By Steve Wittich

The largest USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires field in over a decade – 21 cars – will contest a pair of 15-lap L&W Supply Grand Prix of Road America races as the series that has already had five drivers and four teams visit victory lane, hits the halfway point. The most different drivers to visit victory lane during a season occurred in 2020 when eight drivers were winners.

Through the season’s first seven races, seven different drivers have started from the pole, which is only one driver short of the record eight pole winners, which happened twice (2007 and 2020).

Despite scoring only the ninth most points across three races in Indianapolis, Pabst Racing w/ Force Indy rookie Myles Rowe holds a 32-point championship advantage as the series heads to the iconic Road America.

When the USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires started their three-race “Month of May,” Rowe held a 42-point championship lead over rookie Francesco Pizzi (TJ Speed Motorsports) and veteran Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing).

However, Italian Pizzi and Brazilian Porto didn’t fare much better than their title-leading rival. Porto collected six fewer markers than Rowe, leaving him 48 points out of the championship lead in fifth place. Pizzi was only five points better than the driver of the flat black, brick red and blue No. 99, leaving him in third in the championship, 37 points away from the $664,500 Discount Tire Driver Advancement Scholarship.

The big winners across the trio of races in Indianapolis were the Exclusive Autosport duo of veteran Salvador de Alba and rookie Joel Granfors.

de Alba, a Mexican mentored by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race winner Michel Jourdain, Jr., started May in 12th place in the championship, trailing Rowe by 79 points. A win in the points-heavy Freedom 90 oval race, combined with a second and sixth on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, meant the 23-year-old outscored all other drivers over the trio of races. de Alba moved to fourth on the points table, making up 38 points and moving to within 41 points of Rowe.

GB3 standout Granfors parlayed a win on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and a second-place finish on the oval into the second most points in the Hoosier State. The Swede moved to second place in the title chase and trails Rowe by 32 points.

USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires points scored in the three races held in Indianapolis, Ind during the “Month of May”

RANK	DRIVER		INDY RACE PTS.
1	Salvador de Alba		87
2	Joel Granfors (rookie)		70
3	Jonathan Browne		59
4	Jack William Miller		57
5	Francesco Pizzi (rookie)		54
6	Reece Ushijima (rookie)		52
7	Michael d’Orlando (rookie)		52
8	Myles Rowe (rookie)		49
9	Kiko Porto		43
10	Ricardo Escotto (rookie)		43
11	Jordan Missig		35
12	Christian Weir (rookie)		34
13	Yuven Sundaramoorthy		33
14	Jace Denmark (rookie)		32
15	Jackson Lee (rookie)		29
16	Nicholas Monteiro (rookie)		24
17	Bijoy Garg		23
18	Lindsay Brewer		20
19	Lirim Zendeli (rookie)		19
20	Charles Finelli		10

What could have quickly become a dominant Rowe championship after four races has become a five-driver battle, showing how quickly things can change. The season-long championship chase will finally click just over the halfway point after Sunday’s L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America, the ninth of 18 races.

There is still so much more action before a champion is crowned in Portland, Ore., including this weekend’s doubleheader at the highly unpredictable and newly resurfaced Road America, a trip north of the border to a tight street circuit in Toronto, Ont., and a visit to an unfamiliar Circuit of The Americas.

USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires championship table headed to Road America

RANK	DRIVER	TEAM		TOTAL
1	Myles Rowe (rookie)	Pabst Racing w/Force Indy		165
2	Joel Granfors (rookie)	Exclusive Autosport		133
3	Francesco Pizzi (rookie)	TJ Speed Motorsports		128
4	Salvador de Alba	Exclusive Autosport		124
5	Kiko Porto	DEForce Racing		117
6	Reece Ushijima (rookie)	Jay Howard Driver Development		101
7	Jonathan Browne	Turn 3 Motorsport		101
8	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports		101
9	Jace Denmark (rookie)	Pabst Racing		96
10	Lirim Zendeli (rookie)	TJ Speed Motorsports		83
11	Michael d’Orlando (rookie)	Turn 3 Motorsport		81
12	Jackson Lee (rookie)	Turn 3 Motorsport		70
13	Jordan Missig	Pabst Racing		69
14	Christian Weir (rookie)	TJ Speed Motorsports		68
15	Ricardo Escotto (rookie)	Jay Howard Driver Development		66
16	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Exclusive Autosport		66
17	Bijoy Garg	DEForce Racing		55
18	Christian Brooks (rookie)	Turn 3 Motorsport		47
19	Nicholas Monteiro (rookie)	NeoTech Motorsport		44
20	Lindsay Brewer	Exclusive Autosport		42
21	Charles Finelli	FatBoy Racing		10

Road America, also known as ‘America’s National Park Of Speed,’ will play host to it’s 23rd and 24th USF Pro 2000 races on the newly repaved 4.014-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course. 

