Latest news with #USF2000
Scoop
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Scoop
Jacob Douglas Targets Big Results At Road America After Dominant Test Pace
New Zealand's Jacob Douglas heads to Road America this weekend for what could be a pivotal round in the USF Pro 2000 Championship presented by Continental Tires, coming oƯ a dominant performance in pre-event testing. Driving for Pabst Racing, Douglas topped three of the six sessions and finished second in the others, becoming one of only two drivers to break the 2:01 barrier around the iconic 4.01-mile (6.45km), 14-turn circuit. Currently sitting fifth in the championship standings, Douglas has been one of the standout performers of 2025, with a maiden series victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a podium finish in St. Petersburg, and a string of top-five and top-ten finishes that have kept him within striking distance of the title contenders. With teammate Max Garcia leading the standings on 231 points, Douglas trails by 90 — but with 98 points on oƯer this weekend alone, the New Zealander is focused on closing the gap. 'We've made big gains all season in pace, consistency, and execution,' said Douglas. 'Now it's about putting that together. We know Road America suits us, and if we qualify well, we'll be right in the mix for the podium.' Douglas describes Road America as one of the best tracks in North America. 'It's fast, flowing, and super technical. It rewards confidence and commitment, and after how strong we were in testing, I'm coming into the weekend with a really positive mindset. 'This is one of those tracks where if you're in the zone, you can make big things happen.' The Wisconsin circuit holds special significance for Douglas, who scored his first-ever USF 2000 top-ten at the track in 2022 and returned in 2023 to take his maiden podium while debuting with Pabst Racing. 'I've always enjoyed racing here,' he added. 'There's just something about this place that clicks with me. The atmosphere, the challenge — it brings out the best in drivers. I've had some great memories here already, and now I want to add to them.' With just four race weekends remaining — all running on the support bill of the NTT IndyCar Series — Douglas and his team are pushing hard on all fronts, both on the track and oƯ it. While much of the season's backing is already in place, a final push is now critical to ensure the campaign can be completed in full. 'We've had amazing support so far, and I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who's been part of the journey,' said Douglas. 'But to be completely transparent, we still need to secure one or two key partners to see out the rest of the season.' 'These last events are high-profile, high-stakes rounds — perfect for brands wanting to make an impact with a fast-rising driver and a championship-winning team. The opportunity is right here, right now, and we need to make it happen.' This weekend's action at Road America begins with a pair of test sessions on Thursday local time, before two qualifying sessions on Friday at 11.20 am and 1.35 pm CST (Saturday 4.20 am & 6.35 am NZST). Saturday sees the first two races at 8.00 am and 4.25 pm CST (Sunday 1.00 am & 9.25 am NZST) before Sunday's finale at 7.55 am (Monday 12.55 am NZST). Fans can watch all the action live on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel, while Douglas shares real-time updates and behind-the-scenes content across his social media platforms. About Jacob Douglas: Jacob Douglas is a 19-year-old racecar driver from New Zealand. He is a multiple-time national champion in karting and was the 2023 USF YACademy Champion. He took 11 podiums, including seven wins, in USF 2000 machinery in the United States in 2023, before making two GB3 cameos in 2024. He is a member of New Zealand's prestigious Elite Motorsport Academy, winning the renowned Bruce McLaren and Ian Snellgrove trophies among the Class of 2024 In 2025, he returns to North America to compete his rookie season in the USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tires. Where to watch: The USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tires can be viewed live on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel.
Fox Sports
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
As Kyle Kirkwood cuts into Alex Palou's INDYCAR lead, is there time to catch him?
