Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jack Jeffers became the USF2000 champion at Portland after two days battling with title rival Thomas Schrage.

Velocity Racing Development’s Schrage beat Exclusive Autosport’s Jeffers to race one pole by 0.0123 seconds, and they almost came to blows after a few seconds as Jeffers took the outside line into turn one then found no room to stay on track at the corner due to Schrage already preparing his car for the direction change of turn two.

Schrage cut the corner entirely, but it was inconsequential as chaos behind led to red flags. Jay Howard Driver Development’s Timothy Carel drove over the back of Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros then rotated upside upside down as he continued to fly through the air towards turn one.

The next driver he wiped out was Exclusive’s Lucas Fecury, whose team-mate Evan Cooley was sliding sideways into turn one ahead. Cooley had already crashed into the pit wall and Fecury before crossing the line at the rolling start, but avoided being struck by Carel as he rolled several more times in the air.

The race was restarted behind the pace car using the original grid, with one lap officially already in the books. Green flags waved on lap three and Jeffers again took the outside line at turn one.

That was the closest he got to Schrage for a while, as he built a 0.98s lead. Jeffers began closing back in on lap 12 of 25, and Schrage responded to go a second clear but began lap 18 defending against his rival. They were super close starting lap 21 too, but the pressure was absorbed by Schrage to take victory and keep the title fight going.

VRD’s Teddy Musella was third with a damaged nose, only briefly facing mid-race pressure from Pabst’s Caleb Gafrarar who had to fight past DEForce Racing’s Sebastian Garzon twice.

Synergy Motorsport’s Eddie Beswick finished sixth, and VRD’s Ryan Giannetta came home 11th after wing damage slowed him down.

Jeffers’ second-best qualifying lap put him on race two pole by 0.1096s over Musella, with Cooley 0.219s behind in third. It also meant he had one hand on the title as Schrage’s race one fastest lap left him fourth on the grid, ahead of Garzon and Gafrarar.

Musella missed the opening corners on lap one, gifting Cooley second, and Gafrarar dropped down the order too.

Jeffers had to defend into turn one on lap two, then Cooley went off at turn 10 and fell behind Garzon, DEForce team-mate Jeshua Alianell, Schrage and Musella.

It took seven laps for Jeffers to build a one-second lead, during which time Alianell lost two places on successive laps. On lap nine he and JHDD’s Brad Majman spun after contact at turn one, promoting JHDD’s Anthony Martella and Argyros to fiftyh and sixth.

Jeffers was now stretching his legs, and after Schrage went down Garzon’s inside at turn six on lap 11 he was already trailing by three seconds. He could match the leader’s pace but not cut the gap, and Jeffers became champion with victory.

Garzon locked up into turn one on the penultimate lap and lost his front wing as he cut the chicane, which handed third to Musella. Martella won his back-and-forth-battle with Argyros for fifth.

Results round-up
Race 1 (25 laps)
1 Thomas Schrage Velocity Racing Development 30m21.2982s
2 Jack Jeffers Exclusive Autosport +0.5106s
3 Teddy Musella Velocity Racing Development +9.8097s
4 Caleb Gafrarar Pabst Racing +12.1567s
5 Sebastian Garzon DEForce Racing +13.7121s
6 Eddie Beswick Synergy Motorsport +15.4268s
7 Christian Cameron Velocity Racing Development +15.9073s
8 Anthony Martella JHDD +16.9716s
9 Brad Majman JHDD +22.7784s
10 Evan Cooley Exclusive Autosport +23.3269s
Fastest lap: Schrage, 1m11.1947s

Race 2 (25 laps)
1 Jeffers 29m56.5899s
2 Schrage +3.6759s
3 Musella +12.5734s
4 Garzon +17.7509s
5 Martella +21.7508s
6 G3 Argyros Pabst Racing +22.5606s
7 Beswick +24.3583s
8 Ryan Giannetta Velocity Racing Development +24.9590s
9 Cameron +26.1907s
10 Gafrarar +29.5174s
Pole: Jeffers, 1m10.9742s
FL: Schrage, 1m11.4752s

Championship standings
1 Jeffers 411   2 Schrage 360   3 Musella 341   4 Argyros 281   5 Gafrarar 273   6 Cooley 215   7 Martella 206   8 Garzon 195   9 Lucas Fecury 190   10 Beswick 183

The post Jeffers takes USF2000 title at Portland in straight fight with Schrage appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

The final USF2000 qualifying session of 2025 at Portland was decided in Thomas Schrage’s favour by 0.0123 seconds over title rival Jack Jeffers.

