By Steve Wittich

The story of the qualifying for Sunday’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products were diametric results for a pair of Pabst Racing drivers.

The good news is that for the third time this season the Slick Locks Sponsored No. 23 piloted by Pabst Racing veteran Colin Kaminsky will start from the pole.

The bad news is that championship leader Hunter McElrea will have to start Sunday’s final race of the season from the final spot on the grid. The Kiwi’s Soul Red No. 22 experienced a throttle pedal sensor issue, and ground to a halt on the 2.258-mile, 11-turn road course twice, causing two red flags. Per the rule book, he was forced to sit out the remainder of the session.

Starting outside of Kaminsky is Eduardo Barrichello, the best qualifying effort for the DEForce Racing second-generation racer.

McElrea’s closest competition for the championship, Eves was mired in the middle of the timing screens until the end of the session. The Cape Motorsports driver was one of five drivers to turn his quickest lap on his final lap of the session.

Barrichello’s DEForce Racing teammate Manuel Sulaiman will start behind his teammate on the outside of the second row.

The first Road To Indy session of Saturday, qualifying for the second USF2000 race, began under sunny skies and with comfortable temperatures in the upper 60s.

McElrea brought out the first of two red flags after coming to a stop in Turn 4 on his out lap. He was able to get his 2.0L engine restarted and made it back to pit lane. The Pabst Racing crew went to work diagnosing the issue.

The green flag came back out, but only a few drivers were able to complete hot laps before the red flag came back out. This time, McElrea’s car had come to a stop on the pit exit lane. He got going again, but per Rule 8.5.5, he had to sit out the remainder of the 20-minute session. Elite Engine’s Steve Knapp confirmed that the issue was with the throttle pedal sensor.

There were only 10-minutes left when the track went back to green.

With five minutes remaining, the quickest driver was Kaminsky. Sulaiman, Crawford, Eves and Reece Gold were the next four drivers on the timing screen.

Kaminsky was the first driver and the only driver to turn a lap under 85 seconds.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship qualifying #2 unofficial results

The green flag for the first of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products races is scheduled to get the green flag at 5:05 pm.

By Steve Wittich

Braden Eves, with a dominant qualifying lap, and the bonus point for winning the pole, moved to within five points of Hunter McElrea with a lap that was over a half-second ahead of the driver he’s chasing in the hunt for the scholarship.

It’s the 20-year-old Ohioan’s fourth pole of the season and the fifth at the iconic road course for Cape Motorsports. It’s Eves first pole since the second race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Nine of the 15 past USF2000 winners at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca have started on pole, giving Eves a decided advantage for the first of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products races.

The bottom rung of the Road To Indy, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship drivers, followed the Indy Lights drivers on track for qualifying.

Early in the session, the S team Motorsports sponsored No. 21 of Yuven Sundaramoorthy had an off in Turn 3, but he was able to get the 2.0L engine on his Pabst Racing machine restarted and continued.

Reece Gold, McElrea, and Rasmussen all held the provisional pole in the first ten minutes of the session.

At the halfway point of the 20-minute session, McElrea’s lap of 85.575 seconds was a slim six-hundredths of a second ahead of Christian Rasmussen. Kaminsky, Crawford, and Eves were the remainder of the top five.

McElrea improved on his provisional pole by a few-hundredths on his seventh of nines lap to that point in the session. With five minutes left, the top seven drivers were within a half-second of Kiwi McElrea.

With three minutes remaining, Eves threw down the gauntlet, turning a lap the was almost three-tenths of a second quicker than McElrea. The Cape Motorsports rookie lowered the provisional pole time on his next lap.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Race #1

The checkered flag for the first race for the lowest rung of Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires ladder gets the green flag at 5:05 pm on Saturday.

For the first time this season, Pabst Racing veteran Colin Kaminsky led a USF2000 practice; an excellent way for the Homer Glen, Ill. driver to start the weekend. Kaminsky is in a tight battle with Darren Keane and Christian Rasmussen for third place in the championship. Kaminsky’s quickest lap was 86.223 seconds, an impressive and significant three-tenths of a second ahead of the next fastest driver, Braden Eves.

