Birmingham, Ala. – The 2021 Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires season got underway at Barber Motorsports Park this past weekend, with Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) fielding cars in both the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship and the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
The JHDD USF2000 squad, fresh from securing the drivers’ championship last season, showed promising signs throughout the event with rookies Jackson Lee and Peter Vodanovich both demonstrating encouraging speed and progression, while returning driver Bijoy Garg was unlucky not to secure better results after being caught up in an unfortunate incident in race two.
Making their series debut in Indy Pro 2000 as a team, JHDD were right on the pace immediately, with USF2000 Champion Christian Rasmussen and Wyatt Brichacek wasting little time in getting acquainted with their new machinery. Brichacek showed astonishing speed throughout the weekend as he had done in Spring Training, while Rasmussen was only denied victory on Sunday morning due to a blocking penalty after dominating the 30-lap race.
Team owner Jay Howard was keen to focus on the positives coming out of the opening Road to Indy event of the season, and with the second event coming up this weekend on the streets of St. Petersburg, the 2006 Indy Lights Champion is keen to stay focused on maximizing the team’s presence at the first street event of the season.
“It’s felt like a long off-season, so it was great to finally get back to racing here this weekend in Barber,” commented Howard. “There were some tough moments but also some real highlights for us to focus on as a team. Despite some tough luck, the USF2000 boys all showed really encouraging signs this weekend and I strongly believe they are only going to move forward from here. On the Indy Pro side, both Christian and Wyatt have shown great speed and that’s a testament to the team for putting quick race cars after having very little time to learn them. It’s a great thing that St. Pete is coming up this weekend, and we are looking forward to getting down to Florida and mixing it up. A big thanks to the whole team for all their efforts this weekend.”
WHAT THE INDY PRO 2000 DRIVERS SAID:
#1 Christian Rasmussen
Round 1 – P14; Round 2 – P2
“I think with the pace we had this weekend we should probably have won both races, but with a suspension failure in Q1, a puncture in race 1, followed by a mistake and a penalty in race 2 that didn’t happen. Obviously, we wanted more than what we got this weekend. Positives are that I’m leaving Barber fourth in points and I know that when we perform our best the other guys will have a hard time keeping up. Having fastest lap in both races, along with a new race lap record in race 2 was a testament to our speed. Looking forward to St Pete next weekend.”
#5 Wyatt Brichacek
Round 1 – P15; Round 2 – P6
“Finished up our weekend at Barber Motorsports Park on a high with a P6 finish in race 2. After qualifying P4 and P6 we know that we have the pace to fight for podiums. Even though it didn’t go out way in race 1, it gave us momentum heading into St. Petersburg next weekend! Looking forward to getting back in the Indy Pro 2000 around a street course.”
There’s little time to catch one’s breath as the Road to Indy series moves on this weekend to the Streets of St Petersburg, April 23 – 25. Fans can follow all of the action from Rounds 3 and 4 live through Road to Indy TV.