LEXINGTON, Ohio – When Darren Keane arrives at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for Round 7 of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda competition this weekend for the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, it’ll be a familiar track to the series rookie. While all of the other circuits on the 2017 USF2000 calendar are new to Keane, Mid-Ohio is a circuit at which Keane has competed before.

Having raced at Mid-Ohio in F4 in his first-ever car race last year, Keane scored the pole and went on to finish third.

In addition to his familiarity with the circuit, Keane is feeling confident ahead of the Mid-Ohio weekend after finishing fourth in the No. 36 Newman Wachs Racing entry at Toronto two weeks ago – his best result of the season.

“I'm really happy with how the weekend went in Toronto and I think that we can have a really good weekend at Mid-Ohio building on that result,” said Keane. “I'm hoping for a similar outcome this weekend but at the same time I know that the competition is super tough. As always, the goal will to be to stay out of trouble and try to qualify well and work my way forward cleanly.”
 
Keane will also have his driver coach Ozz Negri, who has years of experience at Mid-Ohio, on hand for the event.
 
“Ozz (Negri) will be at Mid-Ohio with me which will be very nice because of all his experience at the track and just in general,” said Keane. “I have been practicing the track on iRacing but I have already been to Mid-Ohio in a race car and it is one of my favorite tracks I've driven so far. It is the only track I know on the calendar so I think that will help immensely. My favorite section is from 4-9, but my favorite corner is Turn 4.”
 
The 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course offers a bit of everything with elevation changes, speed corners, flowing corners and tight corners. Keane will look to capitalize on his experience there and bring his momentum from Toronto into this weekend’s double-header.
 
The Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio event begins on Thursday with practice followed by two race days on Friday and Saturday.