Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

HMD Motorsports has announced that Jagger Jones will take over the #33 car usually driven by Niels Koolen in an upcoming Indy Nxt round, but has not specified if Koolen will be absent.

Koolen stepped up from Formula Regional to Indy Nxt at the start of 2024 for his second full year in single-seater racing, and the 23-year-old Dutchman sits 16th in the standings with a 10th place his best finish from the first six races.

There is a double-header round at Laguna Seca next weekend, then it is for the race at Mid-Ohio on July 7 that Jones has been announced as driving the #33 car. HMD’s announcement did not mention Koolen at all.

Jones is a third-generation racer whose grandfather Parnelli was the winner of the 1963 Indianapolis 500 and his father P.J. was a CART podium-finisher and an Indy Nxt race-winner. As for the 21-year-old’s own career, he has a win and four other podiums from a USF2000 season in 2022 and then a podium and three other top-10 finishes in Indy Nxt from last year.

So far in 2024 he has been racing LMP3 prototype sportscars with success, winning four races in the IMSA Sportscar Challenge.

“Indy Nxt is the stepping stone to the IndyCar series and I’m excited to be back with a championship-winning team,” Jones said of his single-seater return. “I’ve had a lot of success in sportscar racing this year, and I am looking to bring that momentum to Mid-Ohio.”

HMD’s team president Mike Maurini added: “Jagger is no slouch behind the wheel of a race car and proved that in his USF2000 results, and then making the jump straight to Indy Nxt. He has been active in other cars this season and winning races, so we are all confident that he will be a valuable addition to our programme for Mid-Ohio.”

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

USF2000’s reigning rookie of the year Jagger Jones will skip the next step on the Road to Indy and head straight to Indy Lights next year with Cape Motorsports.

The team will be making its debut in the series and also jumping up from USF2000, as it does not race in Indy Pro 2000, and Jones is the first driver it has signed for its new programme.

Jones is the son of former NASCAR and IndyCar driver PJ Jones, and is the grandson of Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, and only started his single-seater career this year. He won on his fourth USF2000 start with Cape and came fourth in the standings, also claiming three pole positions on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

“I’m super happy to continue progressing in my Road to Indy career,” said Jones.

“This is a great opportunity to move up to Indy Lights with Cape Motorsports. I’ve had such a good year learning from everyone on the USF2000 team, so once Cape announced they were moving to Indy Lights, I knew it was my chance to continue my development with them.

“[Team owners] Dominic and Nicholas are completely committed to winning at every level. It will be a new challenge for me and for Cape, but I know with our dedication, we’ll be fighting for podiums and wins next year.”.

Jones competed in NASCAR’s fourth tier three years ago and came second in the ARCA Menards Series West. He lost his drive for 2020 but continued in oval racing, and drove for Cape for the first time in the post-season Chris Griffis test at IMS. He went fastest, prompting his switch into single-seater racing.

“We’re happy to head back to Indy Lights with Jagger,” said Dominic and Nicholas Cape.

“He’s fast, and he’s shown what a solid driver he is with his performance in USF2000 this year. He learned the tracks and the car so quickly and we don’t expect next year to be any different.

“Continuity is so important for our team, and bringing Jagger along makes much of this quite seamless – he gets along with the entire team and fits in so well. We’re ready to get started on 2023.”

Cape has previous Indy Lights experience having spent 2007 and ’08 managing RLR Andersen Racing, an alliance between Dan Andersen and IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

It returned to the series in 2010, partnering with Wayne Taylor Racing to run Gustavo Yacaman. During three seasons it contributed to one win and three other podiums. From 2011 to ’20 it then won a title every season in USF2000.

The team will sign a second driver to be Jones’ team-mate next season.

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

Jagger Jones just edged the debuting Alex Quinn and Thomas Nepveu to take pole for the first USF2000 race of the weekend on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.

The sole qualifying session was split into two by a red flag stoppage caused by Jay Howard Driver Development’s Jorge Garciarce, and it was Legacy Autosport’s Simon Sikes who was on top after the first flying laps.

He was edged by Jones and then Cape Motorsports’ Michael d’Orlando, with Thomas Nepveu and Nicky Hays slotting into third and fourth in the opening five minutes.

Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark was next to go the top by becoming the first driver to lap in the 1m25s and just pipping an improving d’Orlando, then Velocity Racing Development’s Quinn showed his ominous free practice pace by sneaking in a 1m25.7735s lap to go fastest before red flags came out.

There was a break of five minutes before qualifying restarted, and another four minutes before improvements were posted as Pabst’s championship leader Myles Rowe rose to third. He was quickly knocked back down the order as Jones set a 1m24.4479s to go fastest ahead of Nepveu, d’Orlando, Quinn and Bijoy Garg.

Jones got even faster after, meaning when Quinn posted a 1m25.4910s with a minute to go he was still on provisional pole by 0.0656 seconds.

Nepveu couldn’t find any more laptime with his final effort and so Jones was guaranteed pole and with the top three covered by less than a tenth of a second. The top 20 were within a second, with JHDD’s Danny Dyszelski the last of those cars. In addition to Garciarce’s issue, his other team-mate Yeoroo Lee spun at turn one shortly after the restart.