The first storyline of the event was the arrival of Enve Motorsports, a team based at The Thermal Club circuit and owned by the bicycle manufacturer Enve which is best known for its racing wheels. Driving its car was Spencer Hancock.

His first miles came in Thursday’s two pre-event test sessions, and it was Exclusive Autosport’s Jeffers who set the pace. A 1m10.9731s lap put him 0.2375s ahead of second place in session two, while 0.0906s split second and seventh and less than a second covered the top 15.

DEForce Racing’s Jeshua Alianell was Jeffers’ closest rival, with Exclusive’s Evan Cooley 0.0127s behind him in third and team-mate Lucas Fecury a further 0.0089s back in fourth. Velocity Racing Development driver Schrage was just one ten thousandth of a second slower than Fecury in fifth.

A half-hour practice session followed on Friday morning, and Jeffers set a 1m11.0061s to go quickest by a tiny 0.0227s over VRD’s Teddy Musella.

Ryan Giannetta (VRD) was 0.2119s behind Jeffers in third, and had a 0.02s gap to Sebastian Garzon (DEForce Racing) in fourth. Caleb Gafrarar (Pabst Racing) and Cooley were also within 0.3s of the pace, and Schrage trailed by 0.4s in 10th.

Qualifying was also half an hour and took place in the afternoon. Forced to stay in the pits for the first five minutes were DEForce’s Jeshua Alianell and returning Vaughn Mishko due to passing the chequered flag twice in practice.

Pabst’s title outsider G3 Argyros peaked early on by setting a 1m11.4446s, but that would leave him down in ninth place by the end.

Schrage made his way to the top with a 1m10.949s, set on his sixth lap of 14, and that ended up not only being a lap that he could not beat but also a time that nobody else could.

Jeffers got closest on his penultimate lap, with Musella also within a tenth of a second of pole on his penultimate lap as he came 0.0922s shy of Schrage’s benchmark.

Fecury qualified fourth for race one of three, posting a 1m11.1741s to pip Cooley by 0.0061s and Garzon by 0.0524s. Cooley’s personal best came earlier in his second run, while Garzon improved on his final lap.

Less than 0.8s seperated first and 15th place, with Mishiko and Hancock the only drivers who were not in contention to qualify in the top 10.

Qualifying results

The post Schrage denies title rival Jeffers by 0.0123s in final USF2000 qualifying appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Thomas Schrage took his second USF2000 victory of the season to increase his points lead after a last lap dash to the flag at Road America.

Two safety car periods disrupted running for the first race of the weekend, with the last leaving just one lap before the chequered flag. It was Caleb Gafrarar leading on the restart, but a coming together with Lucas Fecury knocked him out of the race and allowed Schrage to come through to take the victory.

Gafrarar wasn’t the only one-time race leader to run into problems. Polesitter Jack Jeffers held the lead off the line ahead of Teddy Musella and Evan Cooley. As Cooley battled to hold onto his position, Jeffers had Musella to contend with in the battle for the lead. Musella managed to find a way through, but Jeffers fought back. He was side-by-side with his fellow rookie when he went over a bump heading into turn one. The car went airborne and he made contact with the wall after landing. 

The incident brought out the safety car. By this point, Schrage had managed to get up to third, behind Musella and Gafrarar. However, the order wouldn’t stay that way for long, with both drivers passing Musella on the restart. Schrage briefly took the race lead before Gafrarar came back ahead. 

The Pabst Racing driver was still ahead when the safety car was brought out for a second time. Further down the order, Brenden Cooley and Sebastian Garzon had a coming together at Turn 14. Garzon was able to get his car going again and returned to the pits but Cooley’s Exclusive Autosport run machine was left stranded in the gravel. 

By the time the race resumed, there was just one lap remaining. It was shortly after the restart that Gafrarar and Fecury came together and Schrage was able to sweep through to the lead. He pulled away from VRD Racing team-mate Musella to finish 1.7416s ahead. 

Musella came under pressure on the final lap but managed of told of G3 Argyros and Christian Cameron. Fecury continued to finish fifth.

A number of drivers fell off the track on the final lap, including one who ran wide at turn 13 and almost made contact as he returned to the track in front of a battling pack. Another driver ran into the gravel at the final corner, but there were no collisions.

