The 2021 Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires field lined up on pit road during spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

What the quickest driver of the day had to say:

“It’s been a very positive weekend,” said Juncos Racing sophomore Manuel Sulaiman. “We were super quick in the first session today and we were pushing the limits. I touched a bit of the grass and we weren’t able to finish that session. The team did a great job to get the car back out there for the final session and we were back at P1.

“We did a good number of laps this week, and all of that is good information for the first races of the year. These are my first days back in the car but I’ve adapted to the car and to the team very well. Juncos Racing has so much knowledge and they are so experienced, and I get along with everyone so well, so I’m really looking forward to the beginning of the season.”

Notes:

• All seventeen drivers were below Parker Thompson’s three-year-old race track record at Barber Motorsports Park, but nobody could touch the Canadian’s qualifying record of 76.2967 seconds.
• The top six drivers on the combined timesheet were all within three-tenths of a second of each other. That group includes three veterans and three rookies.
• Seven teams – Juncos Racing (3), Pabst Racing (2), DEForce Racing (1), Exclusive Autosport (1), Jay Howard Driver Development (1), RP Motorsport (1) and Turn 3 Motorsport (1) – are represented in the top ten.
• One car outfits, Turn 3 Motorsport and DEForce Racing, had impressive showings with rookie drivers James Roe and Cameron Shields.

One car team Turn 3 Motorsport with Topcon Positioning Group sponsored driver James Roe had a successful spring training (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

• With a pair of FIA Formula 3 veterans, RP Motorsport showed flashes of the pace that led the Italian team to the 2019 championship with driver Kyle Kirkwood. Enaam Ahmed finished second quickest in the fourth session, while Enzo Fittipaldi was third most rapid in the final session. Both of those sessions were in the heat of the day.
• The 17 drivers turned a total of 1,746 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. That equates to 4015.8 miles.
• Third-generation driver Fittipaldi completed 144 laps, more than any other driver.

The Claro/Baterias Moura/XP Investimentos/PLGG sponsored RP Motorsport No. 74 of Enzo Fittipaldi on track during Indy Pro 2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

The combined timesheet is up next, but before you get to that, can I say how excited I am for the Indy Pro 2000 title fight.

A half-second separated the top 13 drivers. That’s only 0.5 seconds over five hours of testing. In the 2020 edition of spring training, the top six drivers were covered by a half-second. It was only the top four drivers covered by a half-second in 2019.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires combined timesheet from all five test sessions

Manuel Sulaiman, in the Telcel/Infinitum/WBC/Inteligentus/Anahuac sponsored Juncos Racing No.22 topped the combined timesheet for Indy Pro 2000 spring training (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Averaging things out

Studying the combined timesheet and timesheets from individual sessions is only part of the story when predicting how a driver’s season could turn out.

With teams and drivers working on varying test programs across five one-hour test sessions, the outright pace isn’t always the goal. That is why it’s vital to average how a driver does across all five sessions.

When utilizing this method, TSO Ladder likes to drop the lowest finishing session because teams work on different items in sessions or might skip a session due to limited tires.

Here are a few observations:

• Despite only contesting 11 previous Indy Pro 2000 races in 2019, Jay Howard Driver Development has found the speed to compete in their private testing. Wyatt Brichacek led three of the five sessions, and while defending USF2000 champion Christian Rasmussen didn’t lead a session, he was quick every time his JHDD, CSU | One Cure/Lucas Oil sponsored No. 1 was on track.

As the reigning USF2000 champion Christian Rasmussen will pilot the No. 1 PM-18 with a sharp champions livery, during the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

• Pabst Racing sophomore Hunter McElrea in the Giltrap Group/Doric NZ/Miles Advisory Partners sponsored No. 18 was highly consistent. The Kiwi ended three sessions with the fourth quickest time and one session with the fifth fastest time.
• Juncos Racing rookies Reece Gold and Kyffin Simpson were the models of consistency. Neither of the pair of 16-year-olds finished outside of the top ten in any session.

