Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Pabst Racing’s Caleb Gafrarar claimed his maiden USF2000 victory in the opening race at Mid-Ohio.

Gafrarar was only 10th fastest in pre-event testing on Thursday, led by Jay Howard Driver Development’s Anthony Martella. He set a 1m21.5720s to pip Velocity Racing Development’s Thomas Schrage by 0.0776 seconds, with Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers 0.2818s behind in third.

Free practice followed on Friday morning, and Martella was quickest again. Late in the half-hour session he improved to a new personal best of 1m21.2013s, putting him 0.2058s ahead of Gafrarar. He denied Schrage second place by 0.00165s and his VRD team-mate Teddy Musella by 0.0271s.

Qualifying ran green throughout so the session lasted 20 minutes, and it came down to the final laps in the battle for pole. Less than a second covered the top 15, but this time there was a larger gap at the top as a 1m21.2201s earned Schrage race one pole by 0.1985s.

Jeffers was second after failing to improve on his final lap, and Gafrarar was 0.2665s off pole in third. VRD’s Christian Cameron was fourth, edging Musella and Exclusive’s Lucas Fecury.

Propping up the timesheet was DEForce Racing’s debutant Vaughn Mishko. The 16-year-old came 10th in the F2000 Championship Series points table last year, then switched to sportscars to race in the USA’s Mazda MX-5 Cup.

Race one began with a lap under yellow flag conditions, and at the end of lap two Benchmark Autosport’s Ayrton Houk and VRD’s Ryan Giannetta had big offs after contact but were able to continue.

Fecury climbed two spots, with Cameron dropping behind him and Musella and then also Martella and Pabst’s G3 Argyros on lap three.

A fight at the front began on lap four as Jeffers made a diving move at turn four. He left minimal room exiting the corner and Schrage went off, which cost him two spots. At the same time, Fecury was demoted back to fifth by Musella.

Giannetta went off and caused a caution period that ran from lap six to lap eight, and during that Jeffers let Gafrarar and Schrage past.

On the restart lap, Jeffers reclaimed second with another dive at turn four. He again compromised Schrage, who just about held off Musella through the next corners.

Although the gap to Gafrarar then reduced, the leader only let Jeffers get within 0.6s of him before pulling away to win by 2.0586s.

Points leader Schrage was a further 1.2582s behind, and Musella stayed in his tow for the rest of the race but never challenged for position.

Fecury faced a last-lap attack from Martella, who covered the inside line on the run to turn three in defence. That set Martella up for the outside line into turn four, where their side-by-side action went wrong and Martella. He only lost one spot, to Cameron, but came under pressure from Argyros at the end.

Race results (20 laps)

The post Caleb Gafrarar becomes a USF2000 race-winner at Mid-Ohio appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

USF2000 newcomers Caleb Gafrarar and Liam McNeilly scored a pole position each for the season-opening round on the streets of St. Petersburg.

On his debut in the series, Pabst Racing’s Gafrarar set the early pace during practice as rookies led the way. Jack Jeffers ended up fastest by 0.2239 seconds ahead of his Exclusive Autosport team-mate Evan Cooley, with Sebastian Garzon third for DeForce Racing. Thomas Schrage was the best returning driver in fourth in front of Gafrarar.

Any hopes Schrage had of a strong start to the season took a hit early in qualifying when he crashed in Turn 10 without a competitive time to his name.

Garzon, last year’s Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series champion, appeared on for a double pole position until Gafrarar went quickest with four minutes to go.

McNeilly would briefly go faster before Gafrarar – a graduate of the Skip Barber Formula Race Series and Britain’s United Formula Ford championship – went quicker still, posting a 1m12.1698s with around a minute to go.

Jay Howard Driver Development’s McNeilly, who stepped up from USF Juniors to USF2000 at the end of last year, fell just shy of improving his time at the chequered flag but did do enough to set the quickest second-best time to claim pole for race two ahead of Gafrarar.

