The long wait is over.
After a two-month hiatus, drivers and teams of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda return to action this weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The doubleheader race weekend is the first competition for the initial rung of the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder since the season-opening weekend at St. Petersburg, Florida, in March.
Newman Wachs Racing driver Darren Keane is looking to continue his methodical growth in his second season of USF2000. He started the season with a career-best third-place finish in the St. Pete opener and left the weekend sixth in the standings, 17 points behind leader Kyle Kirkwood (Cape Motorsports).
Keane finished 11th in the 2017 championship – despite missing three races – on the strength of five top-10 finishes. That experience, in Newman Wachs Racing’s first season racing after seven years away, set the foundation for this season.
“For us, the goal is to win,” said Keane, driver of the No. 36 Cal Development/Keane Architectural Woodwork Mazda/Tatuus USF-17.
“Everybody wants to win, but I think we can run up front all year, (be in the) top five. I think we’ve done a really good job testing during the offseason. Me and the Newman Wachs guys have really developed the car. I think we have a lot better car than we did at the end of last season and we did all right with that. Hopefully, we can have some good results this year.”
Keane should be confident coming to the IMS road course. In the Chris Griffis Memorial Test last October on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn circuit, he ran among the top four in all eight sessions, pacing two and setting the overall fastest lap time of 1 minute, 25.1424 seconds (103.126 mph) – quicker than the current race record by 0.3492 of a second.
It showed the growth of driver and team after a season together.
“It’s been pretty difficult honestly because last year was my first year in USF2000 and my racing experience before then was extremely limited,” said Keane, now 18. “I was trying to learn how to drive while we were trying to develop the car, which isn’t ideal because there’s a lot to think about. I have to think about what’s going on with the car, what’s going on with my driving. But I think as I’ve gotten better, I’ve been able to develop the car better.
“I think we’ve definitely improved a lot. … As seen in Indy in October, we had the pace.”
All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy held test sessions and the only official practice session of the INDYCAR Grand Prix race weekend on Thursday. Keane ranked in the top five in each of the three USF2000 sessions, posting the second-fastest overall lap of the day at 1:25.9331 (102.177 mph). Kirkwood clocked the top lap of the day at 1:25.9020 (102.214 mph).
In Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires testing and practice, a different driver led each of the sessions. Carlos Cunha was fastest for the day in the opening test session with a lap of 1:20.2858 in the No. 1 Juncos Racing Mazda/Tatuus PM-18.
In Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires testing and practice, Andretti Autosport teammates Patricio O’Ward and Colton Herta topped each session. O’Ward logged the best overall lap (1:15.9827, 115.558 mph) in the first test session.
Friday’s on-track schedule features qualifying and the first weekend race on tap for each series. USF2000 has Race 1 qualifying at 8:05 a.m. ET, Race 2 qualifying at 11:10 a.m. and the first race at 2:45 p.m. Pro Mazda has Race 1 qualifying at 8:40 a.m., Race 2 qualifying at 11:50 a.m. and its first race at 3:35 p.m. Indy Lights starts Race 1 qualifying 10:20 a.m., with the race at 1:30 p.m. Live streaming of all the races is available on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
Race 2 for each MRTI series will run Saturday in advance of the Verizon IndyCar Series’ INDYCAR Grand Prix main feature.