Christian Rasmussen’s transponder was inoperable during Sunday’s first session. We understand that he finished in the top three during that session, so we used three for that session.

Average placement in spring training sessions (worst finish is dropped)

The No. 22 of Manuel Sulaiman on the pit road at Barber Motorsports Park during Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires spring training (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

If the final Indy Pro 2000 practice is any indication of just how entertaining the series could be in 2021, fans are in for a lot of fun.

Manuel Sulaiman led the way with a lap of 77.3783 seconds. Still, the bigger story is that the following four drivers – Braden Eves (Exclusive Autosport), Enzo Fittipaldi (RP Motorsport), and Kyffin Simpson (Juncos Racing) were all within one-tenth-of-a-second (0.1) of the top spot. The top eight drivers were all within a half-second of Sulaiman.

With 50 minutes left in the final Indy Pro 2000 session of spring training, the red flag came out for the No. 51 of Jacob Abel, who was off course in Turn 8.

When the green flag came back out with 45-minutes remaining in the session, only seven of the 17 drivers had turned laps. The quickest of the bunch was DEForce Racing rookie Shields.

After missing the last session due to damage obtained in the third session, Sulaiman could get back out on track and quickly jumped to the top of the timing screen.

At the halfway point of the session, four drivers were still in the pit lane. Like we explained in the last USF2000 report, that’s not unusual when tires are at a premium. You don’t learn anything useful running around on tires that have more wear than they would ever get during a race.

Sulaiman was still the quickest driver, laying down a lap at 77.8003 seconds. That was only three-hundredths quicker than DEForce Racing rookie Cameron Shields. Also within a tenth-of-a-second of the top spot were Gold, Simpson, and Roe.

A new name, Exclusive Autosport’s Braden Eves, who is back on track officially for the first time since a scary incident at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last year, turned a lap at 77.4410 seconds, over three-tenths-of-a-second ahead of Sulaiman.

With 20-minutes left in the session, the top seven drivers were all within a half-second of Eves and a tenth-of-a-second within Sulaiman in second.

Eves still held the top spot with 15 minutes remaining, followed by Juncos Racing teammates Sulaiman, Petrov, and Simpson in the top five.

With 13-minutes remaining in Road To Indy spring training, Simpson, who was on his 18th lap, moved to within one-tenth-of-a-second of Eves.

With ten minutes remaining, Sulaiman grabbed the top spot back from Eves. Also moving up was RP Motorsport rookie Fittipaldi, who moved into fourth.

Displacing the third-generation driver in the fourth spot with less than five minutes left in the test was the No. 55 Juncos Racing machine piloted by Gold.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #5 timesheet.

The middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will be officially back on track on Thursday, April 15, for testing at Barber Motorsports Park. The first race of the 2021 season is set to get the green flag on Saturday, April 17, 2021, at 11:10 am (central)

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

A note about our presenting sponsor. 

Once again, a huge thank you to Cooper Tires for coming back to be the presenting sponsor of TSO Ladder for the fourth season. Without them, we would not be able to bring you our extensive Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires coverage. If you require tires, I highly recommend them. Our family has the Discover ® AT3 4S  on our SUV and CS5 Grand Touring on our car.

Cooper Tires 2021 Spring Promotion runs through April 12 and has some great bargains. Click here to learn more and find out where to purchase your Coopers. 

Nolan Siegel on the track at Barber Motorsports Park in his No. 10 DEForce Racing car (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

During the final USF2000 spring training test session, the top of the timing screens featured a party for DEForce Racing drivers.

Third-year driver Nolan Siegel, a 16-year-old from Palo Alto, Calif., and his 17-year-old Brazilian teammate Kiko Porto traded the top spot at least a half-dozen times. They were joined in the top six during the session by teammates Prescott Campbell and Ely Navarro, who sat in spots one-two-three-four on the timesheet with five minutes left in the session.