Previous USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires winners at Road America

YEAR	DRIVER	TEAM
2022 Race #2	Braden Eves	Jay Howard Driver Development
2022 Race #1	Louis Foster	Exclusive Autosport
2021 Race #2	Christian Rasmussen	Jay Howard Driver Development
2021 Race #1	Manuel Sulaiman	Juncos Hollinger Racing
2020 Race #2	Artem Petrov	Juncos Racing
2020 Race #1	Danial Frost	Turn 3 Motorsport
2019 Race #2	Kyle Kirkwood	RP Motorsport
2019 Race #1	Kyle Kirkwood	RP Motorsport
2018 Race #2	David Malukas	BN Racing
2018 Race #1	David Malukas	BN Racing
2017 Race #2	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports
2017 Race #1	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
2016 Race #2	Aaron Telitz	Team Pelfrey
2016 Race #1	Aaron Telitz	Team Pelfrey
2010	Conor Daly	Juncos Racing
2008	Peter Dempsey	Andersen Racing
2007	Ron White	Maxwell Racing
2006	Ron White	Ross Smith Racing
2005	James Hinchcliffe	AIM Autosport
2004	Michael McDowell	Star Race Cars
2003	Michael McDowell	Star Race Cars
2002	Guy Cosmo	Racers Edge Motorsports

The Elkhart Lake, Wisc. circuit was once the domain of pole winners, with the driver starting inside the front row winning eight of the first 14 races between 2002 and 2018. However, only one pole sitter has won in the eight races since 2019, and the average starting position of the driver that visited victory lane is 4.5. During those same eight races, the average finishing position of the pole winner is 4.8.

Historically, winning at Road America has gone a long way to securing a championship with Guy Cosmo (2002), Michael McDowell (2004), Conor Daly (2010), Aaron Telitz (2016), Victor Franzoni (2017), Kyle Kirkwood (2019), Christian Rasmussen (2021) and Louis Foster (2022) converting victories into championships.

The recently departed Juncos Hollinger Racing leads all teams with four wins at Road America, with active teams – Jay Howard Driver Development (two), Exclusive Autosport (one), and Turn 3 Motorsport (one) – all collecting wins.

Podiums for teams competing this weekend include:

• Jay Howard Driver Development – three
• Turn 3 Motorsport – three
• Exclusive Autosport – two
• Miller Vinatieri Motorsports – one
• Pabst Racing – one

Avoiding the early caution will be critical, with half of the ten races since the introduction of the Tatuus chassis in 2018 starting with a first-lap yellow flag.

The weekend schedule is as follows:

Friday 

• 9:20 am – 9:50 am – USF Pro 2000 Practice
• 11:30 am – noon – USF Pro 2000 Qualifying (Race #1)

Saturday

• 8 am – 8:30 am – USF Pro 2000 Qualifying (Race #2)
• 12:55 pm – USF Pro 2000 Autograph Session (fan zone)
• 2:40 pm – L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America – Race #1 (15 laps or 50 minutes)

Sunday 

• 8:50am – L&W Supply Grand Prix Of Road America – Race #2 (15 laps of 50 minutes)

By Tony DiZinno

The temps were down to 67F ambient for the start of the USF Pro 2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires, five degrees cooler than USF2000, with green flag about 15 minutes later than originally scheduled (9:45 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m.) at the 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Miller leads the 18 Tatuus USF-22 cars to green, or means to. But the field was so stacked up coming through Turns 3 and 4, so the initial start is waved off. Green comes out at the second attempt with a bit of a chaotic series of movement.

Pizzi around the outside made gains while de Alba goes to the inside and shoots past both Pizzi and Miller to go from third to first. 

At the end of Lap 2, revised order from grid is de Alba, Miller, Pizzi, Granfors and Denmark top five with d’Orlando, Row, Browne, Weir and Lee the top 10.

