with Team Benik	46.7890
11	57	Bob Kaminsky	Pabst Racing	55.8264
13	42	Artem Petrov	Juncos Racing	101.1590
14	9	Parker Thompson	DEForce Racing	– 1 LAP
15	18	Hunter McElrea	Pabst Racing	– 1 LAP
16	8	Manuel Sulaiman	DEForce Racing	– 2 LAPS

By Steve Wittich

The first Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship qualifying session, on a damp Road America circuit, ended with prime title contender Christian Rasmussen blowing away the field.

The pole is the Danish driver’s second career Road To Indy pole.

The Jay Howard Driver Development sophomore set a quick time of 145.709 seconds, an astonishing 1.3 seconds ahead of Exclusive Autosport rookie Christian Brooks, who will start his first USF2000 race on the outside of the front row.

Cape Motorsports rookie and Team USA Scholarship winner Josh Green was only four-hundredths of a second behind Brooks.

Rounding out the top five, and making it four teams represented among the quickest five are the Pabst Racing sophomore duo of Matthew Round-Garrido and Eduardo Barrichello.

The lone qualifying session for the USF2000 Grand Prix of Road America Presented By Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders rolled off promptly at 8 am. The 20 Elite Engine prepared 2.0L power plants serving as a wake-up call for the drenched campers at Road America.

Heavy overnight rain and storms, became drizzle as the lowest rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires began their 20-minute qualifying session.

Cooper Tire rain tires were the call for all teams and drivers.

First qualifying of the season in the rain – tune into the @RoadToIndyTV app for all the action!#RoadToIndy l #TeamCooperTire pic.twitter.com/9eUdRkcoy5

— USF2000 Series (@USF2000) July 10, 2020

Rasmussen, who led the lone practice session in the wet on Thursday afternoon, was the early leader with a lap time of 148.633 seconds, almost three seconds ahead of Round-Garrido.

Times continued to drop as the driers got their Cooper rain tires up to optimal operating temperature.

The first half of the session was run under green flag conditions, and it was still Rasmussen who had the quickest lap time. He was followed in the top ten by Round-Garrido, Barrichello, Gold, Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports), Prescott Campbell (Exclusive Autosport), Josh Green (Cape Motorsports), Kyle Dupell (Cape Motorsports) and Nolan Siegel (Jay Howard Driver Development).

The first red flag of qualifying was shown from the flag stand with just over eight minutes remaining. The cause of the red was JHDD, CSU|One Cure / Lucas Oil No. 5 of Wyatt Brichacek, who went off track in Turn 10.

Rasmussen’s quickest lap at this point was 146.325 seconds, over two seconds ahead of Round-Garrido in second. Green, Barrichello, and Brooks made up the rest of the top five.

Race control added some time to the clock, and the green flag came back out with just over seven minutes remaining. The drivers quickly got back on the track to try to improve their spot on the grid.

Round-Garrido was the first across the line to improve on his time, with just over three minutes remaining in the session. He wasn’t alone, as the timing screen lit up green with drivers setting their best lap times.

On his sixth and final lap of the session, Rasmussen was the first and only driver to break into the 145 second lap time bracket.

The timing screen continued to jump around until all drivers had crossed the timing line, but nobody could get within a second Rasmussen.

Spots two through six on the grid were covered by one second, and it was an almost 14-second spread covering spots one through 20.

The first of two USF2000 Grand Prix of Road America Presented By Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders races is set to get the green flag at 11:15 am (CDT) or 12:15 pm (EDT)

USF2000 Grand Prix of Road America Presented By Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Qualifying Results (unofficial)

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	FAST LAP	DIFFERENCE
1	6	Christian Rasmussen	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:25.709	–.—-
2	44	Christian Brooks	Exclusive Autosport	2:27.009	1.3000
3	2	Josh Green	Cape Motorsports	2:27.049	1.3400
4	23	Matt Round-Garrido	Pabst Racing	2:27.255	1.5461
5	22	Eduardo Barrichello	Pabst Racing	2:27.323	1.6139
6	3	Reece Gold	Cape Motorsports	2:27.462	1.7532
7	4	Michael d’Orlando	Cape Motorsports	2:27.577	1.8679
8	1	Prescott Campbell	Exclusive Autosport	2:27.970	2.2616
9	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	2:28.432	2.7233
10	21	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Pabst Racing	2:28.739	3.0305
11	9	Nolan Siegel	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:28.825	3.1162
12	8	Kyle Dupell	Cape Motorsports	2:29.095	3.3858
13	10	Nico Christodoulou	DEForce Racing	2:30.002	4.2932
14	7	Christian Bogle	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:30.249	4.5402
15	16	Josh Pierson	Exclusive Autosport	2:30.832	5.1232
16	5	Wyatt Brichacek	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:31.119	5.4102
17	20	Cameron Shields	Legacy Autosport	2:31.523	5.8138
18	27	Ayrton Ori	Legacy Autosport	2:33.254	7.5452
19	18	Bijoy Garg	Jay Howard Driver Development	2:34.440	8.7308
20	41	Max Kaeser	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	2:39.634	13.9248

 

By Steve Wittich

Turn 3 Motorsport driver Danial Frost was the quickest Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires driver on a dry track during testing. The Singaporean backed up that performance on a damp track, during the quickest lap during the lone official practice session.

