PALMETTO, Fla. – A new season of competition for USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire will commence this weekend on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The top two rungs on the world-renowned open-wheel driver development training ladder, USF Pro 2000 and USF2000, have attracted a strong entry list of over 40 talented young drivers.

Uniquely in the world of motorsports, the USF Pro Championships offer substantial scholarships which will enable each series’ champion to progress to the next level of the sport. And the quest to claim two of those coveted prizes, valued at close to $1 million, begins with this weekend’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, held on a challenging and unforgiving 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary circuit comprised of downtown streets and one of the runways at the adjacent Albert Whitted Airport.

What do current top-tier drivers Conor Daly, Patricio O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Sting Ray Robb, Christian Rasmussen and Nolan Siegel have in common? In addition to being among the starting field for this weekend’s opening round of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, all six have previously won a USF Pro 2000 race on the streets of St. Petersburg.

There is long list of ambitious youngsters with a realistic aim of following in their footsteps, arguably headed by 20-year-old Jace Denmark, who is one of only two returning drivers to finish in the top 10 of last year’s title chase. Denmark, from Brownsburg, Ind., has joined TJ Speed Motorsports after scoring nine podium finishes in 2024, when he took third in the final points table. He experienced a difficult weekend in St. Petersburg one year ago, with only one seventh-place result to his name, but he did earn a podium finish in his rookie USF Pro 2000 campaign in 2023, and one year earlier scored a victory in one of the two USF2000 races on the downtown streets.

Home state teenagers Alessandro De Tullio and Max Garcia also will have high expectations. De Tullio, 18, from Miami, Fla., was comfortably fastest in last week’s Spring Training test, driving for defending champion team Turn 3 Motorsport, while Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., was a dominant force last year in St. Petersburg.

Garcia won both USF2000 races from the pole position, taking a championship lead which he held throughout the 18-race campaign to snag a scholarship valued at $458,400. Garcia remains with Pabst Racing as he seeks to emulate current NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Rasmussen in securing back-to-back USF Pro Championships titles.

For the first time in USF Pro Championships history, two reigning champions will go toe to toe as Garcia lines up opposite Max Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., who is stepping up with VRD Racing after not only winning the USF Juniors championship but also finishing third in the USF2000 title-chase last year with four race wins to his name.

The Andersen Interior Contracting Grand Prix of St. Petersburg kicks off with 35 minutes of official practice at 9:10 a.m. ET on Friday, February 28, followed by qualifying at 11:35 a.m. The first 25-lap race will take place at 11:35 a.m. on Saturday, March 1, with Race Two set for a green flag at 8:00 a.m. Sunday, March 2.

With most of the top 10 finishers from last year’s USF2000 series moving up the racing ladder, the door is wide open for a fresh group of rookies to take their place, starting with this week’s Foundation Building Materials Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Early bragging rights have been captured by USF Juniors graduate Liam McNeilly, from London, England, who emerged fastest for Jay Howard Driver Development in last weekend’s Spring Training test. McNeilly, 18, narrowly missed out on last year’s USF Juniors championship, but added to his credentials by taking a pole position and a second-place finish on his USF2000 debut last summer on the streets of Toronto, Canada.

McNeilly ended the test less than half a tenth of a second clear of fellow USF Juniors graduate Jack Jeffers, from San Antonio, Texas, who also dipped a toe into the USF2000 waters last year when he notched a solid top-10 finish for Exclusive Autosport on his debut in St. Petersburg.

EA teammate Evan Cooley, from Mokena, Ill., was third fastest at NOLA. Cooley already has a championship tucked under his belt this year, having narrowly claimed the YACademy USF Juniors Winter Series title which comprised six races earlier this month at two different tracks, Homestead-Miami Speedway and NOLA Motorsports Park. Cooley also shone during a pair of USF2000 outings in 2024, snagging a pair of pole positions at the Indianapolis Grand Prix road course and a fourth-place finish in Toronto.

After winning the past two USF2000 championships with Simon Sikes and Max Garcia, Pabst Racing has nabbed the services of a pair of strong rookies in former karting star Caleb Gafrarar and G3 Argyros.

Gafrarar, from Midland, N.C., last year became the youngest ever winner of a British Formula Ford championship race, a mere three days after his 16th birthday, while 15-year-old Argyros, from Newport Beach, Calif., will arrive in St. Petersburg with momentum still on his side after scoring his maiden victory in the final USF2000 race of last season at Portland International Raceway.

The USF2000 schedule will comprise practice, qualifying and the first of two 20-lap races on Friday, with the green flag set for 4:45 p.m. Race two will start at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.