INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – As the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda travels to the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, series rookie Darren Keane will make just his second start in the series which serves as the first rung on the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires ladder system.

At 2.439-miles in length, the 14-turn road course incorporates portions of the traditional oval  which will play host to the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 in two weeks. The remainder of the circuit features the twists and turns of the infield with the cars running the track clockwise.
 
Keane delivered a pair of promising performances in his first-ever USF2000 appearance with Team Benik some three weeks ago at Barber Motorsports Park. Taking his first-ever official USF2000 race laps, Keane impressed with his maturity, composure, and forward thinking behind the wheel.
 
Keane started from 24th in his first race and worked his way up to 16th by the time checkered flag flew at the end of 40 minutes of racing. Building on what he learned in Race 1, Keane raced from 19th on the grid in Race 2 to battle for a top-10 finish in the final stages and ultimately take a respectable 11th place result.
 
“I definitely learned a lot at Barber – racing in USF2000 is new for both me and Team Benik,” said Keane. “We didn’t have the extra track time that some of the other teams had at Barber previously to the race weekend, so we had to learn a lot in a short amount of time. We learned a lot about the car so I’m looking forward to applying that at Indianapolis. It’s going to be really cool to be racing at Indianapolis where the biggest race in the world will happen in a few weeks. I think I’ll really like the road course, it has a chicane – which I like – so I’m really looking forward to it!”