The first rung on the Road to Indy ladder, USF2000, has attracted a strong entry of 21 Tatuus USF-17s to the opening rounds of the 15-race season – the St. Petersburg Grand Prix Presented by Andersen RacePark (Race 1) and the St. Petersburg Grand Prix Presented by Andersen Interior Contracting (Race 2).
Picking likely winners is far from easy, although many eyes will be focused on Alex Baron, who won one of the two races in St. Petersburg one year ago. He also emerged victorious at the Indianapolis road course – the only defeats incurred by runaway champion Kirkwood all year – but was unable to complete the season. This year Baron, who carries dual French and British citizenship, has joined the new Legacy Autosport team and will be embarking on what he hopes will be his very first full season of racing since winning the extremely competitive French F4 Championship in 2012.
“I’m very excited and eager to get the 2019 season underway,” said Baron, who elected not to travel to South Florida last weekend for the traditional Road to Indy Spring Training test. “Of course, the whole Legacy Autosport crew, my sponsor Metalloid and I are aiming for the championship. We have everything we need to thrive as a new team and to open some eyes. I’m very much looking forward to St. Petersburg as I’ve already won there last year, and I will do everything in my control to emulate that.”
In Baron’s absence at Homestead-Miami, 14 drivers were blanketed by less than one second. Darren Keane, from Boca Raton, Fla., emerged with the fastest time, just 0.0521 of a second ahead of Mexican rookie Manuel Sulaiman, who was extremely impressive for DEForce Racing.
Keane, who at the same time is pursuing an Engineering degree at the University of Florida, is also beginning his first full season after completing partial campaigns over the past two years. He has joined the St. Petersburg-based Cape Motorsports team, which has guided drivers to the last eight USF2000 championships in a row.
“There’s pressure, but you can either crack under it or use it to your advantage,” said Keane, who finished third at St. Petersburg last year. “I’ve been testing with the team for a while and I know they’re going to get the best out of me, and if they’re pushing me it’s because they know I have more. It’s all positive pressure. And I love going to St. Pete. I love street courses and being the opener of the IndyCar season brings so many fans out. It’s a great event.”
Keane will be joined at Cape Motorsports by highly rated rookies Braden Eves, from New Albany, Ohio, and Floridian-born Reece Gold, who is based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Gold, who is just 14 years old, won the 2018 Lucas Oil School Formula Race Car Series.
After winning the coveted Teams Championship in each of the past two years, Pabst Racing now has its eyes set firmly on adding the Drivers Championship to its resume. The Wisconsin-based organization boasts a four-driver lineup consisting of veterans Colin Kaminsky, from Homer Glen, Ill., Bruna Tomaselli, the only female in the field from Caibi, Brazil, and Yuven Sundaramoorthy, from Guilderland, N.Y., along with California-born, New Zealand-raised Australian Formula Ford Champion Hunter McElrea.
“I can’t wait to get on track at St. Pete; it will be so exciting,” said McElrea, who earned his opportunity by winning the third annual Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout last December. “This is my first street race, so it’s all a new experience. There is so much to learn so my main focus now is to make sure I am prepared as much as I can be ahead of time. Pabst has had a lot of success here so I know I’m in the best place for me to get the best results possible.”
The Jay Howard Driver Development team, headed by 2005 USF2000 (and 2006 Indy Lights) champion Jay Howard, has similarly high hopes as it fields a trio of cars for Denmark’s Christian Rasmussen, who finished third in last year’s F4 series, Englishman Matt Round-Garrido, who won the Northern Ireland Formula Ford 1600 Championship, and F3/F4/F2000 graduate Christian Bogle, from Covington, La.
Other young drivers to keep an eye on will include Eduardo Barrichello, the 17-year-old son of veteran Formula 1 star Rubens, who will join fellow second-generation racer Jack William Miller at another new team, Miller-Vinatieri Motorsports, and Cameron Shields (Newman Wachs Racing), who has gathered an immense amount of experience in Formula Ford, F4 and F3 in his native Australia before embarking on his first season in North America.
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