Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Teddy Musella topped USF2000 practice on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, as 2023 champion Simon Sikes made a surprise series return.
Sikes, now aged 24, raced part-time in USF2000 with Legacy Autosport from 2020 to ’22, claiming four podiums from 26 races. He then joined Pabst Racing for a full-time attack and took the title with six wins, which led to him stepping up to USF Pro 2000 with the team last year.
Despite claiming two victories and coming fourth in the standings, Sikes could not find a seat for 2025 and it is Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development that has enabled his racing return back on the rung below.
“I’m back! Super thrilled to join SFHRD for the [Indianapolis races] in USF2000,” said Sikes of his cameo return.
“I want to give a massive thank you to Andy [O’Gara, team principal] and Sarah [Fisher] for the opportunity. I can’t wait to drive for such an esteemed organisation, and I’m looking forward to a great week in Indy!”
Sikes will be using his experience, which includes wins at IMS in USF2000 and USFP2000, to support his team-mate Wian Boshoff who is a car racing rookie.
The first opportunity to get back in the USF2000 car came in pre-event testing. Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers topped session one, setting a 1m25.4617s to lead Pabst’s G3 Argyros by 0.1939s. A smaller gap covered second to seventh place, with Caleb Gafrarar (Pabst), Brad Majman (Jay Howard Driver Development), Thomas Schrage (Velocity Racing Development), Anthony Martella (JHDD) and Musella (VRD) all within 0.38s of the pace. Remarkably, half a second covered the top 12 and a second split the top 17.
Down in 16th was Sikes, 0.9784s off Jeffers, and ahead of him were USF Juniors podium-finishers Liam Loiacono and Rodrigo Gonzalez. While JHDD’s Loiacono was a test-only entrant, Rodrigo and his brother Patricio will be making their USF2000 debut this weekend with DEForce Racing.
In session two, Jeffers lowered the pace to 1m25.1461s and increased his advantage over the rest of the field. Musella was 0.3984s behind in second, and Schrage and team-mate Christian Cameron were the only others within half a second of him. This time a second still split the top 13, and Sikes narrowly improved in 16th.
Absent from proceedings was JHDD’s points leader Liam McNeilly, unbeaten so far in 2025, and that continued into free practice at the end of Thursday.
Jeffers looked to be quickest again after posting a 1m25.2246s on his 12th lap, but on his penultimate effort Musella went 0.1353s faster than him.
Cameron, who has finished no higher than seventh so far, continued to show strong pace by being 0.287s off Musella in third, and Schrage trailed by 0.3724s in fourth. Sikes found more time again and just broke into the 1m25s, which was enough to put him in 11th. Little over a tenth of a second split him and Exclusive’s Ayrton Houk, who was the last driver within a second of Musella down in 15th.