Ten laps fly by at this track; it took under four minutes to run the first 10 laps of this 90-lap race. 

From the back of the field, Missig has gained eight spots P18 to P10. 

On L19 the gap from de Alba to Miller is back to 0.6 of a second. 

It’s only 22 laps in, but leaders should look out for traffic in the next 4-6 laps. 

Indeed end of L28, Monteiro and Brewer are just ahead of de Alba. Pivotal moment ahead for the Mexican driver. Monteiro by Brewer for P17 on L28. 

Gap now 0.4 L30 – de Alba by Brewer. 

Further back, Denmark and Rowe super tight battling over sixth; the USF2000 title combatants of a year ago run behind d’Orlando in P5, who beat them both. 

De Alba gains 0.4 in traffic over Miller by L32. But loses some time as he approaches the Monteiro/Garg/Escotto battle.

Now stuck behind Monteiro, Miller within 0.3 on de Alba.

Pizzi by Miller outside P2 tried and loses it

Granfors now gets by Pizzi on L38 for P3.

The halfway gap is 0.5 91 to 40. The order: de Alba, Miller, Granfors, Pizzi and d’Orlando the top five with Rowe, Denmark, Browne, Weir and Missig the top 10.

The leaders are approaching Monteiro again L49; he managed to stay ahead of the leaders last go-around. 

Rowe, meanwhile, is catching d’Orlando for fifth. 

Denmark has a big issue L55, drops to P10 with a 23.519 lap while rest in 21s. Browne, Weir and Missig are all by. He loses another spot next lap to Sundaramoorthy and now into pits L57 for a right rear tire change. TBD if he’ll return.  

Thirty to go L60. Rowe trying on d’Orlando, will use Brewer as a pick to get by low side. Gets to P5 L63.

Granfors make a move on Miller for second L64, inside. Now just 0.4 behind de Alba.

Granfors appears to be holding onto his Cooper Tires better than de Alba up front and is gaining 1.5-2 tenths a lap.

De Alba by Monteiro – finally on L69 – but Granfors follows him through. 

Twenty to go L70. De Alba tries L71 inside and is past Lee. Granfors clears him T3-4.

Denmark returns to track L72, out of contention but will gain some additional track time/testing. 

Fifteen to go. Gap 0.4 between De Alba and Granfors. 

Eleven to go. De Alba extends gap to 1.0 by L79. 

Full course caution comes on L81 when Weir hits the wall and stops exiting Turn 4. Car is taken away with left front and rear damage.

Doubtful we’ll be able to restart and indeed we don’t, so de Alba wins and leads an Exclusive Autosport 1-2 over Granfors in second with Miller in third.

Cooper Tires Freedom 90 Unofficial Results

P	No	Name	Team	Laps	Diff
1	91	Salvador de Alba	Exclusive Autosport	90	LAP 90
2	92	Joel Granfors	Exclusive Autosport	90	0.517
3	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	90	1.047
4	55	Francesco Pizzi	TJ Speed Motorsports	90	1.947
5	99	Myles Rowe	Pabst Racing w/Force Indy	90	4.311
6	1	Michael d’Orlando	Turn 3 Motorsport	90	8.747
7	2	Jonathan Browne	Turn 3 Motorsport	90	9.250
8	19	Jordan Missig	Pabst Racing	90	9.897
9	90	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Exclusive Autosport	90	10.197
10	12	Kiko Porto	DEForce Racing	90	12.347
11	6	Reece Ushijima	Jay Howard Driver Development	89	1 LAPS
12	47	Jackson Lee	Turn 3 Motorsport	89	1 LAPS
13	81	Nicholas Monteiro	NeoTech Motorsport	89	1 LAPS
14	7	Bijoy Garg	DEForce Racing	89	1 LAPS
15	4	Ricardo Escotto	Jay Howard Driver Development	88	2 LAPS
16	93	Lindsay Brewer	Exclusive Autosport	87	3 LAPS
17	32	Christian Weir	TJ Speed Motorsports	80	Retired
18	20	Jace Denmark	Pabst Racing	75	15 LAPS

By Tony DiZinno

Jack William Miller will lead the 18-car field of USF Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires competitors to the green flag for Friday night’s Cooper Tires Freedom 90 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The Carmel, Indiana native in his No. 40 Miller Vinatieri Motorsports lapped the 0.686-mile oval in a total of 41.726 seconds over two laps, equating to an average speed of 118.372mph.

