Ariel Elkin and Jacob Douglas each won a dramatic pair of USF Pro 2000 races on Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, navigating a chaotic day of on-track incidents and intense position battles. Douglas’s win was his first in the USF Pro 2000 series.
After claiming Friday’s turbulent opener, Elkin carried his momentum into the weekend’s second race.
Starting from pole, the TJ Speed driver fended off early pressure at the green flag.
Douglas, who lined up alongside him, overshot Turn one and slipped to fourth behind Max Taylor and Mac Clark.
Clark wasted no time advancing to second before the end of the first lap, while Taylor’s attempted counterattack into Turn 1 saw him pushed wide onto the grass.
A full-course caution soon followed due to contact between Michael Costello and Sebastian Manson. On the restart, Elkin defended his lead as both Clark and Douglas applied pressure.
Carson Etter’s spin triggered another yellow flag. Once racing resumed, Clark made another attempt to challenge but ran wide, opening the door for Douglas to climb back to second, first passing Taylor and then making a bold move around the outside of Clark.
Elkin was under siege as Douglas closed in, but Taylor made use of their battle to slip past Douglas on the back straight with an outside-line move.
With five laps to go, Taylor launched a late-braking attempt down the inside of Elkin into Turn 1, but both cars ran off-track. Elkin rejoined in fifth, while Taylor spun and dropped to tenth.
With the front-runners delayed, Douglas inherited the lead and held off Clark to score his first win in USF Pro 2000. Max Garcia emerged on top in a tight fight with Jace Denmark to round out the podium in third.
“Great race. Started in P2, lost a couple places on the start, made our way back forward, and then managed to capitalize on some battles in front of us. It feels great to get the win after some unlucky problems yesterday that was out of myself and the team’s control. So it feels like a bit of redemption.” said Douglas.
Manson after his unfortunate contact with Costello cost him the race and retired after the Lap 1 incident, the Kiwi focused on a redemption drive in Race 3.
The third and final race of the weekend delivered even more chaos. Elkin once again led the field into Turn 1, while the drivers behind scrambled for position.
Douglas, starting on the front row, was squeezed between Taylor and a charging Alessandro de Tullio, who had surged from seventh and attempted to take second.
The resulting contact ricocheted Douglas into de Tullio and involved Clark as well, eliminating four of the key title contenders from the lead group.
Garcia narrowly avoided the carnage and moved up to second but was quickly passed by Frankie Mossman after the restart. Mossman, however, locked up heavily at the next restart and dropped several positions.
Elkin and Garcia resumed their fight for the lead a few laps later. Garcia edged ahead briefly on the front straight, but Elkin executed a clean out-braking maneuver into Turn 1 to retain control.
Manson started on the grid 9th and with the carnage and retirements, shot up to fourth place before moving up to third on Lap 7.
The battle intensified as Garcia pulled alongside again, only for Mossman, recovering through the field, to tag him in Turn 4, sending Garcia into Manson who made a trip through the gravel trap and fell down the field, rejoining in 12th.
Mossman continued in second but was soon handed a drive-through penalty for his role in the contact. Garcia, now shuffled back to 10th, began another recovery drive.
Elkin stayed clear of the drama behind him and cruised to his second win of the weekend. He crossed the line 4.376 seconds ahead of Cooper Becklin, who steered clear of incidents and climbed from 11th on the grid to take second.
“It was an amazing race here at IMS, the racing capital of the world. I’m super grateful to win for the second time this weekend together with TJ Speed. Big thanks for the support of the Jewish community here in Indiana. They made me feel at home. And big thanks to all the sponsors, supporters and my family that made it possible for me to be here today.” said Elkin.
Michael Costello completed the podium with a strong run.
“That was by far the hardest race I think I’ve ever driven. I got damaged on Lap One, in Turn One, and dropped to the back. My thoughts were we have nothing to lose. Let’s just try and work our way through the field. If we get them, great. If we don’t, whatever,” said Costello.
“I just kept my head on straight, just trying to get one by one each lap. I saw that there was contact in front and I took the opportunity. Toward the end, I was just holding on as the tires started to deg and the rear just got worse. I almost got beat by Max [Garcia] but, thankfully, we didn’t. I want to thank the team for their great efforts all weekend.” he continued.
Garcia clawed his way back to fourth and passed Nicholas Monteiro, but a blocking penalty forced him to give the place back. That allowed Clark to sneak by, though Garcia eventually repassed him and finished just 0.03 seconds adrift of Costello.
Manson had a great recovery to finish 7th, a commendable recovery drive finish for the Kiwi who was set for a podium finish before the incident on Lap 10.
The USF Pro 2000 field now turns its attention to the only oval race of the season, set for Friday evening, May 23, at the iconic Indianapolis Raceway Park. Prior to this drivers will complete a series test May 13-14 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Ohio.
Provisional championship points after eight of 18 rounds:
- 1. Max Garcia, 202
- 2. Alessandro de Tullio, 145
- 3. Ariel Elkin, 143
- 4. Mac Clark, 140
- 5. Jacob Douglas, 123
- 6. Max Taylor, 121
- 7. Michael Costello, 108
- 8. Jace Denmark, 103
- 9. Nicholas Monteiro, 90
- 10. Cooper Becklin, 88
Header Image: USF Pro 2000 Championship