An impressive 11th was the camoeing Chase Gardner, who is debuting with DEForce Racing this weekend then doing a test-only programme ahead of a planned campaign in 2023, and two positions ahead of him was fellow first-timer Joey Brienza.

The fastest laps from qualifying set the grid for race one, while drivers second-best laps will be used to set the race two grid unless they set a faster lap during the opening race. The same applies for setting the race three grid.

Qualifying results

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

Jagger Jones won the second USF2000 race at Barber Motorsports Park, as Myles Rowe potentially signed off his season with the points lead.

Christian Weir and Rowe started from the front row, with Jones and Simon Sikes filling row two for a race that began on lap two following an aborted start.

Jones and fifth-placed starter Michael d’Orlando passed the top two and began their own battle for victory, although it was light on action as d’Orlando mostly followed Jones, son of Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, through the 17-lap race.

Rowe similarly could not really challenge Weir despite staying close, and spent more time having to drive defensively against Simon Sikes late in the race following a caution period.

Sikes came fifth having passed the fast-starting Thomas Nepveu on lap four of 17, and Nicky Hays passed Jace Denmark for seventh on the same lap. In the middle of the race Hays went off at turn one and fell to ninth behind Denmark and Jacob Douglas, but got back up to seventh at the finish as Denmark spun at turn five.

Dylan Christie and Jackson Lee completed the top 10. Lee started 10th, dropped to 13th early on then made two overtakes before benefitting from Denmark’s spin.

Race one runner-up and title contender Billy Frazer has dropped to fifth in the standings after he rear-ended another driver on lap one and broke his front wing. He is 16 points behind Rowe, who currently doesn’t have the budget for the third round of the season in a fortnight.

Race results (17 laps)

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy

Cape Motorsports has made its first signing for the 2022 USF2000 season, with Jagger Jones joining the team after an impressive debut test.

Jones, grandson of Indianapolis 5000 winner Parnelli and son of former IndyCar racer PJ Jones, competed in NASCAR’s fourth tier two years ago and came second in the ARCA Menards Series West.

He lost his drive for 2020 but continued in oval racing, and last week joined Cape for the post-season Chris Griffis Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Jones went fastest, and will now move into single-seater racing.

“I am really excited to be racing open-wheel cars in the Road to Indy,” said Jones.

“It’s a major transition from stock car racing, but my family has raced everything and I am glad to follow a similar path. Growing up, I always dreamed of driving at Indianapolis one day and those dreams came true this weekend. I cannot thank everyone who helped put this together enough.

“I didn’t know how the test was going to go, but I knew I would be provided the best by Cape Motorsports. The rest would be up to me.

“One of my specialties has been the ability to adapt quickly at any track and in any car. I am a very technical driver and have enjoyed working with the team. I am excited to continue to improve throughout winter testing and be ready for the 2022 season.”

Cape has a strong record in USF2000, having won the teams’ title six times in the last 10 seasons and run eight of the last 10 champions.

“We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen,” said Nicholas and Dominic Cape, who run the team, on signing Jones.

“We are extremely excited to have Jagger as part of our team for next season. The IMS test went really well and it’s a great way to kick off the winter test program. We’re all looking forward to competing against everyone next year!”

The post Cape signs Jagger Jones for USF2000 after impressive test showing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jagger Jones, the grandson of Indianapolis 500 winner Parnelli Jones, was the fastest driver in the USF2000 segment of last week’s Chris Griffis Test.

All three of IndyCar’s single-seater support series were in action on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, and it was Jones – previously a racer in the NASCAR’s fourth tier at a regional level – who topped three of the six USF2000 sessions.

DEForce Racing’s Mac Clark, this year’s United States Formula 4 runner-up, started the test on top in the wet, with Legacy Autosport’s Viktor Andersson sitting out that session and the remaining ones of the day.

His team-mate Simon Sikes headed session two, with representative laptimes now being set on the dry track, and then Cape Motorsports’ Jones pipped Sikes by 0.0128 seconds in session three to end the day on top.

Jones began the next day by going fastest again, improving the benchmark pace to 1m35.4672s, with Jay Howard Driver Development’s Lucas Oil School of Racing graduate Yeoroo Lee skipping out on the action this time.

Thomas Nepveu got within a tenth of Jones’ pace by being the quickest in session two of Sunday, then Jones returned to the top in the final session by 0.0117s over Clark.

It was Jackson Lee in the second of Cape’s cars that actually ended the test in second place, just 0.0069s slower than Jones.

The Road to Indy’s new-for-2022 rung USF Juniors was not in action at the Chris Griffis test, but already has a driver signed for its Formula 4-based first season as Nikita Johnson joins the grid.

The Velocity Racing Development protege, still only 13, won in the YACademy Winter Series for F4 cars at the start of this year and has had to wait another 12 months before being able to return to the category. He will contest the Florida-based series again in 2022 with VRD, then embark on a USF Juniors campaign in the same car.

‘I’m super happy to join VRD,” said Johnson. “Their results prove they are the best in the business.

“My sponsors and I did our homework when we first joined the VRD Academy. We knew VRD was the best team and I think this was before they had even won a race.”

Test results

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