INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Cape Motorsports is once again off to a flying start in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, extending their point lead after the third and fourth rounds of the series on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Jupiter, Florida’s Kyle Kirkwood arrived at the 2.349-mile, 14-turn road course at IMS with the championship lead after a strong start to the season back in March at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, where he scored a win and a fifth-place finish.
Despite the two-month layoff, Kirkwood and the team hit the ground running in Indy, with Kyle scoring the pole for both races. The young 19-year-old American then took second in Race 1 and followed that up with a dominant performance in Race 2 to score his second victory of the 2018 season. Kirkwood and Cape Motorsports will head to the Carb Night Classic on the Lucas Oil Raceway oval later this month with a 13-point advantage in the title chase.
“It was a great weekend for Kyle and the team,” commented Dominic and Nicholas Cape, the co-owners of the powerhouse team. “Two poles, P2 and a win, which is always great at Indy. We’re really proud of everyone’s effort.”
Kirkwood led the way through Thursday’s two open test sessions, as well as the single official practice session that was held that afternoon. Despite his blinding speed, Kyle came up just short of eclipsing the USF2000 track record, which remain held by his Cape Motorsports teammate Oliver Askew. Kirkwood still managed to sweep the qualifying sessions, topping the 26-car grid, to earn the pole for both weekend races. More importantly, he also secured the bonus point that comes with each pole.
Kirkwood jumped out to the lead at the green to start Race 1, but an early race yellow eliminated his initial 1.5-second advantage. On the ensuing restart, Kyle was overtaken by Alex Baron heading into turn one but he fended off the other attacks to slot into second. The race was slowed again for a wreck on lap eight, and soon after the restart, Kirkwood attacked in turn one to re-take the lead, but Baron stole it back again at the end of the Hulman Boulevard straightaway to move Kyle back to second, where he would finish.
In the second race of the weekend, held on Saturday morning, Kirkwood led flag-to-flag as he held back his competition through three different restarts during the 20-lap race. The final restart was a one-lap dash for the win that was slowed after just seven corners due to contact between drivers deeper in the field as they were setting up for the run to the green flag. Kirkwood led through the entire final lap to take his second win of the season.
Cape Motorsports and Kyle Kirkwood will now turn their attention to the next event on the USF2000 schedule, which is the series only oval race of the year. On May 24-25, they will compete in the Carb Night Classic on the 5/8-mile banked oval at Lucas Oil Raceway in the Freedom 75. Cape Motorsports finished first and second when the series was last at Lucas Oil Raceway in 2016, which bodes well for a strong run this time around.
CAPE MOTORSPORTS – DRIVER RESULTS AND QUOTES
USF2000 – ROUNDS 3/4 – MAY 10-12, 2018
ROYAL PURPLE GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS – INDIANAPOLIS, IN
KYLE KIRKWOOD - #8
Qualifying 1: 1st – 1:24.7694
Qualifying 2: 1st – 1:25.0252
Race 1: Start – 1st / Finish – 2nd
Race 2: Start – 1st / Finish – 1st
Driver Quote: “We had a great weekend overall. Our car was very quick all through the three days at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We were so close to sweeping the entire weekend, but cautions are almost never in your favor when you’re leading with a gap, which was the case in both races. Still, we extended our championship lead at IMS and we now look forward to Lucas Oil Raceway Park here in a couple weeks.”