Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jay Howard Driver Development’s Anthony Martella won the Freedom 75, USF2000’s sole oval race, at Lucas Oil Raceway on Friday night.

It was a dominant maiden victory for the Canadian, despite a late caution period reducing his gap at the front of the field.

His team-mate Timothy Carel had missed qualifying the previous day, but was able to join the back of the grid. However he stopped on the track as the race was due to get underway, and his rear wing came off as marshals pushed to get his car going again. This led to the first three laps being held under yellow flag conditions before the field was released.

Benchmark Autosport’s Ayrton Houk picked the high line from pole and instantly created a gap to the battling Martella and Thomas Schrage (Velocity Racing Development), but by lap six his lead was being reduced.

Martella feinted a move early in lap eight, then looked to both sides of Houk at the final corner. He tried the inside at turn one next time by, and Schrage joined in.

The top two started lap 13 side-by-side, and Martella moved ahead as they began turning. The race was won at that point, with Martella pulling away and Houk starting a decline down the order.

Schrage took second place on lap 17, and wad already three seconds off the lead. Houk was soon getting defensive against Pabst Racing’s G3 Argyros, but his choice of the outside at turn one meant he soon lost out to him too.

Argyros’s team-mate Caleb Gafrarar almost made contact with Houk on lap 23, getting very squirmy but maintaining enough momentum to go down Houk’s inside at the final corner on the next lap.

Houk eventually fell down to 12th, but the caution period gave him the opportunity to regain one spot.

Schrage took the points lead by finishing second, and JHDD’s Brad Majman completed the podium from 11th on the grid. He had only gained two places by lap 18, but then overtook VRD’s Teddy Musella as Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development’s Elliot Cox finally cleared Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley up ahead after many laps hounding him.

Majman only took one lap to demote Cooley another spot, and Cox showed he could move quickly with an excellent pass on the outside of Houk. It took two laps for Majman to pass him.

Their progress continued into the race’s second half, with Cox edging ahead of Gafrarar at the end of lap 37 and Majman clearing him two laps later. Now he could actually fight Cox, and took fourth from him on lap 41.

Majman made the podium on lap 50, and on lap 62 DEForce Racing’s Jeshua Alianell slowed and took to the infield section. Although he returned to racing speed, the pace car had already been summoned. The field was soon racing again, with a lapped car between the top two. The leading drivers held position except for USF2000 returnee Cox, who fell to seventh.

Race results (75 laps)

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jay Howard Driver Development’s Tanner DeFabis won the Freedom 75, the sole oval race of the USF2000 season, in controlled style on Saturday.

The race was supposed to take place on Friday evening, but heavy rain meant it was postponed to the next afternoon.

DeFabis qualified third behind DEForce Racing’s Nicolas Giaffone and DC Autosport’s Ayrton Houk, with DEForce’s Quinn Armstrong, Velocity Racing Development’s Max Taylor and JHDD’s Evagoras Papasavvas completing the top six in the starting order.

Giaffone led the early laps, as DeFabis marked himself out from his opposition by consistently running on the lower line while running in fourth. On lap four of 75 he started to attack Armstrong, and it took a few laps of side-by-side action before he was able to get ahead. He was then into second on lap eight by passing Houk, and made it onto the tail of the leader four laps after that.

No time was wasted and DeFabis got past Giaffone on the inside, then gradually began to pull away. He was a second clear by lap 19, and got the gap to two seconds 10 laps later. He was leading by 3.9s when a caution period was called on lap 47 as Houk spun exiting turn two and his out of control car was clipped by Taylor, who then went into the barriers.

Racing resumed on lap 56, and DeFabis went unchallenged by Giaffone. His lead was back up to a second by lap 61, and he finished 1.292s ahead.

Armstrong and Papasavvas held fourth and fifth in the middle of the race, until Taylor passed the latter on lap 37 due to a failed move Papasavvas had tried for third. Taylor started to attack Armstrong before he accidentally caught Houk’s car, and after the restart Papasavvas took third from Armstrong as Michael Costello made his way into sixth.