Timothy Carel came through from 13th on the grid to finish eighth ahead of Eddie Beswick and Wian Boshoff.

Race results (12 laps)

The post Schrage wins to increase USF2000 lead after rivals’ last lap incident appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Thomas Schrage became the second first-time USF2000 winner of the weekend in race two on the Indianapolis road course.

Schrage took the win from VRD Racing team-mate Teddy Musella, while third place Jack Jeffers moved into the championship lead.

A strong race for Lucas Fecury brought him from the tail end of the grid up to sixth before a problem on the last lap dropped him back to the back of the field.

After starting third on the grid, Schrage found a way past Jeffers on the opening lap, bringing Simon Sikes with him and demoting Jeffers to fourth. He immediately put the pressure on Musella ahead and passed for the race lead on the second lap. Before Musella could fight back, the yellow flags were waved for an off for Timothy Carel at turn seven.

Racing resumed on lap four and it was Jeffers who was on the attack. He went side by side with Musella, giving Schrage some breathing room. Musella held off Jeffers, and the Exclusive Autosport driver fell into a fight with Caleb Gafrarar, Evan Cooley and Sikes. They ran four-wide on approach to turn one and were squeezed together. Gafrarar and Cooley, trapped on the inside, made contact and locked together, heading into the run off and bringing out the pace car again.

Drama immediately resumed on the restart when Cooley lost control of his car at the first corner, spinning and collecting Christian Cameron. Both cars were able to continue, but Cooley was missing his rear wing.

The second pace car had put Jeffers back on Musella’s tail, but neither driver at the front of the order put a wheel wrong. Schrage finished 0.9501s clear of Musella, who was in turn 0.4771s clear of Jeffers. G3 Argyros came through to take fourth ahead of Sikes

Sikes spent the closing stages of the race trying to defend against Brad Majman and Fecury.

Fecury had started on the penultimate row of the grid and slowly worked his way up through the order. By the final restart he was seventh, directly behind Majman. They went three wide with Sikes at the restart, with Fecury coming through to take sixth. But after turn seven on the final lap Fecury suddenly slowed and plummeted down the order. He came home 14th, the final driver on the lead lap.

The problem promoted Majman back to sixth ahead of Ayrton Houk. Eddie Beswick, Patrico Gonzalez, and Wian Boshoff completed the top 10.

Race results (15 laps)

The post Schrage wins IMS race two as Jeffers seizes USF2000 lead appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

IndyCar’s lower level support series are looking competitive again this year, and there are established and new names to keep an eye on. Here’s 10 drivers in USFP2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors who should shine

USF Pro 2000

Four drivers from last year’s grid have headed up to Indy Nxt for 2025, and a week before the season began it looked like the highest placed returnee would be Jorge Garciarce. He came 10th in the 2024 standings with one top-five finish.

That all changed last Saturday as Jace Denmark got a late deal done with TJ Speed. The 20-year-old joins the Australian team after four years at Pabst Racing, and following a failed attempt to step up to Indy Nxt for this year.

Denmark came 11th and third in his two USF2000 campaigns with Pabst, winning four races and claiming six poles, then was seventh and third in his two USF Pro 2000 seasons with them. Three podiums and a pole were the highlights of his rookie year, then last season he was on the podium nine times but failed to win.

While outpaced by the championship’s top two, he was also clear of the rest of the field so should be a title contender with a team that is becoming ever more competitive. On off-weekends he will also shadow an Indy Nxt team to boost his learning.

Garciarce’s place in last year’s top 10 came at the expense of DEForce Racing team-mate Mac Clark, who missed a round. While it was an underwhelming 2024 for the Canadian, he can be considered a 2025 title favourite with Exclusive Autosport.

Clark was a dominant Formula 1600 champion back in 2020, was United States Formula 4 runner-up in 2021 and had momentum behind him until last year. The 20-year-old also had a knack of starting very strongly prior to 2024 as he won or claimed a pole position on his debut weekends in USF Juniors, USF2000, Formula Regional Americas and USFP2000.

Mac Clark

His victorious first FRegional outing in 2022 didn’t turn into a title attack, but it did in USF Juniors as he stormed to the title with DEForce. At the end of the season the team handed him a chance to race in USF2000, and he won on his second start.

That also proved representative, as when he stepped up to the series full-time in 2023 he took two wins, four other podiums and two poles. But after a disastrous opening weekend left him 17th in the points, he could only climb to fifth in the standings, less than a win’s worth of points away from the championship runner-up spot.