Jeshua Alianell, who finished no higher than eighth in USF Juniors last year, grabbed third with his last lap of the session for DEForce Racing, ahead of Jeffers. Garzon ended up sixth behind Brad Majman, while G3 Argyros was the fastest repeating driver in ninth.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Caleb Gafrarar Pabst Racing 1m12.1698s
2 Liam McNeilly Jay Howard Driver Development +0.0566s
3 Jeshua Alianell DEForce Racing +0.0588s
4 Jack Jeffers Exclusive Autosport +0.0657s
5 Brad Majman Jay Howard Driver Development +0.1107s
6 Sebastian Garzon DEForce Racing +0.1191s
7 Teddy Musella VRD Racing +0.1981s
8 Evan Cooley Exclusive Autosport +0.2331s
9 G3 Argyros Pabst Racing +0.2615s
10 Brady Golan DEForce Racing +0.3713s

1 McNeilly`1m12.2319s
2 Garfrarar +0.0311s
3 Garzon +0.0911s
4 Jeffers +0.1200s
5 Alianell +0.1219s
6 Majman +0.2157s
7 Musella +0.2207s
8 Cooley +0.2592s
9 Argyros +0.3192s
10 Lucas Fecury Exclusive Autosport +0.4139s

The post Gafrarar and McNeilly share poles in St. Petersburg USF2000 qualifying appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Ayrton Houk will remain on the USF2000 grid for a second season by joining a new team set up by his father Kevin.

The one-car Benchmark Autosport team has been established in partnership with Don Conner, whose own DC Autosport team ran the younger Houk in USF2000 this year and has been a title-winning operation in Formula 4.

The 21-year-old Houk came 11th in the USF2000 standings with a best finish of fourth as a slicks-and-wings rookie.

He previously drove wingless single-seaters, being runner-up in the United States’ F1600 Championship Series in two successive seasons. His 2022 campaign featured five wins, and last year he claimed three wins and two poles. Houk then won the Team USA Scholarship to race in the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, both of which he finished 14th in.

Exclusive Autosport, Jay Howard Driver Development and Pabst Racing have also made USF2000 signings for 2025.

JHDD has announced the trio of Timothy Carel, Brad Majman and Anthony Martella. Carel, 18, is from France and came 11th in USF Juniors with the team this year.

Martella switches over from Exclusive, with whom the 16-year-old Canadian did three USF Juniors rounds (and took three 10th places) and one USF2000 round in 2024. He was also Sports Car Championship Canada runner-up in the TCR touring car class. Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management firm oversees Majman’s career, and the Australian relocated to the USA this year to race in the Ligier JS F4 Series where he came fifth with three wins.

Exclusive has signed 21-year-old Brazilian talent Lucas Fecury. He was 17th in USF Juniors and 18th in United States F4 in 2022, and last year was 15th in Formula Regional Oceania then signed with DEForce Racing to race in USF Juniors.

He took one podium and came ninth in the standings, and also did one USF2000 round with the team. That turned into a full season in 2024, but he was only able to come 14th in the points. His sophomore FRegional Oceania campaign also underwhelmed, as he was 17th there.

G3 Argyros and Caleb Gafrarar have been signed by Pabst. Argyros is already a USF2000 race-winner, having ended his part-time 2024 campaign with a victory at Portland that lifted him to 17th in the standings.

The 15-year-old single-seater rookie primarily raced at the step below on the Road to Indy, coming sixth in the YACademy Winter Series with one podium then seventh in USF Juniors with a haul of three trophies but no wins.

Gafrarar was a champion in America on X30 Junior karts in 2022, won two F4 races as he came fourth in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series last year then was 11th in Britain’s United FFord championship in 2024 with victory on debut at Lydden Hill.

“I hope to learn from the team, be consistent, finish every lap of every race and win the USF2000 Championship,” said the 16-year-old. “Everyone on the team is serious but we also have fun.”

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