Eves, who lost the lead of the championship at the last race, got a quick jump on his rival Hunter McElrea, who had the fourth-fastest time.

Also in the top five were youngsters Jak Crawford (Cape Motorsports) and Jack William Miller (Miller Vinatieri Motorsports).

The lone USF2000 practice session of the final race weekend of the 2019 season got underway at 8:45 am. There were no clouds in the sky, and the temperature was in low 60s.

Championship leader Braden Eves and two-time race winner Christian Rasmussen traded the top spot on the timing screen early in the session.

Kaminsky moved to the top of the timing screen just before the halfway point of the 30-minute session.

At the halfway point of the session, Kaminsky’s lap of 86.6197 seconds was the quickest. His teammate and championship contender McElrea was second fastest and was followed by Eves, Crawford and Sulaiman in the top five.

With 10-minutes remaining, the red flag came out for Legacy Autosport driver Ayrton Ori, who is making his second appearance in the series. His No. 77 came to a stop in the gravel on the outside of the Rainey Curve. The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to get him back on track, and he was able to drive back to pit road on his own.

The green flag came back out with five minutes remaining in the session, and 17 of the 18 USF-17 machines hit the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course for a few more laps of practice.

McElrea, Darren Keane, Bruna Tomaselli, Kyle Dupell, Nolan Siegel and Reece Gold all turned their quickest laps in the final five minutes. McElrea (fourth) and Miller (fifth) both moved into the top five.

There is one newcomer this weekend. Wyatt Brichacek, an 18-year-old is making his USF2000 debut. The Johnstown, Col. native and Lucas Oil School of Racing graduate has made 23 F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda starts with Jay Howard Driver Development, the team he is with this weekend.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Practice #1 at Laguna Seca Results

The middle rung of the Road To Indy will be back on track again for their first qualifying session at 4:40 pm, but before that, you can get their autograph in the fan village at 2:10 pm.

Here are your Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race weekend basics

• Race #1: Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products
• Race #2:  Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products

• Race #1 green flag time: Saturday, September 21 at 5:05pm
• Race #2 green flag time: Sunday, September 22 at 10:25am

• Race #1 distance: 20 laps or 40 minutes
• Race #2 distance: 20 laps or 40 minutes

• WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca qualifying track record: 83.959 seconds by Sage Karam (Andretti Autosport) in 2010
• WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca race track records: 84.566 seconds by Mikhail Goikhberg (JDC Motorsports) in 2010

• Each entry can utilize three new sets of Cooper Tire slicks as well as one set of used/scuffed tires from the race weekend at Portland International Raceway.
• The timing line is located at Turn 10
• Drivers failing to slow at least 15% in a timing sector with a local yellow will be subject to a two-place grid spot penalty
• Drivers who fail to heed the checkered flag at the end of a session will receive a two-grid spot penalty
• Causing one red flag will result in a driver losing their fastest lap
• Causing a second red flag will wipe out all of drivers laps and they will be parked for the remainder of the session
• Driver points are distributed as follows: 30 – 25 – 22 – 19 – 17 – 15 -14 – 13 – 12 – 11 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – an additional one point will be awarded to the pole sitter, to the driver who leads the most laps, and to the driver who turns the quickest race lap

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
• IndyCar Radio will have all of your Indy Lights action at  IndyCar Race Control, indycarradio.com, the tune-in app and website, XM Channel 209, Sirius Channel 216, Web Channel 970, or the Sirius / XM app
• Indy Lights races will be available for view with the purchase in the USA with the purchase of the NBC Gold IndyCar Package
• Outside of the USA, you’ll be able to watch the Indy Lights races on all of the Road To Indy TV app delivery options, Indy Lights YouTube channel, and Road To Indy TV Facebook page
• 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
• please subscribe to the following YouTube channels: Road To Indy TV for a post-race weekend wrap-up show, and USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 for previous races.