Again, DEForce provided the opportunity for an experience-building cameo, and Clark made his USFP2000 debut at Circuit of the Americas. He claimed pole at his first attempt, and set the fastest lap in both races which he came second and third in.

Expectations of what was possible for 2024 were not met. There were five top-five finishes, but no podiums, and being one of the stronger qualifiers was countered by his finishing record including a weekend at IMS that featured three retirements. The paddock knows what Clark’s capable of, and will be expecting him to show that level of competitivity in 2025.

Max Garcia [pictured below] has had a considerably shorter single-seater career since he is only 15, but it’s been productive. Pabst Racing signed him when he was 13 to race in USF2000, but he could not make his debut until round two of the 2023 season when he finally met age requirements. He picked up two podiums and came ninth in the standings, just behind Garciarce, and remained in the series and with Pabst for 2024.

The outcome of that decision was going unbeaten in the first three races, taking another two wins later in the year and seven poles to romp to the title by 73 points despite only converting two of his poles into wins and being off the podium in eight out of 18 races. As he steps up to USFP2000 with Pabst, there are clear areas where Garcia needs to improve on track.

The most intruiging prospect to watch this year will be Max Taylor, another driver whose career has been closely aligned to one team. The 17-year-old has raced for Velocity Racing Development in USF Juniors, US F4 and USF2000, and its partner team Arden in GB3, and his recent success has led to an ambitious programme that means he takes two steps up this year.

Max Taylor

As a single-seater rookie two years ago, Taylor came sixth in USF Juniors and 18th in USF2000 in a half-season. He doubled up again in 2024, and became USF Juniors champion with three wins and was third in USF2000 with four victories. The increased downforce of the latter’s car suited him more, and that could make him even more competitive in USFP2000.

He remains with VRD for that move, but is also going to be racing further up the ladder in Indy Nxt with HMD Motorsports. Taylor has signed to contest five rounds, and you can read more about his career plans on Formula Scout very soon.

USF2000

Nobody who came in the top 10 of last year’s championship is confirmed to return this year, and the highest-placed returnees are two part-timers. It is the second of those, Thomas Schrage, who looks more likely to shine this year.

The 20-year-old has plenty of experience but not in winged cars. He first came under the spotlight in 2022 when he won the F1600 Championship Series at home then also starred in the UK as a Team USA scholar. He took pole on debut in Castle Combe FF1600, was fourth in the Formula Ford Festival and 17th in the even more competitive Walter Hayes Trophy.

Schrage has just over a season’s worth of USF2000 experience, with two outings in 2023 that peaked with a fourth place and an incomplete 2024 campaign split between Exclusive Autosport and VRD. Once he joined the latter his form improved, taking three poles, two podiums and two fastest laps to complete a rise from 19th to 12th in the standings. Taking just the three rounds he did with VRD, which he continues with for 2025, Schrage was the seventh-highest scoring driver.

G3 Argyros got stronger over the course of his first year in cars, starting 2024 in the YACademy Winter Series with one podium, picking up three in USF Juniors and then ending his year with a USF2000 victory. The 15-year-old learned with the support of JHDD, but a statement of his title ambitions this year is his switch to serial title winners Pabst.

Liam McNeilly

Competing for the best USF2000 cameos of 2024, and possibly for wins all season in 2025 are Evan Cooley and Liam McNeilly. Cooley, 18, drove for Exclusive at IMS and was rapid, starting on pole for both races and setting the fastest lap in them too. But he met the chequered flag in third and 15th. He appeared again in Toronto and took a fourth place finish.

McNeilly was also on track that weekend with JHDD, and in race two he started on pole and finished second. The pair continue with their 2024 teams for this season after also battling each other in USF Juniors last year.

A triple win in the final round left McNeilly just five points short of the title, an impressive feat for a 18-year-old Briton who was a newcomer to the US racing scene. The first of his five poles came on debut, and he also claimed two podiums when he returned to GB4 for a cameo outing. He had come third in the F4 series in 2023.

Cooley arrived in USF Juniors after previously racing Radical sportscars, and he came 13th in the points with three top-five finishes. Had he not missed a round, he would certainly have been in the championship’s top 10, and he has come third and second in the past two seasons of the YACademy Winter Series for USF Juniors cars.