A pair of rookies, Grant Palmer (Exclusive Autosport) and Erik Evans (Velocity Racing Development), were last-minute interlopers, ending the session with the third and fifth quickest times.

At the fifteen-minute mark of the final USF2000 session, 19 of the 23 cars had been on track. The Pabst Racing trio of Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Jace Denmark, and Josh Pierson, along with Exclusive Autosport’s Christian Brooks, had not yet ventured out on track.

It’s not surprising to see Pabst Racing skip out on the final test session. With only four sets of tires for the four sessions, that’s something that the Oconomowoc, Wisc. does fairly regularly.

With 45-minutes remaining, veteran Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), with a lap time of 82.4336 seconds, was the quickest driver. He was joined in the top five by Myles Rowe (Force Indy), Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport), Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsport), and Michael d’Orlando (Cape Motorsports).

Over the next 15-minutes DEForce Racing teammates Porto and Prescott Campbell traded the top spot on timing screens.

The third member of the DEForce Racing family, Siegel, joined the party with his teammates, grabbing the top spot lap with a time of 82.1870 just before halfway.

He was joined in the top five by Porto, Campbell, Rowe, and d’Orlando. The top 15 drivers were all within one second of Siegel.

With 15 minutes remaining in the session, the top three spots on the timing screen were the trio of DEForce Racing drivers.

With just over seven minutes, the top spot changed hands between DEForce Racing teammates again, with Porto turning the lap below 82-seconds during the session.

In the last ten minutes of the session, the fourth member of the DEForce Racing squad, rookie Ely Navarro joined the party, moving to third on the timing screens. The 2020 Lucas Oil Formula Championship Series title winner ended the day with the fifth quickest time.

With just over a minute remaining, Siegel put down a flyer, taking the top spot back from his DEForce Racing teammate Porto.

Also laying down a last-second flyer was Velocity Racing Development rookie Evans, who ended up turning the fifth quickest lap of the session.

Siegel, Palmer, Campbell, Peter Vodanovich (Jay Howard Driver Development), and Jackson Lee (Jay Howard Driver Development) all turned their quickest laps on their final laps of spring training. A great way to build confidence for the upcoming season.

Also moving into the top five at the end of the session was Exclusive Autosport rookie Grant Palmer, who moved from fifth to fourth to third on his 29th, 30th, and 31st laps.

The 19 drivers completed 483 laps, the fewest of the five test sessions.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #5 timesheet.

The next official Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship session will be Thursday, April 15 test session at the same circuit. The first USF2000 race of the 2021 season is set to receive the green flag at 8 am (central) on Saturday, April 17, 2021.

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

A note about our presenting sponsor. 

Once again, a huge thank you to Cooper Tires for coming back to be the presenting sponsor of TSO Ladder for the fourth season. Without them, we would not be able to bring you our extensive Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires coverage. If you require tires, I highly recommend them. Our family has the Discover ® AT3 4S  on our SUV and CS5 Grand Touring on our car.

Cooper Tires 2021 Spring Promotion runs through April 12 and has some great bargains. Click here to learn more and find out where to purchase your Coopers. 

The No. 5 Jay Howard Driver Development machine of Wyatt Brichacek on pit road during Indy Pro 2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

The fourth Indy Pro 2000 test session got underway in Alabama after a short break for lunch. The sun was shining brightly, and the temperature was a perfect 73F.

The early leader was RP Motorsport rookie Enaam Ahmed, but the track was pretty quiet in the first 15 minutes of the session, with only seven of the 17 drivers completing more than two laps.

As the session progressed, Simpson, Gold, and finally the leader of both sessions on Sunday, Brichacek moved to the top of the timing screen.

With 30 of the 60 minutes ticked off the clock in the fourth Indy Pro 2000 test session, Brichacek was the quickest driver, turning a lap at 77.4068 seconds. Gold, in second, was four-tenths-of-a-second behind the leader but had Kaminsky, Rasmussen, and Simpson all within one-tenth of his best lap of the session.