Kyle Kirkwood cut 27 points from the margin between him and INDYCAR points leader Alex Palou when Kirkwood won Sunday night. That sounds big, but consider this: Kirkwood would just have to do that three more times to potentially catch Palou as he's still 75 points out. "Moving closer," Kirkwood said. "It's still a long ways to go." But Kirkwood's victory at World Wide Technology Raceway (commonly known as Gateway) under the lights Sunday night was about more than just math. It was about winning at a track other than a street course. Kirkwood's two previous wins this year came on street circuits at Long Beach and Detroit, with Detroit his fourth career win and them all on temporary circuits on city streets. "You get your fourth and people are like, 'Another street course for Kirkwood' — it's not as big of a deal now, when is he going to win something else?'" Kirkwood said. "It takes [the focus] away from the street courses, so this was huge for me. This was by far bigger than [Detroit] because of that." That's not to say Detroit wasn't satisfying for Kirkwood. He made moves for passes that he was proud of making and left with the feeling of earning the win. But to win on the 1.25-mile oval at Gateway was a statement win, one that other people will notice and one that signaled he needs to be taken seriously as a title contender. "[It] just like kind of puts a stamp down a little bit, more like, 'Hey, this kid might actually be able to contend for a championship and do things,'" Kirkwood said. Could he win a championship? Kirkwood knows how to race for a title. He won titles in USF2000 in 2018, USF Pro 2000 in 2019 and Indy NXT in 2021. If he's going to compete for the 2025 championship, he will need to perform on the three types of circuits remaining in the final nine races — ovals (Iowa doubleheader, Milwaukee and Nashville), permanent road courses (Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca and Portland) and one street circuit (Toronto). "Everybody knows you've got to be diverse in this series," Kirkwood said. "You've got to win at multiple circuits. You've got to win at multiple venues. "Whether it's a short oval, long oval, street course, road course, whatever it might be, you've got to win at all of them. [This is a] step in the right direction for sure." Racing on ovals is an acquired skill and often requires a driver to pounce when the opportunity presents itself. "Last year, to be honest, I was too timid on the restarts and starts and kept getting passed," Kirkwood said about returning to Gateway. "I had to be pretty aggressive and take more risks than I would have liked to, but it worked out." Coming up for Kirkwood and the INDYCAR drivers is Road America (Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX), where Palou has won in 2021 and 2023. Penske drivers Josef Newgarden (2022) and Will Power (2024) won the other most recent races. The last time an Andretti car won at Road America was with Alexander Rossi in 2019. Only Palou (five wins) and Kirkwood (three) have won races this year. Palou's wins have come at a variety of tracks with one on a street course (St. Petersburg), three on permanent road courses (Thermal, Barber, Indianapolis) and one on an oval with the Indy 500. "Everybody knows we're going to go to Road America next week and [Palou] is going to put on a show there and we'll have to do everything in our power to keep him from looking shiny once again on road courses," Kirkwood said. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Get more from NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Fox Sports
01-05-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Spring Slumber Ends as Series Roars Back to Racing at Barber
INDYCAR The INDY NXT by Firestone season resumes this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park, with a 35-lap Grand Prix of Alabama scheduled for 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday, May 4. The event will be broadcast on FS1 with audio coverage available on SiriusXM channel 218 and the INDYCAR Radio Network. The season began March 2 with an impressive performance by Andretti Global rookies Dennis Hauger and Lochie Hughes, who qualified and finished 1-2 in the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg. Hauger has since demonstrated his versatility by topping the charts at the Nashville Superspeedway oval test April 1 and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course test April 22. SEE: Event Details The duo enters the 17-turn, 2.3-mile Alabama road course as the drivers to beat. However, there are plenty of capable rivals among the 20-driver field ready to challenge the Andretti Global rookies' pursuit of victory lane Sunday. Headlining that list could be sophomore teammate Salvador de Alba. After transferring from Andretti Cape INDY NXT to Andretti Global after last season, de Alba aims to build on a strong fifth-place finish at St. Petersburg. His goal is to improve on road courses this season, and Barber could be the perfect venue to showcase his progress. A sleeper is ABEL Motorsports driver Jordan Missig. He impressed with a sixth-place finish in St. Petersburg and was eighth fastest in the Nashville oval test. Here are two other things to watch for this weekend's second race of the 2025 season. Can Sophomores Keep Andretti Global Rookies Honest? Andretti Global is still searching for its first Barber Motorsports Park victory in the INDYCAR development series since 2019. Barber's technical layout could reward experience over raw pace, which could help someone besides Hauger or Hughes enter victory lane. The track has a history of veterans winning. David Malukas won one of the doubleheader races in 2021 for HMD Motorsports. Linus Lundqvist won the single race in 2022 while Christian Rasmussen was victorious for the team a year later. Jacob Abel drove his No. 51 ABEL Motorsports entry to Victory Lane last season. If