USF Juniors

Pipping Cooley to the 2025 YACademy title by one point a week ago was 15-year-old Brazilian Leonardo Escorpioni. He had an up-and-down karting career before switching to cars at the start of 2024 via YACademy, where he claimed a win and one other podium from the two-round series en route to fourth in the points.

The Zanella Racing driver found it tougher in USF Juniors but was competitive, making the podium once and having a strong weekend at Road America. He came ninth in the standings, and got two podiums in a Ligier JS F4 Series cameo at COTA.

To win the six-race 2025 YACademy season, he took one race victory, a second place and twice finished third.

Photo: YACademy Winter Series

Just ahead of him in USF Juniors last year was countryman Joao Vergara, who was driving for Exclusive and has switched to VRD for 2025. The 17-year-old was runner-up in Lucas Oil School of Racing’s Formula Car Race Series in 2023, and was fifth in the 2024 YACademy season.

Consistency was the name of the game for him in USF Juniors. He finished every race, was in the top 10 for more than half of them and was very close to taking seventh in the standings, yet only twice finished higher than seventh and had an average race position of 10.88. He proved he has pace, and is working well with VRD, in the 2025 YACademy season as he put his car on pole in round one and came fourth in the standings with a win and two second places, four points shy of Escorpioni.

The post Who to look out for in the USF Pro championships in 2025 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jay Howard Driver Development’s Liam McNeilly topped the times in USF2000 post-season testing on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

Over the course of two days and six sessions, McNeilly set 106 laps and a fastest lap of 1m26.1548s to lead Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros by 0.2143 seconds.

McNeilly, the 2024 USF Juniors runner-up, started off the test action last Saturday by setting the fastest lap in session one. His best time was a 1m26.3269s, and he led Exclusive Autosport’s Anthony Martella by 0.2281s.

In a slower session two it was Argyros who led the way, a 1m26.7431s earning him to spot by just 0.0376s over Martella and 0.0857s over McNeilly. There was 0.0344s between Mayer Deonarine (Velocity Racing Development) in fourth and Brady Golan (DEForce Racing) in sixth, and he was only 0.1781s off the top.

McNeilly returned to the top in session three and lowered the pace to 1m26.4904s. Christian Cameron (VRD) was second fastest and Caleb Gafrarar (Pabst) was third, both less than 0.16s slower than the pace-setter.

Sunday began with McNeilly setting another new benchmark, as many drivers set personal best laptimes. Behind he and Argyros were Cameron and Deonarine, and the top 11 were covered by 0.943s.

McNeilly was the only driver to lap sub-1m27s in session five, but it was very close at the top as 0.0948s split the top four. Cameron, Argyros and Deonarine occupied the positions immediately below McNeilly on the timesheet.

The test concluded with Deonarine beating McNeilly to first place by 0.0493s, with the pair both breaking the 1m27s barrier and Deonarine setting a 1m26.9410s.

Absent from the test was Thomas Schrage, who the day before it began was named by VRD as one of its drivers for 2025. The 19-year-old won the F1600 Championship Series and the Team USA Scholarship in 2022, and then came fourth in the Formula Ford Festival, and for the last two years he has been racing in USF2000.

His 2023 only included two outings with Exclusive, but he did take a fourth place finish, and this year he made a mid-season switch from the team to VRD and ended his incomplete campaign with three poles, two podiums and 12th in the standings.

USF Juniors was testing at IMS on the same days as USF2000, and VRD’s Joao Vergara set the pace on Saturday. He led Exclusive’s Brenden Colley by 0.2716s in session one, set the fastest lap of the test in session two as he went 0.8387s faster than team-mate Ryan Giannetta, and in session three he was just 0.152s up on International Motorsport’s Augusto Soto-Schirripa.

Alex Popow replaced Soto-Schirripa for Sunday, and topped the times in sessions four and five to go second fastest overall. His 1m29.7985s in the latter session was 0.168s slower than Vergara’s benchmark, and in session six Vergara beat him to first place by 0.1038s.

Test results

The post McNeilly and Vergara quickest in USF2000 and USF Juniors test at IMS appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Team Canada Scholarship

Callum Baxter and Antonio Costantino have won the Team Canada Scholarship for 2024, earning themselves seats at this weekend’s Formula Ford Festival.

The pair will represent their nation while driving for Scottish team Graham Brunton Racing at Brands Hatch.

A panel of five judges chose the two scholars, with Team Canada founder Brian Graham and former IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe among that quintet.

