New Zealand Grand Prix winner Liam Sceats will make his oval debut in this weekend’s USF Pro 2000 Championship round at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The TJ Speed Motorsports driver will get his first taste of the 0.686-mile (1.104km) oval in the first of four 45-minute test sessions at 5.55 am NZST on Thursday in the buildup to the one-race event.
Sceats is the first of a large Kiwi contingent to compete over a busy weekend in Indianapolis, although the only one in action at Lucas Oil Raceway, a short 17-minute drive away from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Scott McLaughlin will lead the 108th Running of the Indianapolis to green from pole on Monday morning.
The 90-lap, 50-minute outing will be the longest race of the Kiwi teenager’s career.
“I’m quite excited for the event itself,” said Sceats. “We race late on Friday night at 9:30 pm under lights. This usually is my bedtime, so I better start adjusting! In past years, too, there have been great turnouts due to a lot of race fans being in town for the Indy 500.
“I’m very lucky to also have my usual Canadian engineer, Dylan Dunsmore, whom we have achieved a lot together this year already across CTFROC and this championship, as well as Victor Franzoni in my corner, a past champion in this same series who will be my spotter for the week.
“I don’t normally prefer a lot of talking through the radio in my ear whilst on track, but will for sure have to suck it up and learn to love it this week.
“I’m not sure what to expect results-wise until we finish up practice on Wednesday and see how we feel and where we stack up. I plan to go out there and build up to it session by session, but I expect myself to be on the ball and fighting for a front-running qualifying position on Thursday.
“It’s only one race, but it’s 1.5x points, meaning a good result is equally important for my championship chances.”
TJ Speed brings three drivers to the sole oval race of the season, with Andretti Global’s INDY NXT driver Bryce Aron, a competitor in the 2024 New Zealand Grand Prix, joining Sceats and Hunter Yeany.
“Our team has been strong all season,” said Team Owner Tim Neff. “Liam and Hunter have had successful rookie seasons so far, and we are excited to have Bryce join us for this round. Oval racing is a different challenge than what we’ve had so far this season, but we have a lot of momentum heading into this weekend, and I think we can get some more great results.”
Sceats sits fourth in the USF Pro 2000 standings, buoyed by three podiums, including a race win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was announced during the week when provisional victor Nikita Johnson was disqualified for a technical infringement.
Johnson continues to lead the championship by 24 points over Yeany, with Lochie Hughes the top rookie in third overall, 12 points to the Kiwi’s good.
The race under lights, at 9.30 pm local time, makes for good viewing in New Zealand, with proceedings beginning at 1.30 pm on Saturday.
The Freedom 90 can be viewed live and free on the USF Pro 2000 YouTube page.
