By Steve Wittich

The sun shone between low clouds, and the ambient temperature was still a comfortable 81F when the lone USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires practice session started.

The early leader in the half-hour practice on used tires was reigning USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires champion Michael d’Orlando (Turn 3 Motorsport).

With ten minutes remaining, Joel Granfors (Exclusive Autosport) topped the timing screens, but it was close with d’Orlando, Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), Myles Rowe (Pabst Racing) and Jonathan Browne (Turn 3 Motorsport) all within a tenth of the Swede.

d’Orlando and then Porto jumped to the top of the timesheets when the drivers went to fresh Cooper Tires.

The 20 drivers turned 317 laps of the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course, with 2022 USF Pro 2000 Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course winner Salvador de Alba (Exclusive Autosport) the busiest. The Mexican driver completed 21 circuits.

USF Pro 2000 Discount Tire Grand Prix of Indianapolis practice results

The USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires series had a pair of test sessions earlier this afternoon. The only red flags were for tow-ins.

Rowe led the first test session with a lap at 82.4242 seconds, followed by Granfors, d’Orlando, Browne, Porto, De Alba and Denmark within a half-second of the points leader.

Porto led the second test session, lowering the best lap to 82.2967 seconds, with the following ten drivers with a half-second.

In case you missed it earlier, we posted a weekend preview.

The rest of the USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires schedule for this weekend is as follows (all times local):

Friday

• 9:30 am – USF Pro 2000 Qualifying
• 1:30 pm – USF Pro 2000 Autograph Session
• 2:55 pm – USF Pro 2000 Race #1 (25 laps or 50 minutes)

Saturday

• 8:55 am – USF Pro 2000 Race #2 (25 laps or 50 minutes)

Don’t forget to download the USF Pro Championships Presented By Cooper Tires app to follow the action.

By Steve Wittich

The single half-hour USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires practice session before Friday morning qualifying took place late on Thursday afternoon, getting the green flag at 5:10 pm. The sun shone in Speedway, Ind, and the ambient temperature was 82F.

After five minutes of running, race control reminded the teams and drivers that any driver leaving the track surface at the exit Turn 6 would have their lap invalidated. Additionally, offenders would be denoted utilizing the car’s transponder.

Points leader Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) led early in the session, with Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development) grabbing the top spot on the timing screens just past the halfway point. Exclusive Autosport rookie Chase Gardner was the third quickest after 15 minutes.

Lap times continued to fall, with Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing), who waited until late in the session to take to the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course going to the top of the timing screens on only his third lap.

New tire runs meant the timing screen was full of green and purple as drivers got their fresh Cooper tires into the optimal operating range.

Nobody could touch Johnson, with Sikes and reigning USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires champion Mac Clark (DEForce Racing), jumping into the top five at the end of the session.

The top eight drivers – Johnson, Hughes, Sikes, Clark, Gardner, Ethan Ho (DC Autosport), Sam Corry (VRD Racing) and Jorge Garciarce (DEForce Racing) were within a half-second.

The top six drivers represented six teams.

The 20 drivers completed 258 laps.

USF2000 Discount Tire Grand Prix of Indianapolis practice results

The USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires series had a pair of test sessions earlier this afternoon. The only red flags were for tow-ins.

Sikes led the first test session with a lap at 86.4937 seconds, followed by Hughes, Johnson and Clark within five-hundredths of a second. VRD Racing rookie Gordon Scully turned 29 laps, the most of any driver.

Johnson led the second test session, lowering the best lap to 86.1871 seconds, with Hughes, Gardner, Papasavvas and Sikes within a half second of the fastest lap.

In case you missed it earlier, we posted a weekend preview.

The rest of the USF2000 Championship Presented By Cooper Tires schedule for this weekend is as follows (all times local):

Friday

• 8 am – USF2000 Qualifying
• 12:05 pm – USF2000 Race #1 (15 laps or 40 minutes)
• 2 pm – USF2000 Autograph Session (IMS Midway)

Saturday

• 8 am – USF2000 Race #2 (15 laps or 40 minutes)
• noon – USF2000 Race #3 (15 laps or 40 minutes)

Don’t forget to download the USF Pro Championships Presented By Cooper Tires app to follow the action.

