St. Petersburg, Fla. – Darren Keane will make his return to the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda grid this weekend after being confirmed as a full-season entry with Newman Wachs Racing in the No. 36 Cal Development/Keane Architectural Woodwork entry.
After getting a taste of USF2000 competition last year, Keane is prepared to come back with lessons learned to apply towards a competitive 2018 season.
Keane competed with Newman Wachs for four races in 2017, including Road America, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen, and is looking forward to rejoining the team which helped him grow his budding career last season.
Still new to the open-wheel ranks, Keane showed constant improvements during his first season behind a single-seater car; a big step from his karting career where he scored multiple championships. Keane competed in six USF2000 events last year, setting his focus on building on his craft every time he got behind the wheel.
Quickly, Keane developed his competitive pace as he battled with the talented young field of USF2000 drivers. Keane qualified in the top-ten twice and scored a best finish of fourth at Toronto after starting 11th. With his best finish to-date behind the wheel of a Newman Wachs car, Keane is feeling prepared to build on that momentum this season.
“We really built on a lot since last season,” said Keane. “It was difficult joining Newman Wachs in the middle of the season last year but I work really well with them and we had some really good races together. Since Watkins Glen last year, we have been developing the car really well. The Indy test also was great and we were in the top four out of all of the sessions. Our off season testing has been really good and we improved the car.”
After spending much of his off season in training mode, both on and off the track, Keane is eager to get back behind the wheel of the No. 36 Cal Development/Keane Architectural Woodwork entry for the USF2000 season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend.
“Since I haven’t been to St. Pete before, I have been doing a lot of simulator training at GPX lab which has been going great,” said Keane. “I like street courses, and my best finish last year (4th place) was at Toronto. I am pretty confident being close to the wall which I think gives me an edge on the competition.”