Toyota Racing Series race-winner Artem Petrov will make his oval racing debut at Gateway this weekend alongside Kyle Kirkwood in RP Motorsport’s Indy Pro 2000 line-up.
The 19-year-old joined the Italian team earlier this year for the Euroformula Open season opener at Paul Ricard, ahead of a planned FIA Formula 3 Championship campaign with Jenzer Motorsport. That deal also ended up lasting only one round, and Petrov has not raced since.
IP2000 title contender Kirkwood has been joined by Damiano Fioravanti and Ian Rodriguez during the first 11 races of the year, and the reigning USF2000 champion is currently 13 points off Juncos Racing’s title leader Rasmus Lindh.
“We have now reached the final rush of the championship and from now on it will no longer be possible to make a mistake,” said RP Motorsport team principal Fabio Pampado.
“Our performance in the last few races has been almost perfect, so we want to confirm ourselves also on this occasion to continue our climb towards the top of the standings.?Kyle is very busy, the team is supporting him in the best way and the positive feedback of the test day allows us to present ourselves on this circuit with confidence and awareness in our vehicles.
“We also welcome Artem to the team, who will be dealing with a completely new adventure for him, even if the valuable experience already accumulated in the previous seasons will surely be useful to provide the team with an important contribution.”
Petrov started 2019 with M2 Competition in TRS, finishing ninth in the standings with one win. Prior to his disappointing rookie FIA European F3 season with Van Amersfoort Racing last year, he had been a winner in ADAC and Italian Formula 4.
?I thank the RP Motorsport team for this wonderful opportunity: I have already had the opportunity to work briefly with them and I was able to appreciate their professionalism and determination,” Petrov said.
“This is a new experience for me, starting from the car to the type of circuit.?However, I must say that the test day was fundamental for me to prepare for the race weekend, so I expect to progressively grow and do my best to try to lend a hand to the team and to my teammate.”