INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Cape Motorsports scored their first win of the 2020 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship campaign late last week, as Florida’s Reece Gold celebrated his first Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires victory in the third race of the tripleheader on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Gold was on the podium in the opening race as well, finishing second, and he took seventh in Race 2. The 16-year-old’s overall three-race performance advanced him to second in the championship standings, just 50 points behind the leader with eight races still remaining. No one has out-scored Gold over the last five races in the championship, so the necessary confidence and momentum is there. Cape had a total of four drivers in the event and both Josh Green and Michael d’Orlando added three additional top-10 finishes to the overall team record.
"Reece has had another breakthrough weekend,” offered Dominic and Nicholas Cape, team owners. “It was only a matter of time before he won his first race and he closed the points gap to the leader, so all his hard work is starting to pay dividends. Josh had another strong weekend with a great points haul and he moved into fifth in the championship. Michael fought hard as well, but during Race 1, he got launched over the curbs and knocked loose some camber shims in the rear. In Race 2, he posted a strong sixth place finish, and then in Race 3, on the video it looks like Rasmussen starts to accelerate for the green with everyone else then suddenly slows. Michael had nowhere to go and it unfortunately ruined his race.”
“Kyle had a shift loom failure in qualifying, and unfortunately it only had 2500 miles on it, so this really set Kyle on the back foot,” they continued. “In Race 1, he got hit in the rear, and in Race 2, Kyle got hit and damaged the front suspension. In the final race, he was penalized for jumping out of line at the start. It was a very eventful weekend for our team. A big thanks to all our guys for the hard work and we will keep fighting until the end."
In the opening race of the doubleheader, Gold was in a fight for the lead with polesitter Kiko Porto and, after he just barely overshot an overtaking attempt in turn 1 late in the race, Reece was able to eventually get by Porto for second as Eduardo Barrichello slipped through to the take the win. Green ran extremely well and chased the lead trio over the final laps to bring home a solid fourth-place finish. d’Orlando and Dupell battled issues as detailed above, and finished 18th and 20th, respectively. d’Orlando was in a fight for sixth at the halfway point, but dropped down after an off-track excursion at the end of the Hulman Boulevard straightaway.
Gold got a strong start to begin Race 2 from fifth on the grid, but he got out of line in turn 12 battling for position and fell back to eighth on the long straight down to turn 1. The Florida driver remained focused and patient and grabbed back one spot before the end of the race to salvage crucial points. d’Orlando bounced back on Friday morning and qualified eighth, and he used that performance to score a strong sixth-place finish. Green was hit by a fellow competition but still managed an 11th place finish, while Dupell suffered a damaged suspension component due to contact.
The final race of the tripleheader provided Gold with his chance to shine. He went on the attack from the start as off-pole sitter Christian Rasmussen was never able to accelerate, which scattered the field. d’Orlando’s luck had run out as while starting fourth, Rasmussen’s mechanical issue left Michael with nowhere to go and the resultant contact damaged his front wing and he was forced to pit for repairs.
Gold slotted into third quickly and then got past Eduardo Barrichello for second in the early going. Reece chased the leader to the finish, and forced him into a brake lock-up error with a final lap passing attempt, which gave Gold clear track out front to run to a 0.8651-second victory. Green put on an incredible show, coming from 14th on the grid to battle with Barrichello for fifth in a drag-race to the yard of bricks.
With the Indianapolis Motor Speedway event done, the team immediately went to work preparing their cars for the next event on the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires, as IndyCar confirmed the re-scheduling of the race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for September 11-13. The USF2000 series will feature a tripleheader, which when followed up by events at New Jersey Motorsports Park and the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in October, will complete the 17 races. Leaving Indianapolis, the squad expanded their lead in the Team Championship to 44 points and all four drivers are in the top-eight in the championship standings.
CAPE MOTORSPORTS – DRIVER RESULTS AND QUOTES
USF2000 – ROUND 7/8/9 – SEPTEMBER 3-4, 2020
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY - INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
JOSH GREEN - #2
Qualifying 1: 6th – 1:26.2308
Qualifying 2: 13th – 1:25.4312
Race 1: Start – 6th / Finish – 4th
Race 1: Start – 13th / Finish – 11th
Race 1: Start – 14th / Finish – 6th
Driver Quote: “The weekend overall was great. It was a wild experience to see the Speedway for the first time and it made it that much more special being able to race there. We had three solid races despite some issues in my second race and in qualifying. Huge congrats to my teammate Reece Gold for his first win of the series!”
REECE GOLD - #3
Qualifying 1: 2nd – 1:25.7272
Qualifying 2: 5th – 1:24.9754
Race 1: Start – 2nd / Finish – 2nd
Race 1: Start – 5th / Finish – 7th
Race 1: Start – 5th / Finish – 1st
Driver Quote: “What a week at IMS! I was able to get my first series win and to do it at a track like Indianapolis is very special. We also came away with great points, which put us closer to first in the championship standings. Overall, it was just a very good two days for us and the team. I can’t thank the Cape Motorsports crew enough, as well as The Ticket Clinic. I can’t wait to keep this momentum going at Mid-Ohio.”
MICHAEL D’ORLANDO - #4
Qualifying 1: 9th – 1:26.4049
Qualifying 2: 8th – 1:25.1359
Race 1: Start – 9th / Finish – 20th
Race 1: Start – 8th / Finish – 6th
Race 1: Start – 4th / Finish – 19th
Driver Quote: “This weekend at IMS was not what we were shooting for and we are very disappointed. Our qualifying position for Race 1 really put us in a bad spot and ultimately set up for the disappointing result. But, it was positive that we showed improvement for Race 2 to finish sixth. My race pace then was very good, which put us in a very good spot for Race 3 to start fourth. We were very confident for that race but it was unfortunate that the car starting right in front of me had an issue at the green flag and I had nowhere to go. The damage was significant enough to force me to pit stop for a repair, which put us a lap down. So now we will focus to put it all together in Ohio this weekend. We know we have the ability to fight for wins there.”
KYLE DUPELL - #14
Qualifying 1: 21st – 7:08.4946
Qualifying 2: 18th – 1:26.6116
Race 1: Start – 21st / Finish – 19th
Race 1: Start – 18th / Finish – 21st
Race 1: Start – 18th / Finish – 18th