The first red flag of the session came out just beyond the halfway point of the session for the No. 51 of Jacob Abel, who had an issue in Turn 1.

Simpson and Braden Eves (Exclusive Autosport) had just turned their quickest laps of the session before the track went red.

The track reopened for testing with just over 20-minutes remaining in the penultimate Indy Pro 2000 spring training session.

McElrea and Fittipaldi were the first two drivers to improve on their earlier times, moving to the third and ninth spots on the timing screens.

With just under 10-minutes left in the session, Brichacek slightly improved his time, while Ahmed jumped up to the second spot.

The red flag came out for the second time, with just under seven minutes remaining in the one-hour session. It was for the No. 51 again, which came to a stop in Turn 15.

The car was quickly cleared, and the green flag was shown to the field with three minutes remaining.

The 16 drivers turned a total of 357 laps.

After contact in the morning test session, Manuel Sulaiman and the No. 22 Juncos Racing machine could not participate in this session.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #4 timesheet.

The Indy Pro 2000 drivers and teams will take to the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course at 3:05 pm (central) for the final session of spring training.

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

A note about our presenting sponsor. 

Once again, a huge thank you to Cooper Tires for coming back to be the presenting sponsor of TSO Ladder for the fourth season. Without them, we would not be able to bring you our extensive Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires coverage. If you require tires, I highly recommend them. Our family has the Discover ® AT3 4S  on our SUV and CS5 Grand Touring on our car.

Cooper Tires 2021 Spring Promotion runs through April 12 and has some great bargains. Click here to learn more and find out where to purchase your Coopers. 

Josh Green and Turn 3 Motorsport led the fourth test session during USF2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

A new leader, Turn 3 Motorsport sophomore Josh Green, emerged during the fourth USF2000 spring training test session at Barber Motorsports Park.

Once again, the session was veteran dominant, with seven of the top ten times being returned by USF2000 veterans.

Christian Brooks (Exclusive Autosport), who led the first three sessions, was the fourth quickest driver, slotting in behind a pair of DEForce Racing racers, Nolan Siegel and Prescott Campbell.

Pabst Racing newcomer Jace Denmark was the quickest rookie, ending the session with the fifth-fastest lap in finishing just ahead of his teammate Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Josh Pierson.

Rounding out the top ten were Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsport), and rookie USF2000 team and driver Velocity Racing Development and Erik Evans.

The penultimate USF2000 session of spring training at Barber Motorsports Park got started at 10:50 am (CT), with the track quickly buzzing with the distinctive note of the Elite Engine prepared 2.0L power plants.

Veterans Campbell, Sundaramoorthy, Green, Siegel, and Porto were the quickest over the test’s first fifteen minutes.

With only two sets of Cooper Tire slicks and three sessions, the final two test sessions will feature varying test plans.

Campbell’s quickest lap with 45-minutes remaining was 81.8358 seconds, significantly slower than the earlier session and an indication that he was on scuffed tires.

Brooks sat out the first 15-minutes of the session, but when he did take to the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course, he quickly retook his usual spot at the top of the timing screens.

With 40-minutes remaining in the session, the top seven spots were all veteran drivers and were within a half-second of each other.

Green moved to the head of the class with 38 minutes remaining, an impressive feat for brand new USF2000 team Turn 3 Motorsport and the 2019 Team USA Scholarship winner.

Also moving into the top ten were rookies Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsports) and Erik Evans (Velocity Racing Development).

At the halfway point of session number four, the top seven spots were still held by veterans. Green led the way with a lap at 81.2641 seconds and was followed by fellow series returnees Siegel, Campbell, Brooks, Sundaramoorthy, Pierson, and Porto.

Turn 3 Motorsport also held the top rookie spot at the halfway point, with Christie slotting in ahead of Evans and Frazer.