VRD’s Xavier Kokai charged through as the track went green again, going from seventh to fifth place with 11 laps to go. On lap 70, he went into the inside of Armstrong to take fourth. However, the latter reclaimed the place, meaning he had to settle for fifth in the end.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development’s Elliot Cox also made up places late on. He drove past Exclusive Autosport’s Joey Brienza shortly after the restart, then went on to overtake Costello for seventh place 10 laps later and eventually Max Garcia to be sixth at the chequered flag.

Race result (75 laps)

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

DEForce Racing’s Nicola Giaffone claimed his maiden USF2000 pole in qualifying for the Freedom 75 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The championship’s sole oval qualifying session of the season took on the format of each driver going out one at a time to complete a two-lap run. Their order was set by reversing the points table, so Jay Howard Driver Development’s G3 Argyros was first out on track.

Lucas Fecury and then Xavier Kokai was next, with both going to the top. Velocity Racing Development driver Kokai had an average pace of 115.318mph over his two laps.

JHDD’s Tanner DeFabis raised the bar to 116.094mph, DC Autosport’s Carson Etter was the following driver and went third fastest, then DeFabis was beaten as Giaffone averaged 116.636mph. He was 0.198 seconds faster in completing the two laps, which set a new qualifying record.

The drivers that went out after did not challenge the top five poitions, although impressively DEForce’s Maxwell Jamieson was slowest on his first lap and a rapid second lap could do little to change his position. The second lap was the faster one for all drivers, and following Jamieson was team-mate Quinn Armstrong who averaged 115.892mph to provisionally hold third place.

That became fourth when DC’s Ayrton Houk set two laps at a speed of over 116.5mph and went second fastest.

There were high expectations for the final four drivers, the top four in the championship, but they struggled. VRD’s Max Taylor could only go eighth fastest on lap one but brought himself up to fourth on lap two, Pabst’s Sam Corry similarly went from ninth to sixth as he had a slow opening lap, then JHDD’s Evagoras Papasavvas could do no better than sixth either.

Pabst’s points leader Max Garcia fared worse as the last one out, looking set for 10th place on lap one and only improving to seventh on lap two.

Qualifying results

The post DEForce Racing’s Nicolas Giaffone takes pole for the Freedom 75 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Gavin Baker Photography

The margins were usually super tight in USF2000 this year, setting up a dramatic three-way title decider 

On this week’s Formula Scout Podcast, USF2000 champion Michael d’Orlando joins to talk through a title campaign that was fought by the closest of margins against a stacked field of talent. Listen to the episode on Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Castbox, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or below, and read on for some of the highlights!

“I’m a firm believer that, as much as the US sometimes get the bad rep by fans, that USF2000 is really stacked, and every single year that I’ve been racing in it it’s been just extremely close competition,” says d’Orlando.

“I’m quite happy to say that I was the champ of what I believe to be one of the hardest series in the ladder of formula cars. I’m kind of ecstatic about it.”

To present an example: “There’s been a couple of qualifying sessions where I got nicked by like less than a thousandths, and I’m like ‘are you kidding me?!’.”

He’s not wrong, for the St. Petersburg season opener he was 0.1006 seconds off pole position, but qualified seventh, and was pipped to top spot by 0.0532s at Mid-Ohio.

USF2000’s pole margins in 2022

St. Petersburg 0.0084s, Barber Motorsports Park 0.1248s, Barber race two 0.0113s, Indianapolis Motor Speedway 0.0656s, Indianapolis Raceway Park 0.1350s, Road America 0.1064s, Road America race two 0.2294s, Mid-Ohio 0.0532s, Toronto 0.2460s, Toronto race two 0.0416s, Portland 0.0805s

2022 USF2000 standings

The post USF2000 review: How d’Orlando won the closest junior series of 2022 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography / Road to Indy

Kyle Kirkwood broke the record last weekend for the most wins on the Road to Indy. Here’s a run through all 25 of his junior single-seater wins on the IndyCar support bill since debuting in 2018

This article was updated after the 2021 Indy Lights season finale

The Road to Indy has a huge success rate in taking young drivers all the way to IndyCar, aided by its scholarship system for series champions, and has also established its own stars at the lower levels.

