HARTSDALE, N.Y. – It was a challenging end to the weekend for Michael d’Orlando in his debut of the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires series, in support of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ Firestone Grand Prix on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The 21-year-old from Hartsdale, N.Y., and University of North Carolina Charlotte student returned to racing action on the streets of St. Petersburg in the #1 USF Pro Championships race car with Turn 3 Motorsport. Looking to build on promising results in the official USF Pro Championships series test at Sebring Raceway just days before, both d’Orlando and Turn 3 looked poised to continue these competitive efforts and were confident heading into the weekend, but the notoriously difficult street circuit had different plans.
d'Orlando kicked off the season-opening event on Friday morning by posting a top-three fastest lap time in the only practice session of the weekend. Later that afternoon he looked to improve for the qualifying session. He quickly jumped out into the top four early and then topped the charts mid-session before the entire field dove to pit lane for a pitstop to change to a second set of tires for the latter half. Typically new tires allow for the penultimate laps to be achieved in the closing minutes of the session, as more rubber goes down on the racing surface and the cars are lighter on fuel. To maximize the potential of setting his fast lap, an adjustment in tire pressure was made on his second set of tires and unfortunately d'Orlando did not feel comfortable with the change and ultimately was not able to improve his time which placed him in a disappointing sixth spot for the start of Saturday morning’s Race 1 and head-to-head action.
The narrow racing surface lined by concrete barriers with very tight corners at St Petersburg, and the volume of unsettled air coming off the back of the USF Pro 2000 Tatuus IP-22 race car (aka: “aerowash”) make it a difficult circuit to advance forward, making d’Orlando’s qualifying position a challenge, although not impossible, for the 2023 USF 2000 Champion. But his luck would not change.
“The team and I were really confident heading into the weekend,” states d’Orlando. “We were pretty quick in the testing sessions at Sebring and I feel like I adapted to the new car and a new team pretty quickly after spending the last three years with Cape (Motorsports) in USF2000. I know Peter (Dempsey) and Tom (Knapp) have a great car and we will be competitive all year. Our qualifying position did not reflect what we are capable of and it was disappointing.”
In the first corner after the green flag of Race 1, contact from behind sent d'Orlando into a spin and off the racing circuit. By the time safety personnel could get him back on the racetrack, he was forced to settle into the 17th position and a lap down from the rest of the field. Knowing this position would be almost impossible to overcome, d’Orlando and Turn 3 took the opportunity to make a run for a better qualifying position for Race 2 the next day. Newer tires on a better racing surface at this point typically result in faster lap times, and qualifying laps for Race 2 are based on a drivers’ second fastest qualifying lap or their fastest lap from Race 1. So they pulled his #1 machine to pitlane and switched to a new set of Cooper Tires with just a few minutes left. On his first hot lap back on track, d’Orlando was poised for a time that could put him on the top of the charts when a full-course-yellow caution condition for the entire field resulted from another competitor and forced d’Orlando to slow down his speed before his fastest lap could be completed. He would officially finish 18th in Race 1.
In Race 2, starting from the ninth position, d’Orlando moved up to make a charge for fifth in the opening laps before being forced to make drastic evasive action to avoid being part of a crash of the two cars directly in front him. Narrowly avoiding severe consequences, although falling down the order a few spots because of his hard breaking, he would ultimately regain some lost spots back to finish 11th even with a missing tip of the nose cone.
“This weekend wasn’t really what we wanted,” said d’Orlando. “With incidents in both races, it put us in a difficult position. It’s not how we wanted to come out of the first race weekend, but we know we’re quick, we know the #1 car is fast, and I know I’m fast, so I’m confident we will get it at Sebring.”
d’Orlando and Turn 3 Motorsport will regroup and prepare to return to action in the USF Pro 2000 Championship at Sebring Raceway in Sebring, Fla., on March 23–26, 2023.