Baxter, 18, has already raced in Britain and with GBR this year as he was part of its line-up in the GB4 series for Formula 4 cars. He came seventh in the standings with two podiums from reversed-grid races.

Last year he was one of the losing finalists under consideration for the scholarship, and on home soil was runner-up in Ontario’s Toyo Tires F1600 series with five wins. He came fifth in the 2022 standings.

Costantino came second in Toyo Tires F1600 this year, after being fourth in 2023, and the 17-year-old had only one non-podium finish.

He also raced FFord cars in the USA, coming 18th in the SCCA Super Tour after contesting two rounds, won the Northeast Conference, came 10th in the Southeast Conference. His podium finishes helped him qualify for the SCCA National Runoffs at Road America last weekend, which he finished fourth in.

The Team USA Scholarship supported Ayrton Houk and Thomas Schrage’s entries into the USF2000 season finale at Portland this August, with the latter taking two poles and a podium. The pair came 11th and 12th in the standings respectively, and had been Team USA scholars in 2023 and 2022 respectively.

The backing they received that weekend reflected a change in strategy for the scholarship, which had been sending drivers to the FFord Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy events in England every year since 2008 and for the Festival only from 1990 to ’94 prior to that.

“This represents a switch in emphasis for our program, which has proudly been supporting deserving young American drivers since 1990,” said Team USA founder Jeremy Shaw at the time. “Traditionally, we have provided an opportunity for some drivers to compete overseas, often for the first time.”

He added: “Even though I remain firm in my belief that FFord continues to provide a magnificent first step for young drivers, the reality is that the most efficacious way forward for drivers who are seeking a future in IndyCar is via the USF Pro championships ladder, and after consultation with all our partners and constituents, I am delighted to be able to ensure that Ayrton and Thomas will be able to finish their seasons and build toward full championship challenges in 2025.”

The post Team Canada chooses Baxter and Costantino as scholars for 2024 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Evagoras Papasavvas and Max Taylor won USF2000’s second and third races at Mid-Ohio.

The second-best laptimes from qualifying set race two’s grid, with Papasavvas on pole ahead of Michael Costello, Quinn Armstrong and Thomas Schrage who had returned to the grid for a cameo with Velocity Racing Development after missing the previous two rounds and contesting the first three of the season with Exclusive Autosport.

Schrage jumped up to third at the start, and held the position until lap six when his engine cover detached itself on one side and started to be blown around slightly. He pitted on lap seven, and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development’s Elliot Cox inherited third place.

The top three held their positions thereon, with Papasavvas winning the 20-lap encounter by 1.9659 seconds over Jay Howard Driver Development team-mate Costello.

There was a brief caution period, and after that VRD’s Max Taylor got into fourth by passing DEForce Racing’s Nicolas Giaffone. Before the race was interrupted he had overtaken Exclusive’s Joey Brienza.

Pabst Racing’s Max Garcia finished fifth, ahead of Brienza, Giaffone and Pabst’s Sam Corry. DEForce driver Armstrong finished 12th after penultimate lap contact, while Schrage retired due to his fire extinguisher going off.

By setting the fastest lap though, Schrage did earn pole for race three the next day.

However it was Taylor who went on to stand on the podium’s top step, coming from sixth on the grid for his fourth win of 2024.

Schrage led Papasavvas off the line before a caution period neutralised their battle. Costello had been running alongside Cox when the two made contact, sending Costello spinning out of the race. Cox pitted, then got a drive-through penalty.

The top two were immediately side-by-side with each other when racing resumed, then Taylor made it a three-wide fight. Papasavvas was sent wide and returned to track with a puncture, and Schrage managed to stay ahead.

Taylor continued to push and eventually found a way past before another caution period brought about by an incident leaving JHDD’s Jace Bacon stationary at turn four.

Garcia, then running third, attacked Schrage on the next restart, allowing Taylor to pull away. He had a comfortable gap when a third caution period began, putting Schrage back on his tail. This time he was able to stay with Taylor, but could not find a way past. Taylor set his fastest lap on the final lap to finish 0.4468s ahead.

The third caution period occurred due to Carson Etter, battling towards the back of the pack, being sent into a spin and stalling.

Between the interruptions, Corry managed to climb up to third. After the second caution period, Garcia had kept Schrage under pressure and got alongside him at one point. But the battle allowed Corry and Brienza to close in.