By Steve Wittich

Game on for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. Cape Motorsports rookie Braden Eves won four of the first five races of the season to build a 44 championship lead over Hunter McElrea as the “Month of May” came to an end.

Hunter McElrea celebrates winning a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

McElrea, the Mazda Road To Indy 200K Shootout Winner has turned the tables though, winning twice in the last six races and outscoring Eves by 36 points in those half-dozen races.

With a trip to the top step of the podium from the pole and the quickest lap of the race, the American born Kiwi scored 33 points, the maximum on offer.

Eves finished outside of the top five for the third straight race, meaning his points lead over McElrea is now only nine points. It’s the first time that McElrea has been with single digits of Eaves all season.

Christian Rasmussen, who started second for his third consecutive race was not able to repeat his first lap heroics from the Sunday’s race in Toronto and Saturday’s race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. It is the Dane’s fourth straight race standing on one of the top two steps of the podium.

For the fourth time this season, Pabst Racing veteran Colin Kaminsky wheeled his Slick Locks sponsored No. 23 to a podium position.

Before the race note: Darren Keane, Reece Gold, Braden Eves, Manuel Sulaiman, Bruna Tomaselli, and Nolan Siegel were all penalized two grid spots for failing to slow by at least 15% in an area with a local yellow.

The front row of McElrea Rasmussen brought the 17 2.0L powered Tatuus chassis to the green flag, and unlike their big siblings, got their 20 lap race started cleanly.

McElrea got a good jump, but Rasmussen was able to close enough to take a look around the outside in the Keyhole but had to pull back in line and could not get a run down the back straight.

The running order at the end of the first lap was McElrea, Rasmussen, Kaminsky, Sundaramoorthy, Holden, Round-Garrido, Eves, Crawford, Miller, Gold, Sulaiman, Barichello, Siegel, Bogle, Tomaselli, Keane and Pagliuso.

On Lap 2, Siegel had to come to pit road to repair a damaged front wing.

On Lap 3, Jack William Miller made a daring pass of championship leader Eves on the inside of Turn 8. Eves pushed wide, and lost three more spots, dropping to 11th.

McElrea’s lead with six laps remaining was a slim 0.6553 seconds over Rasmussen. Behind the front four, Sundaramoorthy lost two spots to Matthew Round-Garrido and Jak Crawford.

On Lap 8, Eves was able to gain two spots to move back into the top 10. He passed Sulaiman on track and earned another spot when Miller went off track in Turn 10 and 11.

At the half-way point of the race, McElrea’s lead was 1.2 seconds over Rasmussen, who had a safe gap over Kaminsky. Holden was running fourth, with Round-Garrido running fifth. The BN Racing driver had the rest of the top ten – Crawford, Sundaramoorthy, Gold, Eves and Keane nose-to-tail behind him.

On Lap 12, Eves lost a spot to his Cape Motorsports teammate Keane to fall to tenth.

Round-Garrido was making his car wide, but on the next lap lost the fifth spot to Cape Motorsports 14-year-old Crawford.

With six laps remaining, Keane was able to pass his teammate gold to move up to the eighth spot.

McElrea’s lead with five laps remaining was 1.1 seconds. Behind him, Keane, who started last was working on Sundaramoorthy for the seventh spot, getting around him and immediately putting pressure on Round-Garrido.

Keane was able to gain one more spot in the final three laps to end up finishing 11 places higher than he started.

With two laps remaining, McElrea’s lead over the Jay Howard Driver Development rookie was under one second and was 0.7 seconds when they got the white flag.

On lap 19, Sundaramoorthy and Round-Garrido made contact in Turn 5, dropping them down to 14th and 13th respectively.

In the chaos, Eves was able to get past his teammate gold, moving from 10th at the start of the white flag lap to take the checkered flag in seventh. Bookmark, those three spots, we’ll come back to them when the championship comes to a close at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in September.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Race #2 Unofficial Results

The lowest rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back in action at the Portland International Raceway on Labor Day weekend.

