Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
USF Juniors has attracted a big field for this week’s opening round on the Homestead-Miami Speedway roval.
The event will be officially called the ‘USF Juniors Grand Prix of Homestead’, although it has not been stated whether that will also be the title of one of the three races taking place.
There are three teams fielding four or more cars, including the huge seven-car line-up at Zanella Racing. Their signings include Maddie Colleran, who was 20th last season, Ligier Junior Formula Championship podium-finisher Max Mokarem, Victor Couto and Leonardo Serravalle. The latter two recently came third and seventh in the YACademy Winter Series, which uses USF Juniors cars.
A notable pre-season signing is Ivan Machado Perez at the joint Velocity Racing Development and Pole Position Motorsports operation. The 2025 Skip Barber Formula Race Series champion had previously tested with Olivia Racing.
Jay Howard Driver Development, which has now partnered with IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing, has four drivers in its garage. Its international talents are Max Cuthbert, who moves into single-seaters after coming third in Britain’s entry-level sportscar series Ginetta Junior as a sophomore last year, and Nordic 4 race-winner Casper Nissen from Denmark.
Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series runner-up Bex Cranston has joined Exclusive Autosport, YACademy Winter Series runner-up Karol Pasiewisz will drive for local team Olivia Racing (previously known as International Motorsport) and NACAM Formula 4 race-winner Elias Vignola is part of DEForce Racing’s line-up.
Pre-event testing at Homestead took place on Monday. Cuthbert set the pace in session one, a 1m23.8310s putting him 0.1564s ahead of Machado Perez and 0.1877s clear of Cranston.
Machado Perez posted a 1m23.9582s to top session two, with a gap of 0.176s to Cranston in second place. Cuthbert and Exclusive’s Brenden Cooley were also within 0.3s of the pace.
In session three all but four drivers improved, one of those being the absent Alex Berg (Berg Racing). Machado Perez lowered the pace to 1m23.687s, pipping Cranston by 0.058s, Cuthbert by 0.1183s and Pasiewicz by 0.1814s.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivan Machado Perez | VRD x PPP | 1m23.6870s | 56 | |
| 2 | Bex Cranston | Exclusive Autosport | 1m23.7450s | +0.0580s | 50 |
| 3 | Max Cuthbert | JHDD by ECR | 1m23.8053s | +0.1183s | 59 |
| 4 | Karol Pasiewicz | Olivia Racing | 1m23.8684s | +0.1814s | 49 |
| 5 | Victor Couto | Zanella Racing | 1m23.9171s | +0.2301s | 69 |
| 6 | Casper Nissen | JHDD by ECR | 1m23.9485s | +0.2615s | 58 |
| 7 | Elias Vignola | DEForce Racing | 1m24.0127s | +0.3257s | 68 |
| 8 | Max Mokarem | Zanella Racing | 1m24.0227s | +0.3357s | 69 |
| 9 | Vilho Aatola | DEForce Racing | 1m24.0509s | +0.3639s | 48 |
| 10 | Brenden Cooley | Exclusive Autosport | 1m24.1603s | +0.4733s | 51 |
| 11 | John Main | JHDD by ECR | 1m24.2014s | +0.5144s | 60 |
| 12 | Olivier Mrak | Zanella Racing | 1m24.2474s | +0.5604s | 63 |
| 13 | Leonardo Serravalle | Zanella Racing | 1m24.2519s | +0.5649s | 65 |
| 14 | Connor Aspley | Exclusive Autosport | 1m24.2800s | +0.5930s | 50 |
| 15 | Cole Medeiros | Exclusive Autosport | 1m24.3376s | +0.6506s | 39 |
| 16 | Aryan Narola | JHDD by ECR | 1m24.3504s | +0.6634s | 57 |
| 17 | Pipe Chaparro | DEForce Racing | 1m24.5540s | +0.8670s | 51 |
| 18 | Jared Oselka | Zanella Racing | 1m24.6495s | +0.9625s | 66 |
| 19 | Maddie Colleran | Zanella Racing | 1m24.7986s | +1.1116s | 66 |
| 20 | Grant Mitchell | Zanella Racing | 1m24.8155s | +1.1285s | 55 |
| 21 | Alex Berg | Berg Racing | 1m24.8179s | +1.1309s | 31 |