Schrage managed to shake Garcia, who then fell into a three-car battle for third. Corry managed to find a way through before the final caution period, and Garcia held off Brienza, Giaffone and Pabst’s Hudson Schwartz.

Results round-up
Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Evagoras Papasavvas JHDD 29m59.2965s
2 Michael Costello JHDD +1.9659s
3 Elliot Cox SFHRD +2.4212s
4 Max Taylor Velocity Racing Development +3.3108s
5 Max Garcia Pabst Racing +3.8825s
6 Joey Brienza Exclusive Autosport +5.9860s
7 Nicolas Giaffone DEForce Racing +6.5659s
8 Sam Corry Pabst Racing +7.2577s
9 Ayrton Houk DC Autosport +8.8265s
10 Hudson Schwartz Pabst Racing +9.0568s
Pole: Papasavvas, 1m23.8281s
Fastest lap: Schrage, 1m22.8183s

Race 3 (20 laps)
1 Taylor 36m54.7407s
2 Thomas Schrage VRD +0.4468s
3 Corry +1.4749s
4 Garcia +1.9525s
5 Brienza +2.1956s
6 Giaffone +2.5413s
7 Schwartz +2.6523s
8 Houk +3.4362s
9 Quinn Armstrong DEForce Racing +3.8481s
10 Lucas Fecury DEForce Racing
FL: Carson Etter, 1m23.7828s

Championship standings
1 Garcia 304   2 Taylor 262   3 Corry 259   4 Papasavvas 248   5 Brienza 204   6 Cox 189   7 Giaffone 164   8 Schwartz 164   9 Costello 146   10 Houk 144

The post Papasavvas and Taylor win, Garcia maintains USF2000 lead, at Mid-Ohio appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

The Spring Training pre-season test for three of IndyCar’s support series took place at NOLA Motorsports Park’s North layout this week.

Each series had two sessions on Monday and three on Tuesday, and teams announced driver signings throughout the test.

In USF Pro 2000, the returning BN Racing team has signed Nicolas Baptiste. The 18-year-old Colombian raced in Formula Regional Europe in 2022 and spent last year on the sidelines. TJ Speed meanwhile has brought in Hunter Yeany. The 2020 United States Formula 4 champion raced in USFP2000 part-time in 2021 before moving over to the FIA Formula 3 Championship where he had 27 points-free races over three years.

DEForce Racing’s line-up is completed by Jorge Garciarce, who came eighth in USF2000 last year with the team.

Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Johnson topped USFP2000’s first test session, a 1m31.5731s lap putting him 0.1395 seconds ahead of team-mate Nico Christodoulou in second place. BN Racing’s Ricardo Escotto (who has indicated he will be racing in round one but is yet to confirm who for) was 0.1526s behind in third, with the top 14 covered by 0.847s.

Turn 3 Motorsport’s Lochie Hughes lowered the pace to 1m31.1571s in session two. He had a gap of 0.1049s to Christodoulou and 0.6828s to Escotto. The gap between third and 14th was just 0.3126s.

Hughe was on top again at the start of day two but slower, setting a 1m31.7782 to lead Christodoulou by a tiny 0.0042s. Baptiste was next best, 0.4761s off Hughes, with Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark 0.622s back in fourth. Nicholas Monteiro, Michael Boyiadzis and Logan Adams were the only drivers to improve.

It was close at the top in session four. TJ Speed’s David Morales set a 1m31.6206s to go fastest by just 0.0354s over Johnson. Both set personal best laptimes, along with Monteiro, Braden Eves and Adams.

In the final session Baptiste set an impressive 1m31.320s, but it was beaten by Pabst’s Simon Sikes and Yeany who respectively on their last laps set a 1m30.377s and 1m24.694s. When the offical session results appeared 39 minutes after the chequered flag Baptiste was back on top by 0.0691s ahead of Hughes. Adam Fitzgerald was 0.136s off the top in third, and with their fastest laps deleted Yeany and Sikes were 11th and 15th.

Four drivers were absent, and 12 of the 19 who took part improved. Baptiste rose to third place overall.

In USF2000, DEForce has retained Maxwell Jamieson for a second season after he came 16th last year and Exclusive Autosport has signed Thomas Schrage who won the F16000 Championship Series and came fourth in the Formula Ford Festival in 2022 then did two USF2000 rounds in 2023 and took a best finish of fourth.

