PALMETTO, Fla. – Drivers on the highly acclaimed USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire open-wheel driver development ladder will have a little more incentive to perform strongly this weekend, June 21-22, when the top two rungs, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, compete at the classic Road America circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Last Sunday evening at World Wide Technology Raceway, a thrilling NTT INDY CAR SERIES event concluded under the lights with a pair of former USF Pro 2000 championship winners, Kyle Kirkwood (2019) and Christian Rasmussen (2021), sandwiching 2016 runner-up Pato O’Ward on the podium.

In addition, a little earlier in the day, the past two USF Pro 2000 champions, Lochie Hughes and Myles Rowe, finished first and second in the INDY NXT encounter.

All of the aforementioned gained enormous credibility and satisfaction from their seasons on the USF Pro Championships ladder while also earning valuable scholarships to continue their career progressions.

A long list of talented young drivers looking to follow in their footsteps will ply their trade this weekend at the ultra-fast 4.014-mile road course in rural Wisconsin in five rounds that will comprise the Elite Engines Grand Prix of Road America.

Max Garcia, 16, from Coconut Grove, Fla., is the current USF Pro 2000 championship leader at the halfway stage with nine of 18 races completed. Garcia, who won last year’s USF2000 title, is looking to replicate both Kirkwood and Rasmussen, who secured back-to-back USF2000 and USF Pro 2000 championship crowns in 2018/2019 and 2020/2021.

Garcia, who drives for locally based Pabst Racing, has won twice this season. He has also accumulated four additional podium finishes.

Israeli rookie Ariel Elkin has emerged as Garcia’s closest challenger, currently 41 points adrift, after winning three of the last four races for TJ Speed Motorsports.

Alessandro de Tullio, from Miami, Fla., won three of the first four races for Turn 3 Motorsport, but has slipped to third place in the standings – only seven adrift of Elkin – despite a strong second-place finish in the most recent race at the only oval event on the schedule at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. De Tullio will be confident of bouncing back this weekend with the Turn 3 squad, which swept all three races last year at Road America while guiding Australia’s Lochie Hughes to the championship crown.

Other contenders will include 2024 USF Juniors champion Max Taylor (VRD Racing), from Hoboken, N.J., who was quickest during a recent test at Road America, New Zealander Jacob Douglas (Pabst Racing), who had been fastest on Day One, and Canadian Mac Clark, who has been knocking on the door of Victory Lane for Exclusive Autosport.

Joseph Loake, 20, from Macclesfield, England, who finished third in the 2023 GB3 Championship and won that year’s prestigious Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award, will make his USF Pro 2000 debut with Turn 3 Motorsport.

The tripleheader for USF Pro 2000 will kick off with a pair of 45-minute test sessions on Thursday afternoon, June 19. Thirty minutes of official practice at 9:15 a.m. CDT on Friday will lead into qualifying sessions at 11:20 a.m. and 1:35 p.m. Two races will be held on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. and 4:25 p.m, with the finale set for 7:55 a.m. on Sunday, immediately prior to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup.

A season high field of 24 cars are entered for a pair of USF2000 races on Saturday with VRD Racing’s Thomas Schrage and Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers having emerged as the top two protagonists.

Schrage, from Bethel, Ohio, who overcame a debilitating shoulder surgery during the offseason, is riding a streak of six consecutive podium finishes which included a long overdue maiden victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in May.

Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, also secured his maiden victory at Indianapolis.

Coincidentally, a recent test session at Road America saw both contenders narrowly eclipsed by their respective teammates. Teddy Musella (VRD Racing), from Orlando, Fla., posted the fastest unofficial lap overall at 2:07.0596, significantly quicker than the existing track record set in 2023 by Lochie Hughes, while Miami, Fla.-based Brazilian Lucas Fecury (Exclusive Autosport) set the best lap on Day One.

Anthony Martella, from Woodbridge, Ont., Canada, will arrive in Wisconsin on the crest of a wave after dominating the most recent race on the oval at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for Jay Howard Driver Development. Teammate Brad Majman, from Melbourne, Australia, also shone at IRP with a third-place finish.

G3 Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., and Caleb Gafrarar, from Charlotte, N.C., will fly the flag for Pabst Racing, which has won at least one USF2000 race at Road America in five of the past eight years.

In addition to the usual contenders, JT Hoskins, from Sarasota, Fla., and Harley Keeble, from Grimsby, England, representing Jay Howard Driver Development, Thomas Nordquist (DEForce Racing), from Omaha, Neb., and Exclusive Autosport teammates Kaylee Countryman, from Chandler, Ariz., and Brenden Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., are set to step up from USF Juniors for their USF2000 debuts.

Two 45-minute USF2000 test sessions on Thursday afternoon will be followed by practice on Friday at 9:55 a.m. and then the crucial solitary qualifying session at 12:05 p.m. The pair of races on Saturday will see green flags at 11:25 a.m. and 5:20 p.m.