By Steve Wittich

With three wins, four podiums and three fastest laps, USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires rookie Myles Rowe (Pabst Racing) is off to one of the hottest starts in all of motorsport this season.

The 22-year-old, who recently graduated from Pace University in New York, NY, carries a commanding 42-point lead over his next closest rival for the $664,500 Discount Tire Driver Advancement Scholarship.

However, the series heads to a track known for chaos (see the creative video from Scott Hargrove below) and a hungry group of aggressive competitors will look to trip him up.

The hungry group of drivers from second through sixth – Francesco Pizzi (TJ Speed Motorsports), Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing), Jace Denmark (Pabst Racing), Lirim Zendeli (TJ Speed Motorsports) and Joel Granfors (Exclusive Autosport) have at least one podium and are separated by only 11 points.

Last year, eight drivers representing six teams stood on the nine possible podiums across three series races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, proving that anything can happen on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.

USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires Championship Standings After Four of 18 Races

Home race

Jackson Lee was born in Indianapolis and lives in Avon, Ind. The 20-year-old is coming off his best USF Pro Championships finish, crossing the line in fifth place at Sebring International Raceway.

The Indiana University/Purdue University (IUPUI) student’s No 47 from the Turn 3 Motorsport stable features many local sponsors, including the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Browning Chapman and Prime 47 Indy.

Second-generation racer Jack William Miller was born in Westfield, Ind, and calls Carmel, Ind., home.

The 19-year-old will be making his 40th USF Pro 2000 start in Friday’s first race. The driver of the Patterson Dental/Blue Marble Productions sponsored No.40 has two poles, four podiums, 11 top fives, and three quickest laps of the race in 71 USF Pro Championship starts.

“We are very excited that it’s May and finally be back on track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” said Miller. “We are looking forward to being back in the car and using the knowledge we gained over the break during our events this weekend.”

Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course notes and numbers

• Exclusive Autosport (three) and Jay Howard Driver Development (three) are the only active teams with wins on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• Salvador de Alba (Exclusive Autosport) has a USF Pro 2000 race win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Exclusive Autosport) has two USF2000 wins, and Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing) has one USF2000 win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• The pole sitter has won 50% of the USF Pro 2000 races here, but that doesn’t tell the entire story. More recently, in the six races over the past two seasons, no pole winners have won, and the average starting position of the race winner is 5.5.
• Michel Jourdain, Jr. protege Salvador de Alba won the first USF Pro 2000 race on a damp track from the 12th starting spot last year, the deepest in the field a driver has won from.

Previous USF Pro 2000 Presented By Cooper Tires winners on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course

• Active teams Miller Vinatieri Motorsports (two) and Turn 3 Motorsport (one) have poles on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports) has two USF Pro 2000 poles, and Jonathan Browne (Turn 3 Motorsport) has one pole on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
• Yuven Sundaramoorthy (Exclusive Autosport) and Kiko Porto (DEForce Racing) have two USF2000 poles on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• Exclusive Autosport leads all active teams with eight podiums on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.
• Nine races have gone green to checker without a caution. The average number of caution laps across all of the races is 2.5. Ten of the 22 races have had a first-lap caution.
• Ten races have seen the lead change hands, with the first race in 2018 having three lead changes, the most in the series on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
• The first race in 2020 is the only one to finish under the caution.
• The most significant margin of victory came in 2017 when Victor Franzoni beat T.J. Fischer to the line by 13.0798 seconds.

• In 2021 current INDY NXT championship leader Christian Rasmussen beat Braden Eves to the twin-checkered flags by a slim seven-hundredths of a second.

• Rasmus Lindh holds the track record at 78.9953 seconds, set during qualifying in 2019.