All eyes on Homestead Florida  

Next Monday, 14 February, is the all-important official test for the 2022 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship at the 2.21 mile Homestead road course in Florida.  Both Kiwi drivers, Jacob Douglas and Billy Frazer, will get a very quick idea on where they and their Exclusive Autosport team are compared with their opposition heading into the 18-race season which gets underway on the streets of St Petersburg 25-27 February 2022.

Frazer returns for his second season in the series while Douglas has made the jump from Formula Ford straight into this wings and slicks category. 

Frazer has the benefit of a season’s experience with both track and car knowledge while Douglas will be a fresh rookie who will have completed some significant testing, including experiencing new tyres at several different circuits.

The pair will be part of a contingent of five Kiwi drivers competing in either the Road to Indy or the NTT IndyCar Series. 

Hunter McElrea has moved up from the US Indy Pro 2000 Series after two seasons in the category to the Indy Lights Series with his eye on the top step of the Road to Indy ladder, the NTT IndyCar Series.

Scott Dixon and Scott McLaughlin will both continue to compete in the main game.

So what is important about Homestead?

We know the strengths and weaknesses of the two ‘Scotts’ and Hunter McElrea. Dixon is a six-time winner of the IndyCar Series and McLaughlin showed in his rookie 2021 season that he will get better and not to be surprised when he starts winning races.

2018 Australian Formula Ford Champion McElrea won the Road to Indy shootout scholarship and went on to finish runner-up in the 2019 USF2000 Championship. In his second year of Indy Pro 2000 (2021) he finished third overall. He is a race winner and a championship contender and is on a trajectory that will undoubtedly see him in the top IndyCar Series within the next couple of years.

Homestead will give us an idea of how good Douglas and Frazer will be heading into the USF2000 season. While it is early in the season, a successful Homestead test will give confidence for the opening two races at the end of February.

Will we see more than three Kiwi drivers in the IndyCar Series in the next three to five years? Meanwhile, both the Indy Lights and USF2000 Championships’ will have nearly all their races at 11 of the IndyCar Series rounds (USF2000 has their only oval race at the Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis two days before the Indianapolis 500).

There is plenty to get excited about and plenty of reasons, other than F1, to get up early to watch live.

IndyCar, Indy Lights and USF2000 2022 Calendar