Rounds three, four, and five of the IndyPro2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship took place on the otherwise vacant Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course this past “weekend” which actually occurred on Wednesday, July 29^th and Thursday, July 30^th.  Racing before only the season ticket holders, teams, and crew, the drivers delivered some exciting races and provided a preview of who will be battling it out for the championship at the end of the season.

Braden Eves - Photo Credit Elaine Sinclair

Rasmussen Rocks the Road Course

The highlight of the two-day USF2000 Series session was clearly the early-season dominance of Christian Rasmussen.  Driving for Jay Howard Driver Development, the 20-year old Dane showed that his two wins at Road America a few short weeks ago were no fluke.  Rasmussen qualified on pole for two of the three races at Mid-Ohio, and scored both the win and the fastest lap in all three.

During the first practice session on Wednesday, there appeared to be an issue with Rasmussen’s car as he completed only 12 laps in the session and his car was carried back in to the pits on a hook during a lengthy red-flag stop.  But whatever the issue may have been in practice, by qualifying he was back on track with a 3^rd place starting position only 0.12 off the pace, behind 15-year old Reece Gold with Cape Motorsport and Brazil native Eduardo Barrichello on Pole with Pabst Racing.

After the green flag dropped in the first race, Christian Rasmussen quickly got the jump on 2^nd place Gold, and by the third lap he had taken over the lead from Barrichello.  In a relatively clean 20-lap race that only saw two drivers retire, Pabst Racing’s Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Christian Bogle with Jay Howard, Rasmussen had extended his lead to 4.11 seconds by Lap 8.  The biggest mover of the race was Matt Round-Garrido, who had claimed 5^th place by the midpoint after starting 15^th.  However, nobody was able to make any sort of move on Christian Rasmussen, who claimed his 3^rd victory in a row with a 12.78 second lead, with Barrichello and Gold both scoring their first USF2000 Series podiums.

The second qualifying session saw Rasmussen once again rise to the top with Reece Gold and fellow Jay Howard Driver Development teammate, Nolan Siegel rounding out the Top 3.  At the start of Race 2, Rasmussen easily kept the lead from pole, but this time Gold drafted right up with him, showing the abilities of the second-year Cape Motorsports driver.  In spite of Gold clinging to his rear wing for a few laps, Rasmussen still managed to pull out a 2.5-second lead by the half-way point.  That lead was cut short by a full course caution on Lap 12. 

The caution appeared to be the result of two separate incidents involving Ayrton Ori of Legacy Autosport who spun and stopped in Turn 9 and Rasmussen’s teammate, Wyatt Brichacek, off-track in Turn 11.  Ori started up on his own and then stopped again with a terminal issue that required a tow, causing the yellow flag to be extended to Lap 16. On the restart, a tremendous battle occurred with Matt Round-Garrido attempting to charge by Nolan Siegel for third, but the young California native was able to hold him off.  Exclusive Autosport’s Christian Brooks and Yuven Sundaramoorthy tried to take advantage of Round-Garrido’s failure to pass Siegel, but the Brit was able to hold his position to finish 4th.  At the checkers, Christian Rasmussen scored his 4^th win in a row, followed by Reece Gold and Nolan Siegel, who earned his first USF2000 podium.

Qualifying for Race 3 was determined by the driver’s fastest lap in the previous race, so once again Rasmussen collected the pole position, followed a second time by Reece Gold and also by Gold’s teammate, Michael d’Orlando.  The start of the race was marred by a full course caution that occurred before the first lap.  Legacy Autosport’s Cameron Shields stopped on track in the Keyhole with damage to the right front, and Matt Round-Garrido sustained a broken left front suspension, stopping in Turn 2 and causing a red flag.  As Shields started in 12^th and Round-Garrido started in 5^th, it appears the incidents were unrelated.  The 2019 Lucas Oil Formula Race Series champion, Prescott Campbell with Exclusive Autosport, also started from pit lane, needing to install a new front wing.

The remainder of the race was uneventful as Christian Rasmussen repeated his previous performances by storming to the lead and maintaining his pace.  Michael d’Orlando took second from Reece Gold on the first green lap, and the two Cape teammates kept pace with each other to finish 2^nd and 3^rd whilst Rasmussen pulled out a 6.07-second gap to take his fifth consecutive win in dominant fashion.

Artem Petrov - Photo Credit Elaine Sinclair

Switch-Up in the IndyPro2000 Series

At the beginning of the IndyPro2000 Series event at Mid-Ohio, it appeared that 2019 USF2000 champion, Braden Eves, was set to regain his early season dominant form from last year.  By taking a win and two poles, Eves was easily the early favorite, but some hard charges and unusual incidents allowed Juncos Racing’s Artem Petrov to collect his second win of the season, and Petrov’s teammate Sting Ray Robb to earn his very first IndyPro2000 win in his 50^th start.

