Young Californian starts on the Road to Indy beginning with Monday's Spring Training series test at Homestead-Miami Speedway
BROWNSBURG, Ind. – Cape Motorsports today announced Californian Nicky Hays as the final driver on its Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship team, completing the four-driver lineup alongside Jagger Jones, Jackson Lee, and Michael d’Orlando.
“We tested Nicky over a year ago and it went really well,” said Dominic and Nicholas Cape. “Unfortunately, at that time it didn’t work, out so kept in touch knowing our paths would cross again. We reached out to Nicky and this time it all worked out, I think he will fit well with our guys and they’ll all push each other throughout the season. We couldn’t be happier with our driver lineup this year, it’s game on!”
Hays, 20, from Huntington Beach, Calif., began karting at the age of 5 and earned numerous karting wins and titles, including the 2016 and 2017 SKUSA California ProKart Challenge in the X30 Senior class (becoming the youngest ever to do so in 2016). Graduating to race cars in 2018, Hays has consistently impressed as he worked his way up the junior formula series ladder, starting with the F1600 Championship Series to the F4 US Championship Powered by Honda. Hays gained more experience in Europe in 2019, finishing third in the French F4 Championship before heading back to the US in 2020, placing fourth and earning top 10 finishes in 16 of 17 FR Americas Championship Powered by Honda races.
2021 saw Hays look toward the sports car route, as he earned a position on Honda Performance Development’s GT3 Driver Academy team and spent the season testing. But when the Cape brothers called earlier this year, Hays didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to shift gears to the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires.
“An opportunity to run with the Cape brothers in USF2000 doesn’t come along very often,” said Hays. “I tested with the Capes late in 2020 that went really well, and we’ve kept in touch, so the stars just aligned – it looked as though I was headed to a GT seat in Europe but things didn’t work out at the last minute. I was scrambling when Dominic (Cape) reached out, so it was perfect.
“I really like the way the Capes do things, the way they really push a driver to really maximize the track time we get. It’s not ideal that I’ve missed so much of the pre-season testing, but I know they’ll get me up to speed quickly. It’s a good environment for the four of us – it’s a similar situation to what I had in 2020 in FR Americas, with four and sometimes five very strong teammates. That makes the whole team stronger, and my success is their success.”
The entire Cape Motorsports team will be back on track at Homestead-Miami Speedway on February 14 for the official Road to Indy Spring Training day ahead of the season opener February 25 to 27 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. Tune into USF2000.com for all the action!