One of those is Andretti Autosport driver Kyle Kirkwood, who is currently contesting his rookie Indy Lights season and has previously driven for the team in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.

Kirkwood, now 22, started his single-seater career in F1600 Championship Series in 2015 and soon became a race winner. He moved into United States Formula 4 for 2016, finishing third in the points in his rookie season, as well as returning to wingless cars for the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, in which he finished fourth.

A second year in US F4 resulted in nine wins out of 20 races, and began the dominant winning form that Kirkwood has taken through the rest of his career. In 2018 he stepped up to Formula Regional Americas and was beaten only twice in 17 races, and that same year he joined the Road to Indy with Cape Motorsports in USF200. In a 14-race season he took 12 wins.

That earned him the scholarship to step up to Indy Pro 2000, with Italian team RP Motorsport, and while he only made the podium twice in the first five races he was still able to win the title off the back of nine wins in the next 11 races. However retiring from the season finale at Laguna Seca meant he was champion by just two points.

He then signed with Andretti to step up to Indy Lights for 2020, but the season’s cancellation meant he had to wait until this year for his debut. The results so far are four wins in 10 races, in addition to two poles, and he’s second in the points.

Here is the list of all 25 of Kirkwood’s Road to Indy wins:

Photos: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

USF2000

1. St. Petersburg 1
His very first Road to Indy race, and his first win. The then-19-year-old qualified second behind Jose Sierra, but overtook the DEForce Racing driver at the opening corner of the race before yellow flags were waved. He handled his first restart from the lead finely, and then pulled away to win by 5.4945 seconds.

2. Indianapolis GP 2

3. Freedom 75
Kirkwood’s first car race on an oval was a case of incredibly controlled driving, although in qualifying he only narrowly beat Pabst Racing rival Rasmus Lindh to pole. However in the caution-free first half of the race Kirkwood stretched out a lead of over four seconds, and then handled several restarts in the race’s second half to lead lights-to-flag and with fastest lap too.

4 & 5. Road America 1 & 2
6 & 7. Toronto 1 & 2

8. Mid-Ohio 1
With four races of the season to spare, Kirkwood wrapped up the title in the first race of the Mid-Ohio triple-header. He started from pole, and after two potential victory contenders wiped themselves out early on he was unchallenged to win.

9 & 10. Mid-Ohio 2 & 3
11. Portland 1

12. Portland 2
The last of Kirkwood’s 14 races in USF2000 led to him becoming the series’ most successful driver (on second-place countback), a record he has since relinquished (also on second-place countback) to rising star Christian Rasmussen.

It was the first time Portland had been on the calendar since 2006, the year J. R. Hildebrand had set the series’ wins record at 12 victories. Kirkwood matched that in the 2018 season finale.

Lindh looked set to win this one, before being hit by his own team-mate and enabling Kirkwood to get past for victory. That season he also took one second place finish, while fellow 12-time winner Rasmussen took four across 2019 and 2020.

Indy Pro 2000

13 & 14. Road America 1 & 2
15. Toronto 2
16. Mid-Ohio 1

17. Mid-Ohio 2
Kirkwood’s first perfect weekend (of a round featuring more than one race) came at Mid-Ohio in 2019 as he won from pole, without ever conceding the lead, and took fastest lap in both races. It reinforced his status as a circuit specialist, following triple wins there in USF2000 and FRegional Americas, as well as two wins from F4.

18. Oval Challenge at St. Louis
With only one oval on the USF2000 calendar, it wasn’t until IP2000 that Kirkwood visited another. And in his first weekend at the Gateway oval he won in style.

