Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Mac Clark has signed with Exclusive Autosport for his return to USF Pro 2000, while Turn 3 Motorsport have announced Cooper Becklin and Tyke Durst.
It marks the end of a lengthy spell with DEForce Racing for Clark, who joined the team in 2022. That year he was USF Juniors champion and also a race-winner in USF2000, the next step of the Road to Indy, then in 2023 he took two wins and two poles en route to fifth in the USF2000 standings.
He also stepped up to USFP2000 for a single weekend, claiming pole on debut and claiming the fastest lap in both of the races he contested. His second and third place finishes were enough to put him 23rd in the standings.
Expectations were not met in what was supposed to be his full-time move into USFP2000 last year, as he claimed five top-five finishes and never made it onto the podium before budget issues ended his campaign a round early after racing on home soil in Toronto.
“I am thrilled to announce that I will be joining Exclusive Autosport,” said Clark. “As a Canadian driver, it’s an incredible honor to represent a team with Canadian roots on the grid, and I’m proud to showcase our shared passion and talent on such a competitive stage.”
The 20-year-old will be team-mate to rookies Joey Brienza and Carson Etter.
“We are proud to welcome Mac,” said Exclusive Autosport’s co-owner Michael Duncalfe. “We have been watching Mac grow and develop since his days in F1600. He is a very talented driver who has a lot of experience in the USF Pro championships. We anticipate big things out of Mac and look forward to having him in our championship winning USFP2000 package.”
Durst and Becklin came 17th and 18th in the USFP2000 standings last year, although Becklin only did a half-season. A 10th place was Durst’s best finish as a rookie with Turn 3, the 21-year-old having stepped up from United States Formula 4 where he had a best finish of sixth from two seasons.
Becklin finished ninth in a third of his nine USFP2000 races with TJ Speed in 2024, but he had an empty schedule at the start of the year. For the previous two-and-a-half years he had been racing in Formula Regional Americas with Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport, coming 16th as a part-timer in 2021, improving to seventh and taking two podiums in 2022 then coming third in 2023.
Although he finished 133 points shy of the champion, in addition to his maiden win he claimed two second places and finished third 12 times.
Tanner DeFabis, winner of USF2000’s sole oval race the Freedom 75 in 2024, will stay with Jay Howard Driver Development for a part-time USFP2000 campaign. He was 24th in US F4 with the team in 2023, 18th in his half-season of USF2000 last year and also finished ninth on his USFP2000 debut in the season finale.