Photo: YACademy Winter Series
The 2026 YACademy Winter Series for USF Juniors cars began this week at Sebring.
Free practice and qualifying was on Wednesday for the 22-car field. Cam Becker set the pace in FP1, a 1m06.296s putting him just 0.081 seconds ahead of Victor Couto. Bex Cranston was 0.165s off in third, with half a second splitting the top 10 and a second covering the top 16.
In FP2, Cranston set a 1m06.441s to earn top spot. She edged Karol Pasiewickz by 0.153s, and had a 0.229s gap to Becker and Couto. This time the top 17 were split by one second on pace.
Qualifying was split into two groups, with the top five from each then progressing to superpole. In group A, Colin Aitken was quickest for Velocity Racing Development in the first event for its new alliance with Pole Position Motorsports.
He posted a 1m06.478s to pip Becker by 0.078s, Cranston by 0.11s and Max Mokarem by 0.18s. Andretti Global junior Oliver Wheldon also progressed to superpole.
It was even closer at the top in group B, as Couto’s 1m06.539s secured him first place by a tiny 0.008s over Brenden Cooley. Cole Medeiros was only 0.06s off top spot in third, Pasiewickz trailed by 0.136s in fourth and Jared Oselka was fifth.
Pasiewickz lowered the pace to 1m06.272s in superpole. Couto missed out on pole by 0.03s and Becker by 0.051s, with Aitken 0.173s behind in fourth. Mokarem, Wheldon and Cranston were separated by 0.052s, and all within 0.3s of pole.
Heavy morning rain meant a race was dropped from the schedule (so will be added to round two), with race one taking over race two’s planned start time.
Pasiewickz led Couto, Beck, Aitken and Mokarem at first, with Wheldon taking fifth from Cranston on lap two. Cranston got back past on lap three, as Pasiewickz pulled away up front. That was helped by the battle brewing for second, which Beck came out on top of on lap five. Couto fell to eighth a lap later, and Aitken inherited a distant third place.
Beck began setting fastest laps and took the lead at the end of lap nine. Pasiewickz returned the favour on lap 11, 0.098s splitting them as Aitken lowered the pace. The lead returned to Beck on lap 12, and was untouched for the remaining 10 laps.
Next to set fastest laps was Cranston, and both her and Aitken overtook Pasiewickz on lap 17. She finished 0.408s behind Aitken.
Cooley started ninth, climbed two spots on lap two, and took fifth on lap six by passing Wheldon. They stayed closely matched, actually ending lap 18 side-by-side and lap 0.089s ahead. He finished the race 0.122s ahead.
Edward Kennedy also had a battle-filled race with Couto once he lost ground. Once Kennedy won the fight on lap 16, Couto lost further positions but gained some back.
Mokarem finished 10th and got reversed-grid pole for race two. Couto was on the front row too but dropped to ninth on lap one, and Wheldon inherited second before he struck trouble demoting him to 11th on lap two. He struggled to complete lap three in a distant 20th, and a caution period was called.
Cooley was next to occupy second ahead of Cranston, and Aitken took fourth from Pasiewickz before racing was neutralised.
The restart was on lap seven. Cranston overtook Cooley a lap later, and Mokarem at the end of lap nine. Mokarem’s race ended on lap 11, triggering another caution period.
Cooley had taken the lead from Cranston, and on the lap 14 restart retained it. Cranston had superior pace, getting alongside several times before the next caution period. Three laps remained after, and Cooley held off Cranston to win.
Aitken fell from third to 13th before the restart, putting Couto onto the podium. He had recovered to sixth on lap two and passed Pasiewickz on lap seven.
Results round-up
Race 1 (22 laps)
1 Cam Becker Exclusive Autosport 27m20.832s
2 Colin Aitken VRD x PPM +1.792s
3 Bex Cranston Exclusive Autosport +2.200s
4 Karol Pasiewickz Olivia Racing +8.687s
5 Brenden Cooley Exclusive Autosport +10.680s
6 Oliver Wheldon VRD x PPM +10.782s
7 Edward Kennedy VRD x PPM +23.432s
8 Jack Mohrhardt VRD x PPM +26.115s
9 Victor Couto Zanella Racing +32.549s
10 Max Mokarem Zanella Racing +33.930s
Pole: Pasiewickz, 1m06.272s
Fastest lap: Cranston, 1m11.142s
Race 2 (22 laps)
1 Cooley 31m36.198s
2 Cranston +0.265s
3 Couto +0.553s
4 Pasiewickz +1.097s
5 Becker +2.033s
6 Leonardo Serravalle Zanella Racing +2.686s
7 Oliver Mrak Zanella Racing +3.580s
8 Grant Mitchell Zanella Racing +5.453s
9 Elias Vignola DEForce Racing +5.659s
10 Connor Aspley Exclusive Autosport +6.047s
FL: Couto, 1m06.574s