Jay Howard Driver Development’s Evagoras Papasavvas started Spring Training on top, setting a 1m36.4532s in session one to lead Pabst’s Max Garcia by 0.2651s. DEForce’s Nicolas Giaffone was 0.4222s behind in third, and just ahead of VRD’s Max Taylor and Elliot Cox, whose 2024 USF2000 programme is yet to be confirmed by the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing team he drives for.

Everyone but Papasavvas improved in session two, while Cox was absent, and Garcia lowered the pace to 1m35.6631s. He was fastest by 0.4397s over Taylor, with Exclusive’s Joey Brienza just 0.0027s slower in third. A second covered the top eight.

DC Autosport’s Ayrton Houk was the only non-improver in session three as Garcia went fastest again with a 1m35.2634s. Taylor cut the gap to 0.2634s, and Papasavvas was 0.4649s back in third.

Brienza improved to 1m35.6724s to top session four by over half a second, then Giaffone set a 1m35.7137s to pip JHDD’s Michael Costello to top spot by 0.0119s and Brienza by 0.0222s in session five. Six of the 13 drivers in that session improved their pace,

The latest additions to USF Juniors’ grid are Ariel Elkin at International Motorsport, junior karting graduate Diego Guiot at Zanella Racing and Leandro Juncos – the 18-year-old son of Juncos Racing team boss Ricardo Juncos – and Brady Golan at DEForce. Golan came 10th in USF Juniors last year with the team.

Elkin was a two-time junior karting champion in Israel then was a medallist for the country in the FIA Motorsport Games. In 2022 he also won the IAME Italy Series, came third in the SuperKarts USA SuperNationals and fifth in the IAME Euro Series for X30 Senior karts. Last year he came 17th in Italian F4 and a US F4 cameo resulted in a podium and 14th in the standings.

Andretti junior Sebastian Wheldon topped USF Juniors’ first test session by 0.2994s over DEForce’s Bruno Ribeiro, with only six drivers within a second of him.

JHDD’s Liam McNeilly was third fastest but was the driver to beat in the next three sessions, lowering the pace to 1m39.3432s in session two, topping session three with a 1m39.7766s then improving again to top session four with a 1m39.0214s.

All 28 drivers improved in session two, with a second covering the top six and with Wheldon in second place. JHDD’s Timothy Carel got within 0.1514s of McNeilly in session three, with 0.0078s covering third to fifth. Wheldon was third fastest byt 0.4706s slower than McNeily. Carel was one of nine drivers who improved.

Exclusive’s Jack Jeffers was a distant second in session four, 0.4626s off McNeilly’s pace, but this time 0.964s covered the top 10. Wheldon, in fifth place, and Juncos were among the seven drivers who failed to improve.

A 1m39.5994s put Jeffers on top of session five by 0.0037s over Wheldon, with Jackson Tovo the sole improver and McNeilly absent.

Test results

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Photo: Ida Wood

Thomas Schrage, winner of last year’s F1600 Championship Series, will make his debut in USF2000 at Mid-Ohio this weekend with Exclusive Autosport.

The 18-year-old became champion of the entry-level series, which is the United States’ Honda-powered equivalent to Formula Ford 1600 in Europe, with nine wins in 2022 and it helped him earn the support of the Team USA Scholarship.

Off the back of that he got to race in the United Kingdom with Ammonite Motorsport, taking pole on debut in Castle Combe FF1600 then following that up with fourth place in the FFord Festival at Brands Hatch and 17th in the Walter Hayes Trophy.

He also spent last year midget racing to diversify his car racing experience, but has had a less busy time in the cockpit so far in 2023. Schrage announced last week he would be USF2000-bound, and so far is only confirmed for one round in the car that was raced earlier this season by YACademy Winter Series champion Jacob Douglas before he moved to Pabst Racing.

“I am beyond thrilled to join Exclusive Autosport for the Mid-Ohio event this weekend,” said Schrage. “I cannot wait to hit the track and show everyone what we’re capable of.”

Also set to make their USF2000 debuts are Logan Adams, Carson Etter and Brady Golan. Jay Howard Driver Development has moved Adams across from its line-up in US Formula 4 line-up, where he is currently 17th in the standings, and he will be the third driver this year to race its #9 car.

The other two are stepping up from USF Juniors, the rung below USF2000 on the Road to Indy.

Golan is currently ninth in the standings with DEForce Racing, and will make his USF2000 debut with that team, and Etter will also be enjoying continuity as he makes the step up with DC Autosport.

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