Customise Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Home News Nicky Hays joins Cape in USF2000, d’Orlando tops Spring Training

Nicky Hays joins Cape in USF2000, d’Orlando tops Spring Training

by Ida Wood

Photo: USF2000

Cape Motorsports added Nicky Hays to its USF2000 line-up ahead of Monday’s Spring Training test at the Homestead-Miami Speedway roval.

Hays won a race at Ledenon en route to third in the French Formula 4 championship in 2019, then came fourth in Formula Regional Americas in 2020 with Global Racing Group. Last year he switched disciplines to time attack and tested in GT3.

He now returns to single-seaters as part of a four-car Cape team that also includes 2021 USF2000 runner-up Michael d’Orlando, who went fastest in Spring Training.

The test was split into four sessions, with d’Orlando going to the top early on in the first session which was interrupted by a red flag. He improved twice after that and he and team-mate Jagger Jones ended up as the only two drivers in the 1m23s.

DEForce Racing’s Thomas Nepveu jumped up to third place at the end of the session, ahead of Exclusive Autosport’s closely matched pair of Jacob Douglas and Billy Frazer.

Bijoy Garg was the early pacesetter in session two ahead of d’Orlando, who soon returned to the top. Douglas then went fastest, and Garg broke into the 1m24s before a very brief red flag stoppage.

Hays made his way to the top in the final third of the session, but was usurped by Turn 3 Motorsport’s Christian Weir so had to respond with a 1m24.640s lap. That was enough for first place, ahead of Spike Kohlbecker (Turn 3 with Ignite Autosport) and Weir. All three improved on their session one times, as did Myles Rowe and Jace Denmark who had failed to set laps at the start of the day

Pabst Racing’s Denmark moved to the top in session three, and to sixth overall, with a 1m24.439s lap. He headed Kohlbecker and Jay Howard Driver Development’s Jorge Garciarce, who came 34th in Italian F4 last year. All three set personal best laps in the session, along with Cape’s Jackson Lee and Rowe. Garg only set one lap, while Joe Dooling Autosports’ Trey Burke continued his no-show from the morning’s action.

Yeoroo Lee led Garciarce in a JHDD one-two in session four, with Velocity Racing Development’s Viktor Andersson in third. Again it was the top three in the session that were the improvers, and Lee jumped from 14th to fourth overall in the test’s combined timesheet.

Test results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Michael d’Orlando Cape Motorsports 1m23.893s 57
2 Jagger Jones Cape Motorsports 1m23.927s +0.034s 53
3 Thomas Nepveu DEForce Racing 1m24.224s +0.331s 42
4 Yeoroo Lee JHDD 1m24.341s +0.448s 72
5 Jacob Douglas Exclusive Autosport 1m24.364s +0.471s 46
6 Billy Frazer Exclusive Autosport 1m24.375s +0.482s 60
7 Jace Denmark Pabst Racing 1m24.439s +0.546s 20
8 Christian Weir Turn 3 Motorsport 1m24.519s +0.626s 80
9 Bijoy Garg DEForce Racing 1m24.533s +0.640s 42
10 Spike Kohlbecker Turn 3 w/ Ignite Autosport 1m24.586s +0.693s 71
11 Jorge Garciarce JHDD 1m24.618s +0.725s 66
12 Nicky Hays Cape Motorsports 1m24.640s +0.747s 58
13 Viktor Andersson Velocity Racing Development 1m24.642s +0.749s 55
14 Myles Rowe Pabst Racing 1m24.757s +0.864s 21
15 Jackson Lee Cape Motorsports 1m25.036s +1.143s 56
16 Dylan Christie DEForce Racing 1m25.217s +1.324s 52
17 Frederick Lund JHDD 1m25.314s +1.421s 65
18 Trey Burke Joe Dooling Autosports no time 0