Christian Cameron fastest in USF Pro 2000 pre-season testing

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Christian Cameron set the pace in USF Pro 2000 pre-season testing on Homestead-Miami Speedway’s road course this week.

The 15-year-old American was driving for TJ Speed, landing a slot at the two-day test only the previous week, and is yet to source the funds required to race in USFP2000. In the last two years he has come 10th in USF Juniors and 11th in USF2000.

There were four test sessions on Tuesday, and Jay Howard Driver Development by Ed Carpenter Racing’s duo of Andres Cardenas and JT Hoskins led the way in the first. A 1m20.8648s put Cardenas on top by 0.1687 seconds, with the pair not improving on those laptimes in later sessions.

Pabst Racing’s Jacob Douglas was 0.5561s behind in third, and Frankie Mossman (Velocity Racing Development), Cameron and Sebastian Manson (Turn 3 Motorsport) were also within a second of the pace.

Manson was quickest in session two. He set a 1m21.2349s, pipping Mossman by 0.0546s. Douglas was third again, 0.3361s off, and team-mate G3 Argyros was fourth. Cardenas did not record any laptimes.

It was even closer at the top in session three, as Mossman’s 1m21.5729s earned him first place by just 0.0477s. Cameron racked up lots of laps and was second fastest, and VRD’s Teddy Musella was only 0.1105s off Mossman in third. Manson was 0.4098s back in fourth.

Seven of the 16 drivers testing recorded their personal bests in the day-ending session four, and it was also when the test’s fastest laps were set. Cameron’s 1m20.8493s became the benchmark time, and he was narrowly faster than Mossman and Musella who did far less running but were right on the pace. Mossman was 0.0173s shy of top spot, and Musella by 0.0988s.

Leonardo Escorpioni (Turn 3), Jack Jeffers (Exclusive Autosport) and Manson were split by 0.0595s in the next three places, all within a quarter of a second of Cameron, and a second covered the top 12.

Cardenas was back on top the next morning, but came 0.0705s short of matching his personal best from session one. He was also only 0.0504s ahead of Mossman and 0.0781s faster than Douglas. Argyros and Musella were separated by 0.0009s in fourth and fifth, both less than 0.118s off Cardenas, and 0.8826s split first and 14th. Douglas and Escorpioni were two of the four drivers who posted personal bests.

It was a similar story in session six, topped by Mossman. He set a 1m20.899s, 0.0324s down on his session four pace, and he denied the improving Argyros first place by 0.0265s.

Once again, multiple drivers needed less than a 0.1s gain to be quickest. Douglas and Escorpioni trailed Mossman by 0.0807s and 0.0868s respectively, Cardenas was 0.224s behind and Manson pipped Michael Costello (Turn 3) to fifth.

Cameron, Jeffers, Evan Cooley and Anthony Martella (both Exclusive) were the only drivers on track in session seven. There was a 0.4213s gap between Cameron and Jeffers in first and second.

Test results