Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Reigning USF2000 champion Michael d’Orlando has secured his seat on the next step of the IndyCar support ladder as he has signed with Turn 3 Motorsport for USF Pro 2000.
By winning the USF2000 title, d’Orlando gets a scholarship prize to spend on graduating to the next level, but missed the 2022 post-season test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and worked through the off-season to find a ride before official pre-season testing for 2023 takes place at the start of next week.
The 20-year-old spent four years in USF2000, debuting in 2018 and then contesting the last three campaigns in full with Cape Motorsports. He claimed one win in 2020, three in 2021 and four in 2022 as he prevailed in a tense title battle.
“I’m so excited to be back,” said d’Orlando. “Since the final USF2000 race in Portland last year, I’ve had very limited testing or any sort of driving time in general.
“I’m very appreciative of Turn 3 Motorsport’s support of me in the off-season, and I’ve absolutely loved working with them during pre-season testing. I’m confident that we can perform well together in my rookie year in the USFP2000 series, especially in those beautiful USF Pro championships scholarship colors. Bring on the season!”
D’Orlando will be team-mate to Jonathan Browne and Jackson Lee, who was his UF2000 team-mate last year.
“It’s a great honor for our team that the USF2000 scholarship winner has chosen us for his 2023 USFP2000 programme,” said Turn 3’s owner Peter Dempsey.
“It shows how far we’ve come since joining the series in 2020. Michael has been a pleasure to have so far in our programme throughout pre-season testing and has proved to us why he is a champion. He adapted to the IP-22 car very quickly and is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with throughout the year.
“I’m confident we can give him the tools for a successful rookie season and look forward to carrying both Turn 3’s and Michael’s momentum into 2023.”