HARTSDALE, NY – That’s another sweep of the Cooper Tires Freedom 75 for Michael d’Orlando!
The defending champion of the Freedom 75, in the Road to Indy's USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, returned to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park this past weekend looking to defend his title of the only oval circuit event on the 2022 calendar. Building on his consistency of his performances in the opening rounds so far this year, and similarly to his performance at the same circuit in 2021, d'Orlando garnered his first victory of the 2022 season and did it in dominating fashion.
“The Race Before the 500” is considered the premier event of the season but it did take a while to get the action going. Weather delays played havoc on the two-day Thursday and Friday event but this would not affect d'Orlando's performance.
After waiting out the rain for a few hours on Thursday, the practice and qualifying sessions would commence in a short rain-free window in the late afternoon, after the track dryers went to work. d'Orlando topped the charts in the single-car qualifying format with an impressive average two-lap time of 44.8229 seconds on the 0.686-mile circuit and an average speed of 110.194 mph.
Rain delays again on Friday pushed the main event to kick-off under the lights of LOIRP and the evening skies of Indianapolis. Leading the 17-car field to the green flag, d'Orlando controlled the lead and the race pace for the entire 75-lap event bringing home his first victory of the 2022 season in dominating fashion.
“I couldn’t be happier with the whole weekend," exclaimed d'Orlando. "We worked hard to get the right setup on the car, and the strategy and tire management throughout the race was critical so I could hold it to the end. It was a crazy weekend with the weather and the delays, but we were in a similar situation last year and earlier this year in testing, so we were prepared. You can’t worry about the weather, you just have to take things step by step. I am really appreciative for the continued support of my team at Cape Motorsports, and all my sponsors who have made it possible for me to be here.”
The performance moves d’Orlando to the top of Drivers’ Championship with a 17-point margin with four event weekends and 10 races remaining.
d’Orlando will return to action at the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Elite Engines in Elkhart Lake, WI on June 9-12.
We would like to continue to say thanks to all our partners for their support this season including DB Collaborative, Focused Project Management, Rising Star Racing, MotorMedia USA, Pierpont Mechanical, MG Engineering, Dino Energy Drink, UFC Gym - Mamaroneck NY, Signature Elevator Maintenance, AME Inc, Celtic General Contractors and JVN Systems Inc.
Stay tuned to Michael d’Orlando’s social media and website (www.dorlandoracing.com) for continued updates and more information. Follow him on social media for all the latest information on Instagram (dorlandoracing, michaeldorlandoofficial), Facebook (Michael d'Orlando Racing) and Twitter (dorlandoracing and michaeldOrland1).