With 25-minutes remaining, Pabst Racing rookie Denmark interrupted the ‘old-timers’ party’ moving into the top five.

The first red flag of the session was unfurled from the starters stand with 17-minutes left for an incident involving Christie. After a spin, the Turn 3 Motorsport driver made contact with the barriers in Turn 1.

Once the No. 34 of Christie was rescued, the green flag came back out with 11-minutes remaining in the hour-long session.

The last ten minutes of the session were quiet, with none of the drivers improving on their times.

The 23 drivers completed 568 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #4 timesheet.

The last opportunity for the USF2000 teams and drivers to get their cars sorted will start at 2 pm (central).

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

A note about our presenting sponsor. 

Once again, a huge thank you to Cooper Tires for coming back to be the presenting sponsor of TSO Ladder for the fourth season. Without them, we would not be able to bring you our extensive Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires coverage. If you require tires, I highly recommend them. Our family has the Discover ® AT3 4S  on our SUV and CS5 Grand Touring on our car.

Cooper Tires 2021 Spring Promotion runs through April 12 and has some great bargains. Click here to learn more and find out where to purchase your Coopers. 

The Telcel sponosred No. 22 of Manuel Sulaiman had an adventurous third session of spring training. The Juncos Racing sophomore was the quickest driver but also sustained damage in final corner incident. (Photo Courtesy of on-site spy)

By Steve Wittich

After struggling to put a driver in the top ten on the first day of Indy Pro 2000 spring training, Juncos Racing racing returned to form for session number three.

The team that has won five driver’s championships, including three of the last four seasons, had the first, third, and seventh quickest drivers of the session.

Leading the way was double Indy Pro 2000 race winner in 2020 Manuel Sulaiman, who, with a lap timed at 76.8167 seconds, was one of nine drivers that bested Sunday’s quickest lap time. The sophomore had an eventful session, ending up clouting the wall at the exit of Turn 17 later in the session.

Sulaiman held a slim one-hundredth-of-a-second (0.01) advantage over reigning USF2000 champion Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development).

Also within a tenth-of-a-second (0.1) of the Telcel sponsored No. 22 was Sulaiman’s Juncos Racing teammate Kyffin Simpson.

Rounding out the top five were Kiwi Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing) and Irishman James Roe (Turn 3 Motorsport).

The top six drivers on the timesheet were within three-tenths-of-a-second of Sulaiman, and the top 12 were with a-half second.

The third Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires test session of spring training began much how the first two sessions ended, with a Jay Howard Driver Development car topping the timing screens. For the first ten minutes, Rasmussen and Brichacek held the top two spots.

The first drivers to supplant the Jay Howard Driver Development pair were a duo of Juncos Racing pilots. Sulaiman and Simpson were the first drivers during the two-day, five-session spring training to turn a lap under 77 seconds.

With a lap at 76.8167 seconds, Sulaiman was the quickest driver at the quarter pole of the session and was joined in the top five by Simpson, Rasmussen, James Roe (Turn 3 Motorsport) and Enzo Fittipaldi (RP Motorsport).

At that early juncture of the session, the top five were within four-tenths-of-a-second, and 11 of the 17 drivers were within one second of Sulaiman.

The first red flag of the Indy Pro 2000 morning session was displayed, with just under 20 of the 60 minutes allotted having expired.

Track activity came to a halt for over five minutes when the session leading No. 22 Juncos Racing machine of Sulaiman had an incident in Turn 17. The 2020 Indy Pro 2000 race winner did moderate damage to the front and rear on the right side of his PM-18.

The green flag came back out with 35 minutes remaining in the session.

The track wasn’t green for long, with only one driver, Reece Gold (Juncos Racing), improving on his time before the red flag came out. This time, track activity came to a halt for Simpson, who came to a stop on track in Turn 14.

Once again, Gold got quickly to work, improving his lap time and moving into the top five. He was followed into the top five by McElrea, Rasmussen, and Petrov.

