PALMETTO, Fla. – USF Juniors Presented by Cooper Tires, a new-for-2022 pre-step to the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires, will return to action this weekend following a six-week hiatus. The challenging 3.27-mile, 18-turn VIRginia International Raceway road course will host a triple-header on June 4/5 with rising star Mac Clark seeking to maintain his perfect start to the season for DEForce Racing with four wins from the opening four races.
Clark, 18, from Toronto, Ont., Canada, quite simply blitzed the field at the inaugural event at Ozarks International Raceway in April. He was placed under rather more pressure during the second pair of races just a few days later at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala., but again took home both checkered flags to claim a sizeable early advantage in the quest for a scholarship valued at more than $220,000 to graduate into the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship for 2023.
Even with Clark’s dominant form, 14-year-old Sam Corry, from Cornelius, N.C., remains within striking distance, just 42 points behind, following a strong start to the season with Velocity Racing Development which has netted three podium finishes, a fourth and one fastest race lap. Each race win is worth 30 points, with additional points available for pole position, fastest race lap and leading most laps.
The VRD team also will field front-running entries for Nikita Johnson, from Gulfport, Fla., and Alessandro De Tullio, from Miami, Fla., who both have showed good speed already this season.
Johnson, who celebrated his 14th birthday last week (May 25), has two podium finishes to his name, while De Tullio has one.
Other contenders will include Jeremy Fairbairn, from Wellington, Fla., who secured his maiden podium finish for Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport in the most recent race at Barber; teammate Titus Sherlock, from Prosper, Texas, who finished fifth in one of the Ozarks races; Ethan Ho (DC Autosport with Cape Motorsports), from Los Angeles, Calif.; and Elliot Cox (Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development), from Indianapolis, Ind.
The USF Juniors field is set to expand this week with the addition of Ethan Barker, from Houston, Texas, in a family-run car, Australian karter Quinn Armstrong (DEForce Racing), and another pair of Crosslink Kiwi entries for Lucas Fecury, from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and Ryan Shehan, from Austin, Texas.
The Cooper Tires VIR Grand Prix will begin with a trio of test sessions on Thursday, June 3. The action is set to intensify on Saturday with 30 minutes of Official Practice at 8:30 a.m. EDT prior to a crucial solitary qualifying session at 10:40 a.m. The first of three races will see the green flag at 2:25 p.m. on Saturday, with two more races on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. and 1:25 p.m.
Live streaming of all races can be found at RoadToIndy.TV, the new USF Juniors App as well as usfjuniors.com.