history holds and trends continue, Myles Rowe could leverage his seasonal surge pattern this weekend. Rowe moved from HMD Motorsports to ABEL Motorsports this offseason. He enters this weekend after placing fourth in the season opener at St. Petersburg and finished sixth in his rookie season last year. Plus, Rowe has driven into victory lane in the second race of the season in two of the last three years. In USF2000 in 2022, he won the second race of the St. Petersburg doubleheader weekend. He then won at the second track of the year at Barber Motorsports Park. In his USF Pro 2000 championship-winning season in 2023, Rowe won the second race of the St. Petersburg season-opening weekend again to follow with a sweep at the second venue of the year – Sebring International Raceway. Rowe's teammate Callum Hedge could threaten, too. Hedge had an eighth-place finish in St. Petersburg and ninth at Barber last year. Hedge, 21, racked up eight top-10 finishes last season, with five top-five finishes. Last year's Rookie of the Year, Caio Collet, needs a good weekend. He finished a distant third in St. Petersburg, the same spot he finished in points last year. The Brazilian had championship aspirations for his sophomore season and aimed to use his experience to finish ahead of the Andretti rookies' inexperience early in the season. Collet finished fourth at Barber last season, leading to a strong rookie year on natural road courses. He finished with seven top-five finishes in eight natural road course starts, including his lone victory at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last July and a pair of runner-up results in the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca doubleheader. Driver Changes Hailie Deegan, who finished 14th in her maiden INDY NXT start at St. Petersburg, will be the lone female driver in the field after HMD Motorsports and driver Sophia Floersch announced March 27 that they mutually agreed to part company for the rest of the season. Floersch, from Germany, qualified 17th and finished 12th in her debut in the INDYCAR development series on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the No. 24 HMD Motorsports entry. Rookie Evagoras Papasavvas will drive the car this weekend. The 17-year-old tested for the team at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and comes to INDY NXT after racing the last three seasons in USF 2000 for Jay Howard Driver Development. He was named as an HMD Motorsports reserve driver early this season. Another driver change is sophomore driver Bryce Aron will switch from HMD Motorsports to the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing entry. Aron, from the Chicagoland area, finished 13th in St. Petersburg. He replaces Jonathan Browne in the car. Browne finished seventh in the season opener. Aron joins new CGR teammate Niels Koolen, who remains in the No. 10 entry. Track Specs: 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural road course Qualifying Record: Christian Rasmussen (1 minute, 10.7371 seconds, 117.053 mph, April 29, 2023) Push To Pass Parameters: 150 seconds of total time, with a maximum time of 15 seconds per activation. recommended
Fox Sports
08-04-2025
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Kyle Kirkwood Knows Race Wins Key to Challenging Alex Palou
INDYCAR Kyle Kirkwood is making a strong impression in the early stages of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, but he admits to feeling the heat from Alex Palou's dominance. The Andretti Global driver is sixth in the point standings, one of six drivers joining Palou, Scott Dixon, Christian Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi in producing top-10 finishes in both races this season. But the frustration of having to chase down a three-time champion, including two consecutive championships, in Palou can be tough on a driver's mindset. Remember, Palou has won both races so far this season. Kirkwood's fifth- and eighth-place finishes this season are certainly respectable, but he is aiming for more, and Palou's pace is high. 'I should be a lot more satisfied than I am,' Kirkwood said. 'Because if you look back at (the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding), one of our better races, I pretty much followed Alex Palou the entire race and watched him win, which is disappointing. 'Then (at the second race, at The Thermal Club), we were on pace for what seemed like a locked top-four result, which would have been two top-five (finishes) in a row. As a driver, as a competitor, you always want better.' Kirkwood has a 48-point deficit to Palou. To really challenge Palou for the Astor Cup, Kirkwood will need to convert those solid finishes into wins. Given his background – winning championships in USF2000 (2018), USF Pro 2000 (2019) and INDY NXT by Firestone (2021) -- it's evident Kirkwood knows how to win and has the experience to handle the pressure of a title fight. He just needs to find a way to outpace Palou on these race days. That pursuit begins this weekend with the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, the third race of the season (4:30 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports App, INDYCAR Radio Network). 'We've got to do the same thing that they're doing -- we got to win races,' Kirkwood said of Palou. 'We can't let them get a big head start. That is one thing that Palou has done in the past couple years: He gets a huge head start, then everybody claws back at him at the end of the season. He's kind of on cruise control at that point. We need to not let him get out front and hold him back a little bit. 'It's turning into a thing that when you beat Alex Palou, you've clearly had a really good day. He's kind of the No. 1 guy that everyone is looking at now.' This weekend's 50th anniversary race could be a perfect place for Kirkwood to strike. He earned his maiden NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory and NTT P1 Award in this event. Add in the fact that Andretti Global has been strong at Long Beach with four of the last six race winners coming from the team, the stars could be aligning for Kirkwood. 