With 20 minutes remaining in the “go fast” session of spring training, the timing screen was lit up with green as drivers set and reset their best times of the session.

With 15-minutes remaining in the session, 15 of the 17 drivers were within one second of Sulaiman.

The only drivers to improve in the last five minutes of the session were Braden Eves (Exclusive Autosport) and Enaam Ahmed (RP Motorsport), who both moved to within a half-second of leader Sulaiman.

The 17 drivers completed 373 circuits of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. RP Motorsport rookie Ahmed was the busiest driver, turning 29 laps.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #3 timesheet.

The fourth Indy Pro 2000 spring training test session gets underway at 12:50 pm (central).

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

A note about our presenting sponsor. 

Once again, a huge thank you to Cooper Tires for coming back to be the presenting sponsor of TSO Ladder for the fourth season. Without them, we would not be able to bring you our extensive Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires coverage. If you require tires, I highly recommend them. Our family has the Discover ® AT3 4S  on our SUV and CS5 Grand Touring on our car.

Cooper Tires 2021 Spring Promotion runs through April 12 and has some great bargains. Click here to learn more and find out where to purchase your Coopers. 

Wyatt Brichacek, a Jay Howard Driver Development rookie, was the quickest driver during the first day of Indy Pro 2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

What the quickest driver of the day had to say:

“Just got out of the car,” said Brichacek. “P1 for both sessions, so the Jay Howard boys are looking strong. The car felt really good, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I want to thank our sponsors CSU One Cure and Capri Tools.”

• Sixteen drivers were below the race track record of 78.4901 seconds set by Parker Thompson in 2018. Brichacek was still a half-second off Thompson’s qualifying mark set the same year.
• Only nine of the 16 drivers were within one second of the top qualifying time when Indy Pro 2000 visited Barber Motorsports Park in 2018.
• Eight of the top ten, including the top three drivers, are Indy Pro 2000 rookies.
• The only Indy Pro 2000 veterans in the top five were the Pabst Racing duo of Hunter McElrea and Colin Kaminsky.
• Seven different teams, Jay Howard Driver Development (2), Juncos Racing (2), Pabst Racing (2), DEForce Racing (1), RP Motorsport (1), Turn 3 Motorsport (1) and Velocity Racing Development (1), were represented in the top ten.
• Two of those teams, Jay Howard Driver Development and Velocity Racing Development, are newcomers to Indy Pro 2000.
• The highest placed driver for Juncos Racing, winners of three of the last four Indy Pro 2000 drivers championships, was Reece Gold in eighth.
• The 17 Indy Pro 2000 drivers combined to turn 718 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. That equates to 1,651.4 laps.
• Enzo Fittipaldi, an RP Motorsport rookie, was the busiest of the Indy Pro 2000 drivers, turning 53 laps across the two testing hours.

A quick caveat. TSO Ladder considers but doesn’t rely on testing times to predict season-long success. Different drivers and teams will be utilizing this track time to try out different things. Some may be running low fuel and performing qualification simulations, while some might be on full fuel and worn tires to help their engineers and drivers know what a car needs to be quick late in a race.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park Day #1 combined timesheet

Monday’s schedule

Christian Brooks, an Exclusive Autosport veteran was the quickest on the first day of USF2000 spring training at Barber Motorsports Park. (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

What the quickest driver of the day had to say:

“I think it’s not only important to set the tone for the season against all the other drivers as much as it is for myself,” said Brooks to TSO Ladder after the second test session. “I’m learning more about the car and figuring out what works and what doesn’t coming into Barber Motorsports Park is what is most important for the team and me. As long as we keep up the good work, we should have a successful weekend at Barber. It looks like my teammates have done well (rookies Grant Palmer and Billy Frazer were within eight-tenths of their veteran teammate). We’ll keep up the good work and see how we do.”

