Louisiana Road Course Hosts Two-Day Test for USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors
PALMETTO, Fla. – Preparations for a new USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire season will reach a crescendo this weekend, February 22/23, with a two-day Spring Training open test at NOLA Motorsports Park. The 2.74-mile, 13-turn road course situated in Avondale, La., just a few miles from downtown New Orleans, will host all three steps on the world-renowned open-wheel driver development ladder – USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and USF Juniors. Collectively, they provide a scholarship-fueled path from the grassroots of the sport to INDY NXT and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
A total of five sessions for each series will provide one final opportunity for drivers to snag bragging rights before the 18-race season for the top two rungs, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, kicks off in earnest at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on February 28-March 2. The 16-race USF Juniors campaign will commence at NOLA Motorsports Park on April 12/13.
Over 60 drivers representing a dozen different nationalities from around the globe are expected to turn laps during the two-day test.
In USF Pro 2000, for the first time, a pair of reigning USF Pro Championship winners will square off against each other. Max Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., will make the step up from USF2000 after securing last year’s championship and scholarship, while Max Taylor, from Hoboken, New Jersey, graduates after a hectic and highly successful 2024 campaign. Taylor not only won four USF2000 races, placing third in the final standings, he also claimed the USF Juniors title.
Garcia has already shown he is ready to compete at the next level by topping the timing charts for Pabst Racing during the annual Fall Combine open test last October at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Others to watch will include Jace Denmark and Alessandro De Tullio. Denmark, from Brownsburg, Ind., has joined TJ Speed Motorsports after finishing a strong third in the championship last year with nine podium finishes to his credit, while De Tullio, from Miami, Fla., last week unofficially lapped NOLA Motorsports Park almost two seconds faster than the existing lap record during the YACademy Winter Series test with the defending series champion Turn 3 Motorsport team.
With many of the top finishers from the 2024 USF2000 title-chase moving up the ladder, there is no obvious candidate to follow in Garcia’s footsteps.
Ayrton Houk and Thomas Schrage are the top returning drivers, placing 11th and 12th in last year’s points chase, despite neither being able to run a complete season. Houk, from McCordsville, Ind., will run with a new family-owned Benchmark Autosport team, while Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, will remain with VRD Racing after securing three pole positions and a pair of fastest race laps from the final seven races.
Neither was present during last week’s YACademy Winter Series test at NOLA Motorsports Park, where Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, posted lap times comfortably underneath the existing record in his Exclusive Autosport Tatuus. Fellow USF Juniors graduate Liam McNeilly, from Brentwood, England, also was among the pacesetters after recording the fastest lap and topping the charts in four of the six sessions at the Indianapolis Fall Combine test for Jay Howard Driver Development.
Two dozen USF Juniors drivers will continue to develop rivalries following the recent YACademy Winter Series which comprised three races apiece at Homestead-Miami Speedway and NOLA Motorsports Park.
Returning driver Leonardo Escorpioni, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, emerged as top dog for Zanella Racing by a solitary point over Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., who won two of the six races but will graduate to USF2000 with Exclusive Autosport for the balance of the season.
Escorpioni’s teammate Ty Fisher, from White Rock, Canada, emerged as the top rookie in third, also with two wins. VRD Racing’s Joao Vergara was another to play a starring role. The Brazilian led the points table following the opening weekend in Florida but ultimately lost his opportunity to win the title following a clash with Cooley in the penultimate round which prevented him from starting the final race.
For the first time in USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire history, three female drivers will be among the USF Juniors field this week as Kaylee Countryman (Exclusive Autosport), from Chandler, Ariz., Emma Scarborough (InterMS), from Atlanta, Ga., and Maddie Colleran (Zanella Racing), from Hunting Valley, Ohio, are all set to move up from the karting ranks.