'This is a very crucial weekend for us to turn things around in the championship hunt,' Kirkwood said. 'Even though it's still early in the season, a lot of people don't look at points. They're like, well, it's only two races in of the 17-race season. But if the guy is 60 points ahead of you, you've got to kind of pay attention to that. There is a long way to go. You're also falling behind very early, which is not something you want to do. 'I think this weekend is one of our best opportunities (to gain on Palou). If you look back at history in general, Long Beach has been one of the best tracks for Andretti Global. I think Toronto and Detroit are starting to grow on that. Street courses in general are really, really good. Long Beach has been a top one for the team. 'We're obviously going to be looking for a win. Honestly, at this time we need wins to be able to win a championship here because Alex Palou is just walking away with (the championships) at the moment. We need to turn that ship around.' Kirkwood is also aware that he is creating pressure for himself. He embraces the added dynamic. When a driver has a car that's capable of winning, the expectations naturally shift and bring a whole new level of pressure to deliver. It's one thing to be aiming for a top-10 finish and dealing with the challenges that come with trying to extract everything from a less-than-optimal car, but when you know your car has the speed and the potential to win, the stakes are raised significantly. 'I would say the weekends that you feel like you have a really good shot are the easiest,' he said. 'I guess you wouldn't think that coming into it, but now that I've had a couple years in the series, the hardest weekends are the ones that you're struggling. It's the ones that you're struggling to get into a top-10 finish. When you have kind of pace under your belt in a race weekend or across practices and qualifying, etc., it just makes things a lot easier.' Another interesting dynamic is Long Beach is a shared weekend with IMSA leading to a compressed schedule. Kirkwood sees that as an advantage for his No. 27 Honda. 'That doesn't give you a lot of time to really focus on changes, to hone in on stuff,' he said. 'Coming off the trailer very quick is very important. It just gives you a sense of ease, if I'm being honest. 'Of course, you have the pressure that now you have a fast car, now it's all on you to go out there and win. If anything, that just gives me comfort. I'm pretty confident that I can get it done if I have everything in my arsenal. So yeah, it's not really managing emotions; it's more just an easier weekend if everything is kind of flowing right.' in this topic
Fox News
03-04-2025
- Automotive
- Fox News
Which INDYCAR driver will earn first career win in 2025? We rank them
The NASCAR Cup Series has already had its first, first-time winner this season. What about the NTT INDYCAR Series? There are thirteen drivers who have not won. Here they are in order of career starts: — Conor Daly, Juncos Hollinger Racing (117 career starts) — Santino Ferrucci, A.J. Foyt Racing (79) — David Malukas, A.J. Foty Racing (46) — Callum Ilott, Prema Racing (40) — Devlin DeFrancesco, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (36) — Sting Ray Robb, Juncos Hollinger Racing (36) — Marcus Armstrong, Meyer Shank Racing (31) — Kyffin Simpson, Chip Ganassi Racing (19) — Christian Rasmussen, Ed Carpenter Racing (16) — Nolan Siegel, Arrow McLaren Racing (14) — Jacob Abel, Dale Coyne Racing (2) — Louis Foster, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (2) — Robert Shwartzman, Prema Racing (2) Who has the best chance to win? Here are six drivers to watch, from sixth to first: 6. Robert Shwartzman Shwartzman had no INDYCAR experience before this year. Prema is a new team with no INDYCAR track record. So how does Shwartzman make this list? Word on the street is that he is an incredible talent. Shwartzman was a Ferrari reserve driver, after all. He started the year with finishes of 20th and 22nd. 5. Christian Rasmussen Rasmussen was solid on road courses last year and is now in his first full season for Ed Carpenter Racing. He won the USF2000 title in 2020, the USF Pro 2000 title in 2021 and the INDY NXT Series title in 2023, so he is used to being up front. He opened the year with finishes of 15th and 12th. 4. Nolan Siegel Driving for Arrow McLaren, Siegel has had inconsistent results in his first 14 races for the organization. But if he develops quickly, he has a strong organization to help get him across the finish line first. He started the year with finishes of 25th and 19th. 3. David Malukas Malukas finished second at WWTR Gateway in 2022 and has three career top-five finishes. With the Foyt relationship with Penske, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him win. He started the season with finishes of 13th and 18th. 2. Santino Ferrucci With a career-best third in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, Ferrucci has seven top-five finishes — so he's certainly been close. He had 11 top 10s last year in the first season of the Foyt-Penske relationship, as he posted top 10s in each of the final four races in 2024. The 2025 season hasn't been great for him so far, with his pair of 14th-place finishes. 1. Marcus Armstrong Armstrong finished third at Detroit last year, one of four top-five finishes for him last season. He finished seventh at Thermal, giving him a top 10 already this year. Although he is in his first year with Meyer Shank Racing, many of the people on his team came with him from Chip Ganassi Racing as part of the new alliance between the two teams. Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