• Fourteen drivers were beneath the seven-year-old track record time of 83.009 seconds set by Michael Epps in 2014.
• Yes, Brooks led both sessions, but 19 of the 23 drivers testing were within one second of his quickest lap time. That’s a close field. The last time the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship visited Barber Motorsports Park in 2017, the 19th quickest driver in the second qualifying session was 1.6645 seconds behind the fastest driver.
• Not surprisingly, seven of the top ten drivers on the combined timesheet from the first day of USF2000 spring training were the veterans.
• The top rookie was Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark, who was only 0.3503 seconds behind Brooks and only two-tenths-of-a-second behind his veteran teammate Yuven Sundaramoorthy. Denmark was joined by fellow rookies Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsport) and Palmer in the top ten.
• Four teams dominated the top ten on the combined timesheet. Pabst Racing (3), Exclusive Autosport (2), Turn 3 Motorsport (2), and DEForce Racing (2) all had multiple drivers in the top 10.
• Jay Howard Driver Development and Cape Motorsports, whose drivers have won the last ten driver’s champions, were shockingly missing from the top ten.
• The 23 USF2000 drivers combined to turn 1,073 laps of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. That equates to 2,467.9 miles.
• Pabst Racing’s Sundaramoorthy was the busiest driver, turning 63 laps on only two sets of Cooper Tire slicks. The veteran driver should now have an excellent feel for how his S team Motorsports sponsored Pabst Racing No. 23 will handle late in a race.

A quick caveat. TSO Ladder considers but doesn’t rely on testing times to predict season-long success. Different drivers and teams will be utilizing this track time to work on various checklists. Some may be running low fuel and performing qualification simulations, while some might be on full fuel loads and worn tires to help their engineers and drivers know what a car needs to be quick late in a race.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship spring training at Barber Motorsports Park Day #1 combined timesheet

Tomorrow’s USF2000 schedule is as follows:

Barber Motorsports Park will be hosting three days of Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires spring training in preparation for the 2021 racing season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

For the second straight official USF2000 session to start the 2021 season, Exclusive Autosport veteran Christian Brooks led the way.

The 20-year-old was joined by fellow veterans Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport), Nolan Siegel (DEForce Racing), Josh Pierson (Pabst Racing), Prescott Campbell (DEForce Racing), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), and Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing) in the top ten. Rookies Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), Dylan Christie (Turn 3 Motorsport), and Grant Palmer (Exclusive Autosport) were the only three rookies to crack the top ten.

The final USF2000 session on Easter Sunday got underway, with Brooks once again setting the pace. He was followed closely by Myles Rowe, whose Force Indy squad was able to get the No. 99s electrical gremlins sorted out.

With one-quarter of the one-hour session completed, it was still Brooks at the top of the timing screens. He was joined in the top five by Prescott Campbell (DEForce Racing), Nolan Siegel (DEForce Racing), Myles Rowe (Force Indy), and Josh Green (Turn 3 Motorsport).

Brooks continued to lower his lap times, eventually settling at 82.3236 on his 11th lap of the session.

That lap time, which just a little slower than his session leading lap earlier, was set on scuffed tires.

Brooks, with that lap, held the top spot at the halfway point of the session. He was followed by Siegel, Green, Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), Josh Pierson (Pabst Racing), Prescott Campbell (DEForce Racing), Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Pabst Racing), Grant Palmer (Exclusive Autosport), Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), and Bijoy Garg (Jay Howard Driver Development).

At the halfway point of the second session, 18 of the 23 drivers were within one second of Brooks.

With 25-minutes remaining in the session, the red flag was shown to field for a spin in Turn 8 involving Miller Vinatieri Motorsports rookie Kent Vaccaro.

The track got the green flag for testing to resume with 22-minutes remaining as the 23 USF-17s took to the track to learn as much as possible.

With two sets of tires to use each day, most teams chose to start each session with fresh Cooper Tire slicks, so lap times later in the session were more in line with what to expect during race running.

