PALMETTO, Fla. – A quality field of 33 starters is set to take the green flag for the second round of the TireRack.com Road to Indy iRacing eSeries Presented by Cooper Tires. The Raceway at Belle Isle Park’s 2.35-mile street course will play host to a pair of 20-minute races today beginning with a pre-race show and qualifying at 6:45 pm EST.
A surprise entry this week will include Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR Cup Series driver James Davison, who is a graduate and former race winner in both Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires and the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
Devlin DeFrancesco will also be making his return to the eSeries. After finishing second and earning Cooper Tires Rookie of the Year honors in Indy Pro 2000 competition in 2020, he will step up to the Indy Lights ranks this season with Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport.
Hyde Park, N.Y.’s Carmine Caruso, 17, will join the Road to Indy's 2021 drivers and prospects for Round Two in the WKA-branded Tatuus PM-18, having earned his way into the event by winning the second race of the World Karting Association Maxx Racing eSports Series. Caruso races regularly in the Northeastern U.S. at Oakland Valley Raceway Park and the F Series Gearup Challenge for Mike Doty Racing and will make his debut in assorted senior level categories this season.
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An action-packed opening eSeries round at Road America last week placed Braden Eves at the pointy end of the championship standings. Eves, who returns to Indy Pro 2000 with Exclusive Autosport this year, holds a one-point advantage over rookie Indy Lights driver Benjamin Pedersen of Global Racing Group with HMD Motorsports, victor in the second virtual race at Road America.
Trailing by, again, only one point in third place is Round One race winner Max Esterson, who finished fifth in F1600 competition in 2020 under the Team Pelfrey banner. Turn 3 Motorsport’s USF2000 driver Josh Green – winner of the Andersen RacePark Move of the Race – and the WKA’s 13-year-old karting talent Dean Dybdahl round out the top five.
Additional notables from the opening round include the SimMetric Driver Performance Labs Pole Award earned by Esterson and the Sabelt Hard Charger Award for a gain of 19 positions by up-and-coming kart racer Evan Stamer.
Coverage can be found on the Cooper Tire Facebook page, the Road to Indy TV website and App, ApexRacingTV’s YouTube and Facebook and the series’ respective websites. In addition, live coverage will be carried by REV TV Canada.
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