HARTSDALE, NY. [March 22, 2018] - It was a celebration, an inauguration, a new beginning, and then back to business for Michael d’Orlando, the young race car driver from New York, as his car racing program got underway with the completion of his first race in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. Overcoming travel weather related obstacles, schedule changes, last minute planning, and other coordination challenges, d’Orlando would leave the comfort of the karting paddock for the Mazda Road to Indy (“MRTI”) series to begin his open-wheel career in earnest.Due to the late decision to participate in the USF2000 series, the expectations were set to simply gain experience in the car and to work on learning the program with a new team, Team Benik. These expectations were simple and all were achieved or exceeded.
D’Orlando took to the streets of sunny St. Petersburg, FL in his inaugural MRTI event, on the same course as & in coordination with the Verizon IndyCar series season kickoff.Just two days prior, d’Orlando celebrated his 16th birthday with new friends and teammates, and so began the next chapter in his motorsports career.
With no prior experience competing in the USF2000 car, and only minimal testing with various teams since ending his karting career last August, d’Orlando got back to business as usual under the careful direction of Team Benik’s engineer Daniel Mitchell,Team Manager Nick Mitchell, and alongside his new teammate Sabre Cook.With only one warm-up to prepare, d’Orlando‘s first Qualifying session on Friday morning would set him 19th for the Race #1 on Saturday and his second Qualifying session would set him in the 22nd spot for Race #2 on Sunday.