With five minutes remaining in the session, Turn 3 Motorsport drivers Josh Green and Dylan Christie improved on their quickest laps, improving to second and seventh, respectively.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #2 timesheet.

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will be the Monday morning dew sweepers, with their first of three test sessions getting underway at 8:30 am.

The technicians for Cooper Tire busy at work during Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

By Steve Wittich

A pair of rookies, Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Reece Gold (Juncos Racing), were the first two drivers to turn laps during the first Indy Pro 2000 test session that were below 78-seconds.

Brichachek’s quick lap, his sixth of 16 in the session, was timed at 77.7737 seconds, only 0.09 seconds ahead of Gold.

Series returnees Colin Kaminsky, Hunter McElrea, and Manuel Sulaiman rounded out the top five.

Fourteen of the 17 drivers were within one second of the top spot.

After a reasonably clean USF2000 session to begin the test, their big brothers, the Indy Pro 2000 series, had a more auspicious start to spring training with a red flag coming out only two minutes into the one-hour session. The red was for the No. 20 Legacy Autosport PM-18 of Flinn Lazier, which came to a halt at the exit of Charlotte’s Web (Turn 5 & 6).

Most drivers were on their out-laps when the session was stopped, and no one had turned a lap at speed.

The green flag was shown to the field with 47 of the 60 minutes remaining.

The second red flag of the session, with 40 minutes remaining in the session, was once again for the No. 20 of Lazier, which came to a stop in Turn 10. Lazier had completed four laps at that point of the session.

With a lap time at 79.0242 seconds, Petrov was the quickest driver when the red was shown, but only 10 of the 17 drivers had been on track. The Exclusive Autosport veteran was followed in the top five by his teammate Eves, along with Enzo Fittipaldi (RP Motorsport), Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing), and Enaam Ahmed (RP Motorsport).

The second red was shorter than the first, with the rack reopening for testing with 35-minutes remaining.

The first driver to improve on Petrov’s early quickest lap and turn a sub-79-second lap was fellow veteran McElrea, who was quickly joined in the 78-second bracket by Fittipaldi.

At just before the session’s halfway point, Gold lowered the quick lap time to 78.2703 seconds, which was faster than the previous race lap record, but still just under two seconds off the overall track record.

Gold was joined in the top five at the halfway point of the session by McElrea, Kyffin Simpson (Juncos Racing), Fittipaldi, and Petrov.

Wyatt Brichacek (Jay Howard Driver Development), Christian Rasmussen (Jay Howard Driver Development), Cameron Shields (DEForce Racing), and Manuel Sulaiman (Juncos Racing) had yet to turn a lap.

With fifteen minutes remaining in the first Indy Pro 2000 session, the third red flag was shown from the starter’s stand. This time, it was for the No. 51 Abel Motorsports machine of Jacob Abel, who quickly able to get rolling again.

Before the red flag came out, Jay Howard Driver Development rookie Brichacek was the first to put in a sub-78-second lap. Gold held down the second spot and was joined in the top five by Simpson, Petrov, and McElrea.

The green flag came back out with 12 minutes remaining, and the first driver to get his Cooper Tires into the correct operating temperature was James Roe (Turn 3 Motorsport), who was the first driver to improve their lap time.

With just under five minutes remaining in the 60-minute session, Reece Gold was the second driver to turn a sub-78-second lap.

Sulaiman, who waited until after the last red flag to hit the track, only completed four laps but had the fourth quickest lap time.

The 16 drivers with functioning transponders completed 305 circuits of the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. Kaminsky, Yeany, and Ahmed were the busiest of the bunch, completing 57.5 miles of running. (25 laps).

The timing screen shows that reigning USF2000 champ Rasmussen did not complete any laps. The Dane was on track but had a non-functioning transponder.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires spring training at Barber Motorsports Park test session #1 timesheet.

The middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will be back on track at 4 pm for their second Easter Sunday session.