With the off-season and campaigning for new partners closing, competing in the 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered By Mazda was a much anticipated new chapter in Eric Filgueiras' career. Filgueiras received his first taste of the series last year when, after winning the Florida Karting Championship Series Mazda Road to Indy competition, he was awarded a spot out of 10 selected drivers in the nation and Canada to contend in the inaugural Mazda Road to Indy Scouting Combine. Even though he finished runner-up, it was there where he learned about the introduction of Formula Enterprises into the series through the National Class, and along with that came opportunity.
The event kicked-off with Wednesday practice where, after only four sessions behind the wheel of a Formula E machine, the young Floridian posted a time good enough for ninth quickest. He would start in that position for Race 1 where the race would be short lived when Eric was hit from behind under a full course caution, ending his race in the Turn 5 wall on Lap 2.
The starting line-up from Race 2 would be determined by the driver's fastest lap in Race 1, and since Filgueiras received no lap times in the first race, he was forced to start 14th (last) in class and 34th overall out of 36 cars. The last race of the weekend started off with no problems this time, and even though four of the 10 laps raced were driven under full course caution, Eric found himself in 6th place in class on the final lap (under full course caution). Just when it seemed like the young driver's luck had turned, tragedy struck when the #12 Formula E machine lost drive. It was later determined that the halted vehicle was due to an input shaft failure.
"Even though I found myself sidelined in both races by things out of my control, I'm extremely proud of my efforts and what I learned from my pro debut. The racing was intense and definitely something you would expect from almost 30 other young ambitious drivers who all dream of success in motorsports," stated Filgueiras. "We came into this with the goal to show well and let our presence be known, and I think we certainly achieved that."
For this opportunity Eric would like to thank: Jim Booth, Robinson Motor Sports, IMPACT, Oakley, Team Full Throttle, BigFin Seafood Kitchen, GoPro, SPEEDCOM Communications/ VisionX Custom Graphics, Festivals Of Speed, Hollywood Wheels Car Auctions, FUEL Clothing, and Manny and Kathy Filgueiras. You can stay connected with Eric via: www.ericracing.com, www.facebook.com/ericfilgueirasracing, www.twitter.com/eric_filgueiras. To inquire on becoming a partner and building your brand with Eric Filgueiras Racing, contact eric@ericracing.com.