Homestead, Fla. -- The opening USF Juniors event of the season is being held concurrently with the traditional pre-season Spring Training test sessions for both USF Pro 2000 and USF2000.
The senior category, USF Pro 2000, hosted four sessions today and will have three more tomorrow, running on the 2.21-mile road course without taking to the oval. Meanwhile, the USF2000 contenders today wrapped up two days of running on the same “roval” circuit as the USF Juniors.
In USF Pro 2000, which will commence its season at the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington in conjunction with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES on March 13-15, the youngest driver in the field, 15-year-old Christian Cameron, from Sonoma Calif., caused quite an upset by posting the fastest time of the day for TJ Speed Motorsports.
Cameron, who concluded his arrangement merely a few days before heading to South Florida – and is still working furiously to locate the funding to start his season – turned a best lap of 1:20.8493, an average speed of 98.406 mph toward the end of the final session this evening.
It proved enough to narrowly better the previous best time of 1:20.8648 set in the very first session this morning by Peruvian Andre Cardenas for JHDD powered by ECR. It was the only time Cardenas was on track today.
Aside from Cardenas’ teammate JT Hoskins, from Sarasota, Fla., who was an impressive second quickest this morning, most of the best times were turned in the final session of the day.
New Zealander Sebastian Manson set the pace for Turn 3 Motorsport in the second session, while Frankie Mossman, from Newport Beach, Calif., was mere fractions behind Cameron this evening with a best lap of 1:20.8666 for VRD Racing.
In USF2000, which will kick off its season next week on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., once again alongside the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Colombian second-year driver Sebastian Garzon was the pacesetter in two of today’s three sessions. Garzon also claimed the fastest overall time of 1:18.3373 for DEForce Racing.
Australia’s Liam Loiacono (JHDD powered by ECR) and Brazilian Joao Vergara (VRD Racing) were second and third, merely a tenth of a second behind Garzon, with VRD teammates Ryan Giannetta, from Redondo Beach, Calif., and rookie Colin Aitken, from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., rounding out the top five.