With fourth and fifth place finishes in the opening rounds at Road America, Exclusive Autosport’s Braden Eves came into the weekend hungry.  In the opening practice session, he topped the field, but with less than half a second separating the top 5 drivers, he faced some stiff competition.  By the time the first qualifying session was over, Eves had put his car on pole, but only by 0.0394 over Danial Frost of Turn 3 Motorsport and only 0.1795 over third-position starter Sting Ray Robb.

The first race opened with a yellow flag due to the tail end of the field lining up incorrectly, but Braden Eves raced into a solid lead on the first lap.  Behind him, DEForce Racing’s Parker Thompson jumped up into the 3^rd position after a textbook pass of Sting Ray Robb.  Thompson’s teammate, Kory Enders, ended his day early after only 3 laps with mechanical woes, but the race stayed green until another teammate, Moises de la Vara brought out the caution on Lap 11 by spinning in Turn 6.  De la Vara was able to restart his car and continue only to end his day in pit lane.

On the restart, Eves got a good jump on the field and maintained his lead.  Sting Ray Robb, who had been running in 4^th, had a slight off-course excursion on Lap 15 to drop all the way back to 13^th before rebounding to eventually finish 10^th.  Meanwhile, Danial Frost, who scored a Win and a Podium in the 1^st and 2^nd rounds at Road America, kept closing in on Eves.  By the last lap, Frost had closed to within three-tenths of Eves, but Eves held on for the victory, with Parker Thompson finishing in the 3^rd spot.

For the second qualifying session, Braden Eves repeated his performance from the previous day, besting Sting Ray Robb by 0.0208 and Danial Frost by 0.0485.  At the drop of the green, Eves charged to the front and Frost passed Robb for 2nd, but behind them the resilient Russian, Artem Petrov, who had started in 4^th position, was on the move.  A tremendous battle amongst Petrov, Robb, and Thompson ensued, which eventually saw Petrov in 3^rd and Thompson in 4^th, with Robb dropping back to 5^th.  By Lap 6, Petrov had passed Danial Frost and was challenging Braden Eves for the lead, which he fought for and won on Lap 7.

A full course caution came out briefly on Lap 8 for Pabst Racing’s Colin Kaminsky, who slid off-course in Turn 4.  At the restart, Devlin DeFrancesco, the Canadian sensation with Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport, started making his presence known, methodically taking over positions one at a time.  On Lap 21, Eves was tapped from behind and pitted for tires, dropping back to the 9^th position where he would remain until the end of the race.  By this time, DeFrancesco had moved all the way up to the 2^nd position, but was unable to close the 8-second gap to Petrov for the lead.  On the final lap, whilst battling it out for the final podium position, contact occurred between Danial Frost and Sting Ray Robb, causing Frost to drop back to 8^th.  At the flag, the order was Petrov, DeFrancesco, and Robb.

Qualifying for Race 3 was determined by the driver’s fastest lap in Race 2, which resulted in a new set of front-runners, headed up by Jacob Loomis, driving for BNRacing with Team Benik, who was followed by Colin Kaminsky, an Illinois native, and Kory Enders, who hails from Texas.  With the green, Kaminsky took an aggressive line and muscled the lead away from Loomis.  Further back in the field, two drivers got into it on the first lap, Sabré Cook, also with BNRacing with Team Benik, and Juncos Racing’s Nate Aranda, which resulted in eventual retirement for Cook.  Danial Frost and Sting Ray Robb, who started in 4^th and 5^th respectively, both started charging for the front, with first Frost and then Robb getting by Loomis on Lap 2.

The unthinkable happened on Lap 3.  Whilst battling for the lead, Kaminsky and Frost came together, which resulted in immediate retirement for Kaminsky and saw Frost eventually finish a lap down in 12^th.  Their loss was Sting Ray Robb’s gain as he easily took over the lead of the race.  Meanwhile, Kaminsky’s teammate, 2019 USF2000 runner-up Hunter McElrea, was also moving up the field and had picked up 3^rd by Lap 8.  McElrea soon mounted a challenge against Loomis for the 2^nd position, which he attained on Lap 13.  Robb had pulled out a 1.7 second lead on Loomis by the time McElrea passed him and McElrea fought to catch up but was only able to decrease that lead to 0.6377 by the checkers, with Loomis finishing 3^rd.

The Road to Indy will return to the track at Lucas Oil Raceway for the Cooper Tires Freedom 90 IndyPro2000 Race and the Cooper Tires Freedom 75 USF2000 Race on Friday, August 21st.

Sting Ray Robb - Photo Credit Elaine Sinclair