By Steve Wittich

For much of the 20-minute USF2000 qualifying session, it appeared that Pabst Racing might lock out the front row, but the Oconomowoc, Wisc. team had to settle for putting four drivers in the top five.

For the second race of the season, it will be Mazda backed Road To Indy 200K Scholarship that starts on the pole for a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race. It’s only the second time that Pabst Racing will start on pole at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

It was Hunter McElrea who grabbed the pole for the first Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

It was Jay Howard Driver Development pilot Christian Rasmussen, that broke up the Pabst Racing party, and will start on the outside of the front row for the second straight race.

The second row will consist of Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Bruna Tomaselli, who both had their best career qualifying sessions. The fourth member of the Pabst Racing squad, Colin Kaminsky, will start on the inside of the third row beside BN Racing rookie Matthew Round-Garrido.

Cape Motorsports drivers had won 13 of last 17 USF2000 poles at the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course, but struggled today. The best any of the four drivers could do was eighth, by newcomer Jak Crawford. His teammate points leader Braden Eves will start ninth.

The ambient temperature when the first of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship qualifying session began at 1:55 pm was 80F. The track temperature was 118F and the humidity a reasonably comfortable 50%.

Rasmussen grabbed the early provisional pole, throwing down a lap at 83.076 seconds early. That lap held until Manuel Sulaiman briefly held the top spot.

With 12 minutes remaining in the session, Keane was on pit road for adjustments.

McElrea was the quickest driver at the 10-minute mark of the 20-minute session, turning a lap at 82.1933 seconds. The remainder of the top 10 were Colin Kaminsky, Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Christian Rasmussen, Jak Crawford, Manuel Sulaiman, Jack William Miller, Bruna Tomaselli, Braden Eves, and Nolan Siegel.

With seven minutes remaining, it was Pabst Racing racing holding down the top four spots. Tomaselli was on top, followed by McElrea, Kaminsky, and Sundaramoorthy.

Two laps later, it was the Soul Red No. 22 piloted by McElrea, went back to the top of the timing screens. He was able to go quicker yet on his next lap.

The top five with two-minutes remaining were: McElrea, Rasmussen, Sundaramoorthy, Tomaselli, and Kaminsky. The Cooper Tires were clearly outside of their optimal grip level, as none of the 17 drivers were able to improve on their final lap.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Qualifying #1 Unofficial Results

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship is back on track for their second qualifying session on Saturday morning at 8:35 am.

By Steve Wittich

The lowest rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires had three test sessions (120 minutes), but no timing or scoring was available. Editorial note from Steve – I actually like that. It allows the teams to work on a designed testing plan with no pressure to turn in that ultimate quick lap.

The temperature when the 30-minute session began was in the upper 60’s but quickly surpassed 70F. There was a light haze, but that burned off quickly.

At the half-way point of the session, winner of the Mazda Road To Indy 200K Scholarship winner McElrea had the quickest lap at 82.028 seconds. The rest of the top ten were Christian Rasmussen, Yuven Sundaramoorthy, Darren Keane, Matthew Round-Garrido, Braden Eves, Jak Crawford, Reece Gold, Bruna Tomaselli, and Colin Kaminsky.

Times continued to drop throughout the half-hour session with McElrea going under 82 seconds, on his first lap in the second half of the session.

With five minutes remaining, McElrea and Rasmussen were the only drivers with laps in the 81-second range and were over seven-tenths ahead of Kaminsky, who had the third-best time.

At that point in the session spots, three through 13 were separated by only a half-second.

In the last few minutes of the session, five more drivers were able to get within six-tenths of McElrea.

The 17 drivers that took to the 2.258-Mile, 13-Turn Mid-Ohio Road Course turned a total of 322 laps in a session that went clean and green. Rasmussen, Kaminsky and Christian Bogle all turned 21-laps, the most of the session.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio Practice #1 Results

The first rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is back on track at 1:55 pm for a 20-minute qualifying session.