Miller’s MVM Tatuus IP-22 was ahead of two Exclusive Autosport entries, Joel Granfors and Salvador de Alba. Granfors, the 18-year-old Swede, is fresh off his first USF Pro 2000 win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course earlier this month and will look to emulate last year’s series champion and Exclusive Autosport driver, Louis Foster, in winning on the IRP oval shortly after capturing his first series win on the IMS road course.

TJ Speed Motorsports’ Francesco Pizzi and Pabst Racing with Force Indy’s Myles Rowe complete the top five on the grid.

Rowe enters the race with a 39-point lead on Kiko Porto, who only qualified his DeForce Racing entry in 11th place (139-100). Pizzi is third on 99, Granfors fourth on 95 and Jace Denmark fifth on 91.

The only oval on the schedule means the USF Pro 2000 field has a slightly different points structure.

A win is 45 points, second 38, third 33, fourth 29, fifth 26, with the remainder of the top 10 23-21-20-18-17 and then 15 for 11th down to 2 for 20th.

Key to the race in recent years? Tire management. Drivers need to hold onto their Cooper Tires over the course of 90 laps, and often times, managing the fall-off and keeping enough in hand when encountering slower traffic decides the winner.

Foster’s win last year was for Exclusive Autosport. Other recent winners with the Tatuus chassis include: Christian Rasmussen for Jay Howard Driver Development (2021), Kody Swanson for Legacy Autosport (2020), Danial Frost for Exclusive Autosport (2019) and Parker Thompson for Exclusive Autosport (2018).

Qualifying Results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Lap 1	Lap 2	Total Time	Avg. Speed
1	40	Jack William Miller	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports	20.758	20.968	41.726	118.372
2	92	Joel Granfors	Exclusive Autosport	20.910	20.849	41.759	118.279
3	91	Salvador de Alba	Exclusive Autosport	21.022	20.873	41.895	117.895
4	55	Francesco Pizzi	TJ Speed Motorsports	21.066	20.896	41.962	117.706
5	99	Myles Rowe	Pabst Racing w/Force Indy	21.137	20.893	42.030	117.516
6	20	Jace Denmark	Pabst Racing	21.182	20.950	42.132	117.232
7	1	Michael d’Orlando	Turn 3 Motorsport	21.119	21.210	42.329	116.686
8	2	Jonathan Browne	Turn 3 Motorsport	21.144	21.245	42.389	116.521
9	32	Christian Weir	TJ Speed Motorsports	21.187	21.236	42.423	116.427
10	47	Jackson Lee	Turn 3 Motorsport	21.291	21.250	42.541	116.104
11	12	Kiko Porto	DEForce Racing	21.384	21.204	42.588	115.976
12	4	Ricardo Escotto	Jay Howard Driver Development	21.415	21.297	42.712	115.640
13	81	Nicholas Monteiro	NeoTech Motorsport	21.421	21.308	42.729	115.594
14	7	Bijoy Garg	DEForce Racing	21.376	21.362	42.738	115.569
15	90	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	Exclusive Autosport	21.478	21.363	42.841	115.291
16	93	Lindsay Brewer	Exclusive Autosport	21.678	21.715	43.393	113.825
17	6	Reece Ushijima	Jay Howard Driver Development	-.—-	-.—-	No Time	No Speed
18	19	Jordan Missig	Pabst Racing	-.—-	-.—-	No Time	No Speed

By Patrick Stephan

Pole sitter Myles Rowe will bring the field to the green with a lead of 30 (120 to 90) over Kiko Porto.

Alongside Rowe is Francesco Pizzi and the field makes it through Turn 1 but they are stacked 2 and three deep in to Turn 2 and that pushes Lirim Zendelli out in to the grass, dropping him from his 6th starting spot to the tail as he continues.

Rowe goes off at Turn 7 as it appears he just went wide at the exit and got on to the slick grass and had to drive through the field before rejoining.

Lap 2 and we have Lindsay Brewer off track at Turn 7 with suspension damage – this will bring out the full course yellow.

The order right now Pizzi, d’Orlando, Ushijima (from 10th), Porto, Miller, Denmark (from 14th), De Alba (from 12th), Lee, Browne, Granfors (from 18th), Weir, Missig, Garg, Sundaramoorthy, Zendell, Rowe, Escotto, Monteiro, Brewer, Finelli.

