Oconomowoc, Wis. - Pabst Racing has announced the addition of 19-year-old Matthew Round-Garrido for the 2020 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship.
Round-Garrido hails from Stourbridge, England and will be returning to the USF2000 Championship for his second full season.
His racing career began in cadet karts like many of United Kingdom drivers and steadily progressed through the ranks. Round-Garrido moved to Formula Ford 1600 in 2017, where he placed third in the F1600 Driver’s Championship. In 2018, Round-Garrido won the Northern Irish Formula Ford Championship, which earned him entry into the Road to Indy $200k Shootout. In 2019, he competed in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship highlighted by a podium finish at Toronto as well as drives in the Indy Pro 2000 Champion-ship Presented by Cooper Tires.
Looking towards the 2020 season, Round-Garrido says: "I’m looking forward to joining Pabst for the 2020 season. I did a test with the team in late October and it was a great in-sight as to how the team works. They’re a great bunch of lads and I have no doubt they’ll be providing me with very competitive equipment and support for the upcoming season.”
With the completion of the 2019 season, Pabst Racing now has three consecutive team championship wins. They hope to continue this trend in 2020 with Round-Garrido on board, joining Yuven Sundaramoorthy and Eduardo Barrichello to complete the team’s 2020 USF2000 lineup.
“Ultimately my goal is to win the championship and get the scholarship to move up to Indy Pro 2000 for 2021,” said Round-Garrido. “Although that is the target, I just want to take it race by race because I believe if I can be consistently at my best then the points will sort themselves out.”
Team Owner Augie Pabst is thrilled to announce Round-Garrido: “When we tested Matt in October 2019, it was immediately clear that he was a driver we wanted in our car. In the weeks following the test, there was some uncertainty of his 2020 plans. When the word came that he was joining our team, I was ecstatic. I think we have an incredible driver line-up for 2020.”
Round-Garrido will pilot the #23 Pabst Racing, Excel Labels entry. This is the team’s final driver announcement in preparation for the 2020 campaign.