BROWNSBURG, Ind. – After enjoying another strong outing at the penultimate Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship event at New Jersey Motorsports Park, Cape Motorsports will head to St. Petersburg, Florida this coming weekend for the series finale having already clinched the prestigious Team Championship honors.
Michael d’Orlando and Josh Green added big points to the team total as both earned podium finishes at NJMP on the October 9-11 weekend, while Kyle Dupell scored his best result of the season with an impressive run to fourth in the challenging wet conditions of Race 3 on Sunday. Florida’s Reece Gold posted a pair of top-10 finishes and now sits tied for second in the championship heading to the final race of the season.
"New Jersey Motorsports Park was a hard-fought race weekend, from start to finish, and all our drivers really worked hard throughout the event,” commented Dominic and Nicholas Cape, team owners. “In the final race with its ever-changing conditions, both Kyle and Josh drove extremely well, storming races to finish fourth and second respectively, scoring enough points to clinch the 2020 Team Championship. What a fantastic championship to win! Everyone on the team has contributed to this award with their hard work and dedication, and that's what makes it special. We can't wait to go to St Pete for the final races of the year.”
Michael d’Orlando scored a pair of top-five finishes in New Jersey, making it to the podium in the opening race to finish third. The Hartsdale, NY driver qualified seventh and sixth in the timed sessions for Race 1 and 2, and then sixth for Race 3 as the grid was set by a driver’s fastest lap in Race 2. After taking fourth in the second race of the tripleheader, d’Orlando spun off track at the start of the third race as the event began. After the red flag, he set about working his way back to the front, but mid-race contact damaged his front suspension and put him on the sidelines early. On the strength of his top-five finishes, d’Orlando heads to St. Petersburg sitting fourth in the points, and is still mathematically in the hunt for second in the championship.
Teammate Reece Gold stands in the way of d’Orlando when it comes to advancing to second, as the Miami, Florida sophomore driver is now tied with Eduardo Barrichello for the runner-up spot in the championship. The young American did not have a ‘Reece Gold’ type weekend in New Jersey, having struggled in the opening race to finish 14th. Reece bounced back by qualifying fifth for Race 2, which he used to finish sixth. In the wet weekend finale, he crossed the line in ninth to set up the fight with Barrichello for second overall in the championship on the streets of St. Petersburg.
Mount Kisco, NY’s Josh Green had bit of an up-and-down weekend, qualifying 12th for the opening race. Green found speed in every session but his progress was halted in Race 1 when two drivers got together and he was caught in the aftermath. Green started seventh in the second race and fought hard to finish ninth, right in the middle of a spirited battle with those just inside the top-10. In the last race of the weekend, Green impressed with his wet weather prowess, moving to second after the red flag. In tough conditions, Josh recorded his third podium finish of the season. The trio of results have placed Green into the sixth position in the championship standings, 45 points out of fifth and the fight for ‘Rookie of the Year’ honors.
Portland, Oregon’s Kyle Dupell was 19th in the opening race and 13th in the second as he advanced up the field, but when the rain came in Sunday’s finale, Kyle showed his stuff. Dupell started 12th and quickly worked through the field after the red flag, running impressive lap times to finish fourth at the checker.
After re-launching the season at Road America in July, Cape Motorsports and its drivers have competed in 15 races at Mid-Ohio, Lucas Oil Raceway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park. The USF2000 series will wrap up this weekend where it attempted to start back in March, at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on October 23-25. At the completion of the NJMP weekend, Cape Motorsports maintained its lead in the Team Championship at just under 100 points heading to the doubleheader finale.
CAPE MOTORSPORTS – DRIVER RESULTS AND QUOTES
USF2000 – ROUND 13/14/15 – OCTOBER 9-11, 2020
NEW JERSEY MOTORSPORTS PARK – MILLVILLE, NJ
JOSH GREEN - #2
Qualifying 1: 12th – 1:18.1121
Qualifying 2: 7th – 1:18.1886
Race 1: Start – 12th / Finish – 18th
Race 2: Start – 7th / Finish – 9th
Race 3: Start – 10th / Finish – 2nd
Driver Quote: ““NJMP was for sure a struggle for us as a team at the beginning, but I’m proud of the way we kept chipping away and finding lap time every session. Our work showed in the wet Race 3, finally finding my way back to the podium. Coming to St. Pete, the goal is a top-five finish in the championship and to keep fighting for more podiums.”
REECE GOLD - #3
Qualifying 1: 4th – 1:17.4362
Qualifying 2: 5th – 1:18.0808
Race 1: Start – 4th / Finish – 15th
Race 2: Start – 5th / Finish – 6th
Race 3: Start – 7th / Finish – 9th
Driver Quote: “We had our first “2020” race of the year at New Jersey. I got caught out by red flags in qualifying and just couldn’t go anywhere in the race. It sucks to have lost the championship, but I’m still excited to fight for second. As always, thank to Cape Motorsports and The Ticket Clinic. I’m also excited to be back on the Streets of St. Pete. We were fast there earlier this year and the Capes always have a fast car there. I’m excited to fight for second in the championship and hopefully we can end the season on a high!”
MICHAEL D’ORLANDO - #4
Qualifying 1: 7th – 1:17.6421
Qualifying 2: 4th – 1:17.8986
Race 1: Start – 7th / Finish – 3rd
Race 2: Start – 4th / Finish – 4th
Race 3: Start – 6th / Finish – 17th
Driver Quote: “The weekend at New Jersey had some great results and some disappointing ones but, as always, the team and I work very hard together to continuously improve and work for more podiums and another win. My qualifying sessions were a little rough, however, we came back for an awesome result in race one and then another solid result for race two. I’m not very happy with how my last race ended, but it's valuable experience that every driver needs. Thank you to all the people who came out to support me this weekend. It was so great to meet you all and see some friends and family.”
KYLE DUPELL - #14
Qualifying 1: 14th – 1:18.2975
Qualifying 2: 18th – 1:19.9394
Race 1: Start – 14th / Finish – 17th
Race 2: Start – 18th / Finish – 13th
Race 3: Start – 12th / Finish – 4th
Driver Quote: “The weekend at NJMP started out as a bit of a struggle for pace, running around the top-10 all week until it started to rain and then we drove from P12 to P4 overall. I was very happy to get my first top-four of the year. St Pete is one of my favorite tracks alongside Toronto. The street courses are what I look forward to all year so I’m hoping for a good result for the team and I to end off the year. I’m hoping to carry over the momentum we have from NJMP.”