Note that Finelli pulled off under the yellow and exited pit lane at the Gasoline Alley entrance. That’s going to give him quite the circuitous route back to the USF paddock. He’ll need to go through Gasoline Alley past the garages, then make a left in front of the INDYCAR Series transporters. That leads to an intersection near the infield midway (Chevy, Firestone displays, etc). He’ll go down the road that leads to the N Lot and can then make a left to the USF paddock.

Restart is waved off as Jackson Lee has to pull off on the back stretch with mechanical issues. He’s retrieved and exits the track at Turn 7. Jackson was having a solid weekend and was in 8th at the time.

Trying to get back to green and the field stacks up at Turn 14. They are single file slowly with Pizzi leading the field, and then we see Salvador De Alba go outside around a bunch of cars. Miller pops outside also but he makes contact with car in front of him and his wing comes off, goes under his car, and he shoots it out the rear of his car.

Restart is under review as you’d expect, some went on the green (when was the green) and others didn’t. That didn’t look good.

Full course yellow is called and at the same time we see cars making contact at the Turn 6 chicane – more wings are flying including Ricardo Escotto who I believe had just changed a wing after possible contact with Brewer in the earlier incident. He had moved right of the chicane when some may have heard the yellow called, while others didn’t and it stacked up at the chicane, but Escotto’s path was blocked and he knocked the wing off again.

The order is De Alba, Granfors, Browne, Weir, Denmark, d’Orlando, Missig, Rowe, Pizzi, Ushijima, Sundaramoorthy, Porto, Zendeli, Garg, Miller, Monteiro, Escotto, Lee, Brewer, Finelli.

The field is reminded by race control that the restart zone starts at PIT IN…they didn’t go anywhere close to that last time.

Restart Lap 10 and De Alba does launch just after Pit In, and the field gets away clean. Monteiro serves an avoidable contact

Lap 11 and in to Turn 1 there are three wide and two rows across. d’Orlando is outside of the front row three wide, he tries to slot in to about 3rd, but Ushijima comes from inside the second group and they make contact the the exit of Turn 1.

That incident will be reviewed, but d’Orlando has damage and will limp it back to the pit lane.

Granfors passes De Alba for the lead on Lap 13, and the order is now Granfors, De Alba, Denmark, Browne, Weir, Rowe, Pizzi, Missig, Ushijima, Zendeli, Miller, Garg, Sundaramoorthy, Porto, d’Orlando, Monteiro, Escotto, Lee, Brewer, Finelli.

Rowe gets pushed off at Turn 2 and in the grass again. He’ll drop back to 8th, so he’ll restart his charge back to the front.

Lap 17, Ushijima dives in on Pizzi from WAY back, locking his right front on the entry to Turn 1. He slides through and Pizzi gets the 7th spot back.

Next lap and Rowe is able to get by Weir (I believe that was the same battle that put him in the grass earlier).

Weir gets a warning from race control for blocking (moving in reaction to). d’Orlando has rejoined after repairs to his right rear suspension from the Ushijima contact.

Jack William Miller back to the pits again, this time its for a flat tire.

Lap 19 and Granfors leads by 1.8 over De Alba, Denmark, Browne, Rowe (5th and has fastest lap – 17), Weir, Pizzi, Ushijima, Missig, Zendeli (10th), Porto, Sundaaramoorthy, Garg, Miller, Monteiro (off Lap 16), d’Orlando, Escotto, Lee, Brewer, Fineli.

Lap 22 and in to Turn 1 Ushijima tries Pizzi again but can’t get around. He tries the inside at turn 7, also doesn’t get it done, but keeps trying.

Down the front straight Pizzi take the inside at the wall and then when Ushijima gets alongside starts to fade to the outside and they maintain those spots through Turns 2-4.

Missig takes advantage of that battle and goes around the outside at Turn 7 to get by Ushijima for 8th.

WHITE FLAG and Granfors leads by 3.1…the same gap when he takes the checkered flag over De Alba, Denmark, Browne and Rowe.

• Granfors came in to the race 7th in points and finished 20th in yesterday’s race with an 8 lap DNF.
• This is his USF Pro 2000 victory.
• Previous series GB3 where his last win was in 2022 at Silverstone
• Previous best in USF Pro 2000 was 2nd at Sebring #2

Got another replay of that messy restart (Lap 6). While De Alba caught most of the attention with is big outside move, Granfors was also a big mover. With everyone stacked and slowly building speed on the front straight he stuck to the inside line and squeezed between the wall and another car to wind up P2 by the time they hit the first turn.

That restart clearly helped us get podium that started the race 18th, 12th, and 14th respectively.

UNOFFICIAL Results USF Pro 2000 Discount Tire GP of Indy Race #2:

Pos	Car #	Driver	Laps	Gap	Led	ST	Team
1	92	Joel Granfors	25		15	18	Exclusive Autosport
2	91	Salvador De Alba	25	3.1502	5	12	Exclusive Autosport
3	20	Jace Denmark	25	3.4243		14	Pabst Racing
4	2	Jonathan Browne	25	0.8003		5	Turn 3 Motorsport
5	99	Myles Rowe	25	3.5676		1	Pabst Racing
6	32	Christian Weir	25	2.4363		7	TJ Speed Motorsports
7	55	Francesco Pizzi	25	2.9483	5	2	TJ Speed Motorsports
8	19	Jordan Missig	25	0.4091		11	Pabst Racing
9	6	Reece Ushijima	25	1.1792		10	Jay Howard Driver Development
10	10	Lirim Zendeli	25	1.3501		6	TJ Speed Motorsports
11	12	Kiko Porto	25	0.2702		4	DEForce Racing
12	90	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	25	1.9094		17	Exclusive Autosport
13	7	Bijoy Garg	25	3.7736		16	DEForce Racing
14	1	Michael d’Orlando	22	3 LAPS		3	Turn 3 Motorsport
15	40	Jack William Miller	18	39.8719		8	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports
16	81	Nicholas Monteiro	16	1 LAPS		19	NeoTech Motorsport
17	4	Ricardo Escotto	6	0.5178		15	Jay Howard Driver Development
18	47	Jackson Lee	4	0.3		9	Turn 3 Motorsport
19	93	Lindsay Brewer	1	0.269		13	Exclusive Autosport
20	83	Charles Finelli	1	0.7169		20	FatBoy Racing

By Patrick Stephan

Kiko Porto and Jack William Miller crept to the starting line and then we had a four wide drag race to Turn 1. Someone mid pack takes the escape road, as Porto leads through Turn 1. Also had a few cars short-cut Turn 6, didn’t catch the car but race control is looking at it.

Just as they started Lap 2 we go full course yellow due to debris in Turn 5, appears to be a wing from Bijoy Garg who comes to pit lane.

Under the yellow race control moves Jace Denmark in front of Ricardo Escotto due to a pass under yellow.

The order for what should be a quick yellow is Porto, d’Orlando, Miller, Zendell, Granfors, Pizzi, Ushijima, Browne, Rowe (10th).

They were about to go green again but had to wave off to correct the above mentioned shortcuts we saw on the first lap. They have put the start under review also. And a couple minutes later announce 1 to on Lap 5.

Porto leads d’Orlando down the front straight as clouds are building and darkening over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

They again are nearly side by side for the lead, but Porto keeps the lead as another car takes the run-off. Sorry, I’m not great at ID’ing some of these team cars. Pizzi got by Granfors for 5th and Myles Rowe moves up to 7th.

Porto leads by just 0.2211 over d’Orlando who is pushing hard for the lead. Pizzi moves to 4th.

Lap 8 and Granfors spins in Turn 1 and then pulls to the inside of Turn 1 to use take the escape road to head back to the paddock with a broken wheel from earlier contact.

Up front it’s Porto, d’Orlando a half second back, then Miller, Pizzi, Zendell, Rowe, Browne, Ushijima, Weir, Escotto is 10th. Denmark, Lee, De Alba, Brewer, Monteiro, Garg, Sundaramoorthy, Finelli, Granfors, Missig.

Lap 11 – YELLOW for conditions it has started to rain on the south portion of the circuit. Pace Car driver Gail Truess reports that grip is pretty good initially, then she gets to Turn 7 – “it’s raining harder”. Next time around she tells race control they have lost the south end of the track – and now we can clearly see that just looking out the window.

Lap 12 and RED FLAG is out and cars are sent to their pit boxes. This is a closed red right now. Team’s can give the driver’s an umbrella and a drink bottle – but no work allowed on the cars.