He failed to set a time in qualifying, meaning he started from 12st, but took the lead just seven laps into the 55-lap race, and held position until a caution period with 15 laps to go. When racing resumed with eight laps to go, he was able to stay out in front to take his fourth win in a row.

19 & 20. Portland 1 & 2

21. Laguna Seca 1
Kirkwood became champion a race later, but he almost won it in race one at Laguna Seca as victory meant his points lead was enough that he only needed to start the finale to be crowned.

Juncos Racing’s Sting Ray Robb took pole and controlled the race’s first half to lead by over three seconds. Robb’s pace became more patchy in the second half, allowing Kirkwood to close in by a few tenths each lap. With three laps to go he passed Robb for the lead, immediately building a gap of over two seconds and pushing on to win. Kirkwood was eliminated moments into the title decider, but by then the title was secured even as Lindh went on to take a maximum score.

Indy Lights

22. St. Petersburg 1
Kirkwood claimed his pole for his third race in the series, and nailed the rolling start to be out of threat of attack going into the first corner. He was able to extend a lead over Devlin DeFrancesco in the race’s first half, although a late caution undid his hard work, but he pulled away again for his much anticipated first Indy Lights win.

23. Detroit 1

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography / Road to Indy

24. Detroit 2
A nine-year break was ended for Detroit as it rejoined the Indy Lights calendar, and Kirkwood was usually the driver to beat thanks to learning from Andretti’s IndyCar data. He headed Linus Lundqvist, also a FRegional Americas champion, in race one from pole position and then had red flags prevent him from taking another pole for race two.

Regardless, he had fought his way into the lead by lap two of the race and used a tyre life advantage to control the pace thereon despite two caution periods and another Lundqvist attack. It brought him level with Spencer Pigot’s Road to Indy wins record, and also meant he joined Steve Robertson and Tony Kanaan as two-time winners of the Detroit support race.

25. Road America 1
Tyre saving in qualifying contributed to ending the session fourth, but early drama in the race moved Kirkwood up a spot and then he had the pace on the high-load circuit as the race went on to move past Lundqvist for the lead. His tyre life advantage became more evident as his lead grew and grew, eventually finishing 11.0667s clear of second place to take the outright Road to Indy wins record and the Lights points lead, which he then gave up after finishing a lapped 12th on Sunday.

26 & 27. Mid-Ohio 1 & 2

28. Portland 2

After a run of form for title rival David Malukas, Kirkwood struck back at Portland by overtaking front row starters Malukas and Lundqvist at the same time for a lead he would never let go of.

“This might be my favourite win of the season so far,” Kirkwood said at the time. “We haven’t had it the entire weekend but we kept chipping away at it and the car was the best it’s been all weekend. It was just on rails, even on old tyres.

“This is super important since [Malukas] had three wins in a row.

“That one was a little bit gifted, because they went down the inside and I was able to cross them up and go around the outside with so much more momentum than they had. I only had one shot at it, but it was a matter of right place, right time.”

29 & 30. Laguna Seca 1 & 2

31. Mid-Ohio 1

The race that will mark Kirkwood’s last ever Road to Indy win, and what all but secured him the Indy Lights title.

A poor start from pole on the rolling start didn’t matter as he had the crucial inside line for the first corner of racing, and a lack of push-to-pass access during the title-deciding weekend meant Malukas could do little in Kirkwood’s wake.

The points lead had returned to Kirkwood’s hands as he dominated at Laguna Seca, and he extended it to 22 points with a win of importance as it equalled Greg Moore’s long-standing record for the most wins in a season. Kirkwood’s landmark success was, slightly unfortunately, not in front of the IndyCar paddock as its feeder series took the main billing.

Road to Indy (national championship) winners list

The post Every one of Kyle Kirkwood’s Road to Indy wins appeared first on Formula Scout.