Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Turn 3 Motorsport’s Danial Frost topped free practice for Indy Pro 2000’s delayed season opening round at Road America.
The postponement of March’s St. Petersburg season opener mid-weekend, and then the cancellation of the 2020 Indy Lights season, means IP2000’s races this weekend mark the return to action for the top of the Road to Indy ladder.
Conditions went from damp to dry through the 30-minute practice session, following a downpour that halted the third of Thursday’s test sessions. Drivers, however, kept to the slick tyres throughout.
Andretti Steinbrenner Racing’s Devlin DeFrancesco, who had never driver Road America before today and low on car mileage, headed on track straight away and was joined by Pabst Racing’s Hunter McElrea in testing the circuit at its greenest.
DEForce Racing’s Parker Thompson set the first quick lap, going some seven seconds quicker than anyone else at the time. But as the session progressed and track conditions improved, so did the pace.
Times dropped by a further four seconds through the session, with debutant DeFrancesco putting in a 2m02.1446s to take the top spot with two minutes to go.
That looked set to be the fastest time, until Frost, who topped the day’s first test session, popped in a 2m01.6593 to take top spot by almost half a second.
McElrea was third fastest, ahead of two-time title contender Thompson and Juncos Racing’s Artem Petrov – who topped the other two tests including the one severely affected by wet weather.
DEForce’s Manuel Sulaiman looked quick but slipped back to sixth at the end, ahead of BN Racing with Team Benik’s Jacob Loomis.
Reigning USF2000 champion Braden Eves was eighth fastest in his Exclusive Autosport-entered car.
Free practice results
| Pos | Name | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danial Frost | Turn 3 Motorsport | 2m01.6593s | 5 |
| 2 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | +0.4853s | 12 |
| 3 | Hunter McElrea | Pabst Racing | +0.7196s | 12 |
| 4 | Parker Thompson | DEForce Racing | +0.8229s | 9 |
| 5 | Artem Petrov | Juncos Racing | +0.9340s | 6 |
| 6 | Manuel Sulaiman | DEForce Racing | +1.0252s | 8 |
| 7 | Jacob Loomis | BN Racing with Team Benik | +1.1253s | 5 |
| 8 | Braden Eves | Exclusive Autosport | +1.1659s | 8 |
| 9 | Colin Kaminsky | Pabst Racing | +1.3266s | 11 |
| 10 | Nate Aranda | Juncos Racing | +1.9258s | 9 |
| 11 | Antoine Comeau | Turn 3 Motorsport | +2.5664s | 4 |
| 12 | Sting Ray Robb | Juncos Racing | +2.9252s | 5 |
| 13 | Moises de la Vara | DEForce Racing | +5.2974s | 10 |
| 14 | Sabre Cook | BN Racing with Team Benik | +6.3581s | 5 |
| 15 | Charles Finelli | FatBoy Racing | +14.1619s | 6 |
| 16 | Bob Kaminsky | Pabst Racing | no time | 0 |