USF2000 field complete pre-season test at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

DEForce Racing’s Sebastian Garzon set the pace in USF2000 pre-season testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The lastest additions to the 2026 grid, announced before testing, are Eddie Beswick at Pabst Racing and Wian Boshoff at Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development.

Beswick, 20, hails from Australia and won the title in his home country’s national Formula Ford championship in 2024. He also made his USF2000 debut that year, joining Exclusive Autosport for the street races in Toronto, then joined the grid full-time in 2025 as Synergy Motorsport’s sole driver.

While Beswick was usually in the top 10, facing new tracks each round and being part of a small outfit made for a hard rookie campaign but he still came 10th in the standings. The importance of experience showed in Toronto, the only circuit he did know, as he finished second in race one there.

Boshoff is embarking on a second season with SFHRD, having come 17th in his rookie campaign. He missed the final round, and four 10th places were his best results. The South African also raced in Indian Formula 4, where he was ninth in the points table.

There were five test sessions at Homestead across Monday and Tuesday (although six were scheduled), and Jay Howard Driver Development by Ed Carpenter Racing’s Naim Saleh topped the first. They set a 1m19.6016s to lead Velocity Racing Development’s Joao Vergara by a tiny 0.018 seconds, with Garzon 0.0889s behind and just 0.0001s ahead of Saleh’s team-mate Liam Loiacono.

Gabriel Cahan (Exclusive Autosport) was 0.354s back in fourth, and a slim 0.0574s split him and Colin Aitken (VRD) in ninth.

Ryan Giannetta (VRD) lowered the pace to 1m19.4150s in session two, edging Aitken by 0.0936s. Vergara and Loiacono were less than 0.18s behind, and Garzon was fifth.

Garzon moved to the front in session three, posting a 1m19.0521s. He took top spot by 0.2304s over Aitken, and Gabriel Cahan (Exclusive Autosport) moved into third overall with a 1m19.4137s lap. Pabst Racing’s Brad Majman was 0.4092s behind in fourth, as only 11 of the drivers recorded laptimes.

Session four the next day was the fastest, and Garzon set a 1m18.3373s that would not be beaten. Six drivers lapped sub-1m19s, with Loiacono and Vergara 0.108s and 0.1396s off the pace-setter with two very late efforts. Giannetta was only 0.1797s off the top in fourth, and Garzon had a 0.298s gap to Aitken in fifth. Saleh was sixth, and a second covered the top 11.

Garzon broke the 1m19s barrier again in session five, which he topped. His 1m18.8116s put him 0.5271s clear of Vergara, and Lucas Nanji (Pabst) trailed by 0.6016s in third. Cal Peter (JHDD by ECR) was the only improver.

Test results