Photo: LAT Images
Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award winner Joseph Loake will debut in USF Pro 2000 at Road America this weekend, marking his first single-seater outing of 2025.
The 20-year-old is currently in McLaren’s junior ranks, for its GT racing division rather than its Formula 1-focused driver development, and has F1 mileage having tested with Aston Martin as part of his prize for winning the Autosport BRDC Award.
Loake has been racing a McLaren in GT World Challenge Europe’s Endurance Cup this year, and sits seventh in the standings with one podium from his first two starts. His next race is the Spa 24 Hours.
The BRSCC Fiesta Junior championship was where Loake started his car racing career, and after winning the title he switched from touring cars to single-seaters via British Formula 4. He took three wins en route to sixth in the points as a rookie, and improved to fifth in 2022 by winning four more races.
For 2023 he moved up to GB3, and won three of the first five races. He won one further race and remained firmly in title contention until a bad final round left him a distant third in the standings.
The FIA Formula 3 Championship was his next step, but his first year in single-seaters’ third tier was a struggle and his eight points all came from one weekend as he finished fifth and ninth in the two races in Monaco. He was 26th in the standings.
USF2000 is also racing at Road America this weekend, and has attracted a season-high of 24 cars. However Jay Howard Driver Development’s Liam McNeilly remains absent from the entry list, having missed the last two rounds due to visa issues when attempting to enter the USA.
After making his single-seater debut with JHDD in USF Juniors two weeks ago, fellow British driver Harley Keeble will race for the team. He was WSK Euro Series champion and WSK Open Cup runner-up on OK Junior karts, fifth in the X30 Senior final of the USA’s SuperNationals and finished eighth in the CIK-FIA World championship for OK karts.
JT Hoskins, currently 11th in USF Juniors as one of JHDD’s full-time drivers, will be stepping up alongside Keeble.
Three other USF Juniors regulars will make their USF2000 debuts at Road America: Thomas Nordquist (DEForce Racing), Kaylee Countryman (Exclusive Autosport) and Brenden Cooley (Exclusive Autosport).