Alton, Va. – Over a dozen drivers traveled directly from last weekend’s races on the streets of Baltimore to Virginia International Raceway for a day of testing today in preparation for the final two rounds of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda which will take place next week, September 14/15, on the 3.27-mile VIR road course in support of the American Le Mans Series.
Series points leader Matthew Brabham (#83 DTE Group) set the pace this morning with a lap of 1:50.978, an average speed of 106.107mph, while Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Trent Hindman (#3 Premier Woodcraft, Zydro+, DFL Construction, RaceLite Protection) turned the fastest lap this afternoon at 1:51.408 in slightly slower conditions following a rain shower.
All three Cape cars circulated within a few tenths of a second this morning, with Brabham shadowed closely by title rival Spencer Pigot (#2 Team Pelfrey, Doug Mockett & Company, E-merging Technologies, Parathyroid.com, California Scents, Mazda, Cooper Tires), and Hindman in third.
“The track is really cool,” said Pigot, from Orlando, Fla., who has won six of the 12 races this season but, after suffering some misfortune at each of the past two race weekends, trails Brabham by 41 points, 307-266, going into next week’s races at VIR. “It’s been a few years since I’ve been here, and driving it in a USF2000 car is a ton of fun. The test went well. We were fast and got a lot of information that we can use to improve when we come back next week so I’m looking forward to the races. The goal is the same as always, win both races, so we’ll see what we can do!”
For Hindman, who also has endured some misfortune this season, posting third fastest time this morning and being quickest this afternoon represented a solid step in the right direction.
“I was pretty surprised when I saw we were fastest this afternoon,” said the 16-year-old high school student from Wayside, N.J. “The track was really quick at the end of the morning session but we weren’t out there at that stage because we had a slight oil leak and we wanted to take care of that and make sure everything was right for this afternoon. It feels good to be P1. I have been working really hard with my engineer, Dominic (Cape), and I really do feel we’re making good progress and getting back to where I know I should be. It was a good test and I’m really looking forward to the race weekend.”
Scott Anderson, from Fort Collins, Colo., has been on a hot streak in recent weeks recording six podium finishes in his last seven starts aboard Belardi Auto Racing’s #14 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development, Neuropathy Testing Center, Laser Mail Centers Van Diemen-Mazda. The reigning Skip Barber National champion was right on the pace again today, clocking the second fastest lap this afternoon, a mere 0.049 adrift of Hindman.
“I’ve been to VIR before with Skip Barber so it was just a case of getting used to this (USF2000) car and finding out all the subtle differences,” said Anderson. “I got up to speed pretty quickly and we had a good direction on setup right from the start.”
Brabham, Thomas McGregor (#7 Dairy Queen, Exclusive Management-Andretti Autosport), Neil Alberico (#19 Kartel Motorsports, Bondurant School, RaceLite Protection, Red Line Oil-JDC Motorsports), Pigot and Shelby Blackstock (#8 Starstruck-Andretti Autosport) also were within 0.633s of the pace this afternoon.
Henrik Furuseth was fastest of the two National Class contenders in attendance, setting a time of 1:54.824 this morning in the #32 Palfinger/Akrene Mek Verksted entry for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing.