Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Zanella Racing has announced it will expand into USF2000 next year, which will be its third in single-seater racing, and retain Leonardo Escorpioni in its line-up.
The American team is best known for its exploits in karting, and at the start of last year it ventured into cars with a multi-car entry into the YACademy Winter Series.
It ran Escorpioni to fourth in the standings, with one victory and one other podium, and he was also in its three-car USF Juniors line-up. In that championship he made the podium once.
This year started on an immediate high, as its drivers Ty Fisher and Escorpioni started the YACWS season finishing one-two. Escorpioni went on to take the title and Fisher was third in the standings, with the team claiming three victories and four other podiums from six races.
Their form continued into the USF Juniors season, and the team won both titles. Escorpioni was victorious six times en route to becoming champion, and there was only one race which Zanella failed to make the podium. Fisher won three times and came fourth in the points table.
Escorpioni’s prize for taking the USF Juniors title was a $249,675 (£189,882) scholarship to spend on stepping up to USF2000 and the 15-year-old Brazilian will use it at Zanella.
“We are very proud to expand our programme with the addition of three USF2000 cars for the 2026 season,” said the team-owning Naka Zanella, who added “having Leonardo continue his journey with us in USF2000 is a tremendous honour”.
“His growth with the team has been remarkable, and we are excited to support him as he takes the next step in his career. This expansion is proof that our driver development programme continues to work, and our ultimate goal is to take our drivers all the way to IndyCar.”
Also confirmed to be racing in USF2000 next year are Anthony Martella and Thomas Nordquist at Exclusive Autosport and DEForce Racing respectively.
The touring car racing-experienced Martella got his first experience of single-seaters last year in YACWS then competed part-time in USF2000 and USF Juniors.
After being runner-up in Sports Car Championship Canada’s TCR touring car class, the 17-year-old Canadian focused fully on single-seaters for 2025 and came seventh in USF2000 with Jay Howard Driver Development. He had two top-five finishes, one of them being a controlling victory on his oval racing debut in the Freedom 75.
Nordquist drove in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series in 2024, and raced for DEForce this year in IndyCar’s support series. The 21-year-old came 17th in USF Juniors with a best finish of ninth, and made a USF2000 cameo at Road America.