HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Two days of Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires Spring Training for both the Indy Pro 2000 Championship and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship wrapped up Sunday afternoon at the Homestead-Miami Speedway road course.
Teams and drivers were greeted by warm weather – a welcome respite for some after a particularly harsh winter in the Midwest and Northeast – as they completed preparations for next weekend’s season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Seventeen-year-old Sting Ray Robb vaulted to the top of the charts in Indy Pro 2000 for defending champion team Juncos Racing just moments before the final checkered flag.
Robb edged out fellow series veteran Parker Thompson, who had been fastest for most of the two days for new team Abel Motorsports.
Four different drivers took turns atop the scoring pylon as the weekend progressed. Los Angeles-based Russian Nikita Lastochkin was quickest in the opening 45-minute session on Saturday for Exclusive Autosport.
Last year’s runaway USF2000 champion, Kyle Kirkwood, led the way at the end of day one for RP Motorsport USA, while Thompson – who concluded a late deal to join Abel Motorsports – upped the ante Sunday with a lap of 1:19.9506.
Thompson was quickest again in warmer temperatures Sunday afternoon before electing to sit out the final session, which opened the door for Robb’s last-ditch effort.
The Idaho youngster’s lap of 1:19.7509, at an average speed of 99.761 mph, was a fraction over a half-second away from the standard set one year ago in Spring Training by Brazil’s Carlos Cunha on the official debut of the Tatuus PM-18.
“Our goal at the beginning of the final session was to get into the 1:19s,” said Robb. “Parker set a quick lap earlier but I wanted to beat that! We made a quick new-tire run at the beginning of the session, then made a few changes to adapt to the conditions and went back out on new tires, setting the quick time. I’m happy to be with the team this season – I did the Chris Griffis test with them in 2017 and obviously they know what they’re doing.”
After concluding his arrangement to join Abel Motorsports only days before the test, Thompson’s earlier effort remained good enough for second overall.
“Early retirement wasn’t treating me well, so when the opportunity came about to test with Abel Motorsports, I couldn’t say no,” quipped Thompson, who finished second in the 2018 championship chase. “I know Homestead really well but I don’t know the team, though they have a history of winning and they’re a great group. We hit the ground running – I find it really fun as a driver to sit down with a new team and go over how to make them faster. In two short days, we posted top-of-the-chart times so it was a great experience.”
A spate of quick times in the closing minutes this afternoon saw Kirkwood end the weekend third quickest, narrowly ahead of Swedish youngster Rasmus Lindh aboard a second Juncos Racing Tatuus. The top four were all covered by a slender .2781 of a second.
Meanwhile, Darren Keane emerged fastest for Cape Motorsports from a closely-matched, 18-car field of USF2000 competitors.
Keane, who in addition to chasing a career in auto racing is pursuing an Engineering degree at the University of Florida, took advantage of slightly cooler conditions Sunday morning to post the best time of the weekend at 1:24.5314 (94.119 mph) around the 2.21-mile, 14-turn road course.
The warm weather precluded anyone from approaching the unofficial USF2000 lap record of 1:23.7723 (94.972 mph), set during last year’s test by fellow Florida resident Kyle Kirkwood, who went on win the championship by winning 12 of the 14 races.
All of the 17 drivers who took part in each of the five sessions, totaling four hours of track time, were bracketed by just over a second and a half.
“This was an important test for us, with all the other cars out there,” said Keane. “We wanted to make an impression this weekend, knowing that it would stick with us and set a tone for the season – and I think we did that. I feel more confident in general now, especially given all the resources the team has. We trust each other a lot and we’re super confident in each other’s ability. We’re going into St. Pete with a clear mind and we know what we have to do.”
Keane’s effort edged out Manuel Sulaiman, who was fastest of all on day one at 1:24.5835.
Sulaiman has joined DEForce Racing for his rookie season in the Road to Indy, after competing for the past two years in the British F4 Championship.
Brazilian teenager Eduardo Barrichello, son of F1 veteran Rubens Barrichello, was fastest in the final period of practice Sunday afternoon. His time from the morning round remained good enough to finish fifth overall for the new Miller-Vinatieri Motorsports team.