We were P1 overall in the series test last week (at Mid-Ohio) so that gave me a big boost in confidence to come here and push as hard as I wanted, knowing the car would be there – and the first session proved that,” said Frost. “We were able to work on things the rest of the test sessions since we knew we had the time. In the official practice, we were right up there so we know how strong we are to put the car where it’s supposed to be tomorrow, whether it’s wet or dry. I’m excited for tomorrow: the plan is to look forward and be calm. I’m working on being more relaxed and composed, and taking qualifying more strategically, and I think this plan will be successful.”

He was followed by a pair of series rookies, Devlin DeFrancesco (Andretti Steinbrenner Racing) and Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing).

Much like the USF2000 drivers before them, the Indy Pro 2000 drivers that ventured onto the 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course, did do on Cooper Tire rain tires.

It’s time for @IndyPro2000 official practice of the weekend. Let’s go @Bradeneves! #RoadToIndy // #TeamCooperTire // #EhTeam // #BE1 pic.twitter.com/ukTfwdLeKi

— Exclusive Autosport (@ExclAutosport) July 9, 2020

At the halfway point of the session, DeFrancesco, McElrea, and Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing, three drivers who are newcomers to Indy Pro 2000, were the only drivers to turn significant laps.

DeFrancesco, who had just completed his fifth lap, was the quickest, with a lap timed at 133.780 seconds. He was followed by McElrea, Parker Thompson, Colin Kaminsky, and testing leader Artem Petrov were the top five.

One of the few veterans to turn laps in the wet, Thompson, who is making his debut this weekend with DEForce Racing, went to the top of the timing screen on his third lap of the session, with 12-minutes remaining. It appeared that he was the only driver on slicks.

On his next lap, the veteran of 78 Road To Indy starts lowered the quick lap time significantly to 126.419 seconds. That was the cue for the much of the rest of the field to take to the track to turn laps.

With six minutes remaining, DeFrancesco lowered the quick lap time and continued to drop it until, with three minutes remaining, Petrov was able to go quicker.

Petrov’s time on the top of the timing screen didn’t last long, as veteran Frost, rookie McElrea, newcomer DeFrancesco, and then Frost ended up as the quickest driver of the practice.

The 15 drivers, only Bob Kaminsky, sat the session out, completed 115 trouble-free laps. Rookie DeFrancesco and McElrea were the busiest drivers, turning a dozen laps apiece.

The Indy Pro 2000 drivers and teams will qualify at 8:50 am on Saturday.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix Of Road America Presented By Cooper Tires Honoring First Responders Practice #1 Results

RANK	CAR NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	FAST LAP	DIFFERENCE	TOTAL LAPS
1	68	Danial Frost	Turn 3 Motorsport	2:01.659	–.—-	5
2	17	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	2:02.145	0.4853	12
3	18	Hunter McElrea	Pabst Racing	2:02.379	0.7196	12
4	9	Parker Thompson	DEForce Racing	2:02.482	0.8229	9
5	42	Artem Petrov	Juncos Racing	2:02.593	0.9340	6
6	8	Manuel Sulaiman	DEForce Racing	2:02.684	1.0252	8
7	36	Jacob Loomis	BN Racing with Team Benik	2:02.785	1.1253	5
8	1	Braden Eves	Exclusive Autosport	2:02.825	1.1659	8
9	19	Colin Kaminsky	Pabst Racing	2:02.986	1.3266	11
10	69	Nate Aranda	Juncos Racing	2:03.585	1.9258	9
11	3	Antoine Comeau	Turn 3 Motorsport	2:04.226	2.5664	4
12	2	Sting Ray Robb	Juncos Racing	2:04.584	2.9252	5
13	6	Moises de la Vara	DEForce Racing	2:06.957	5.2974	10
14	37	Sabre Cook	BN Racing with Team Benik	2:08.017	6.3581	5
15	83	Charles Finelli	FatBoy Racing	2:15.821	14.1619	6
16	57	Bob Kaminsky	Pabst Racing	No Time	—	—