Once all the cars got to their pit boxes, the teams were allowed three workers over the wall plus an observer. Race Control has mandated rain tires and teams have 5 minutes to complete their work. Rules require that driver’s take the green for the restart with the rain tires on, but they can then elect to change to dry tires if desired.

This race is scheduled for 25 laps and the clock has stopped with 13 completed. Race Control has now called this a timed race as the cars roll off and it will stop 50 minutes after it started. The clock on T&S shows 13:30 as drivers roll through Turn 9.

And you’ll be shocked to hear it’s not raining any longer as we go back to green. Track temp is down to 94F. d’Orlando tries to takes the lead from Porto in Turn 1 as every car makes it through relatively cleanly. But Porto prevails on the outside. Next lap they are three wide at Turn 3, and d’Orlando gets the lead and Miller takes P2 with Porto now third on Lap 16.

3:44:35 is announced as the time to end this race, a little under 10 minutes from “now” (16 laps completed).

Lap 17 d’Orlando leads Miller by 0.4133, but Miller gets the lead at Turn 7/8. They go side by side through Turn 1 with d’Orlando on the outside, but that becomes the inside of Turn 2 and Miller is back to 2nd. Porto is third, then Browne, Escotto, Ushijima who passed Pizzi, DeAlba is next after he passed Weir.

Myles Rowe – the point leader – has come to pit lane.

Miller was trying to look inside of d’Orlando and Escotto goes around the outside to take 2nd.

Lap 20 and Escotto gets around d’Orlando to take the lead as Miller is fading – potentially with front wing damage. That moved Ushijima to 3rd.

2:30 remaining as of Lap 21 and Ushijima is within 0.76 of d’Orlando for 2nd.

White flag in the air and Reece Ushijima has passed d’Orlando for 2nd. Further down Jackson Lee and Yuven Sundaramoorthy picked up a couple spots on the lap preceding the white flag. They were in a group and now run 9th and 10th.

Checkered flag falls on Ricardo Escotto, the winner of the USF Pro 2000 presented by Cooper Tires Discount Tire Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Ushijima and d’Orlando round out the podium.

Browne got 4th on the final lap and Miller finished 5th – and then stopped out on the track and needed to be retrieved by safety.

This is Escotto’s first win in USF Pro 2000. His previous best finish in four races this season was 10th at Sebring #2.

Escotto, an 18 year old from Mexico City started 12th. Other big movers were Salvador De Alba from 15th to 6th, Christian Weir from 4th to 8th and Yuven Sundaramoorthy 19th to 9th.

Pos	Car #	Driver	Laps	Diff	Led	ST	Team
1	4	Ricardo Escotto	23	LAP 23	4	12	Jay Howard Driver Development
2	6	Reece Ushijima	23	In Pit		8	Jay Howard Driver Development
3	1	Michael d’Orlando	23	In Pit	3	4	Turn 3 Motorsport
4	2	Jonathan Browne	23	In Pit		6	Turn 3 Motorsport
5	40	Jack William Miller	23	10.3787	1	2	Miller Vinatieri Motorsports
6	91	Salvador De Alba	23	In Pit		15	Exclusive Autosport
7	12	Kiko Porto	23	In Pit	15	1	DEForce Racing
8	32	Christian Weir	23	In Pit		14	TJ Speed Motorsports
9	90	Yuven Sundaramoorthy	23	In Pit		19	Exclusive Autosport
10	47	Jackson Lee	23	In Pit		9	Turn 3 Motorsport
11	55	Francesco Pizzi	23	27.4545		3	TJ Speed Motorsports
12	93	Lindsay Brewer	23	27.8108		18	Exclusive Autosport
13	83	Charles Finelli	23	28.1154		20	FatBoy Racing
14	10	Lirim Zendeli	23	29.7156		5	TJ Speed Motorsports
15	81	Nicholas Monteiro	23	39.2138		16	NeoTech Motorsport
16	20	Jace Denmark	23	In Pit		13	Pabst Racing
17	7	Bijoy Garg	22	1 LAPS		7	DEForce Racing
18	99	Myles Rowe	21	2 LAPS		10	Pabst Racing
19	19	Jordan Missig	17	6 LAPS		17	Pabst Racing
20	92	Joel Granfors	8	Mechanical		11	Exclusive Autosport