@ExclAutosport Archives - Page 2 of 12

Posted by admin on Oct 8 ^th 2021 in Miscellaneous News

Exclusive Autosport Wins The 2021 INDY PRO 2000 Team Championship

LEXINGTON, OH (October 3, 2021) – Exclusive Autosport returned to the 2.258-mile, 13-turn purpose-built road course of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires season finale this past weekend. The team added its USF2000 race winner Christian Brooks as a third driver to the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires line-up, ensuring their success of scoring the 2021 Team Championship while also giving the talented American his first taste of the series before a planned graduation in 2022. Over the finale weekend, Russian Artem Petrov and American Braden Eves added two more podiums to the team’s 2021 statistics with a second and a third-place finish in Race 1. Brooks was impressive all weekend, scoring a pair of top-five finishes, adding welcomed assistance in securing the 2021 Team Championship. The final tally of success for Exclusive Autosport included with five wins and 18 podiums.

“I am incredibly proud of the Exclusive Autosport team,” said Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “To win the Indy Pro 2000 Team Championship is truly an honor. The series is so competitive and we have a lot to hold our head high over including Braden finishing second in the driver championship and Artem finishing 4^th in the drivers’ championship. Everyone worked incredibly hard this past year. I have the pleasure of working with an amazing, dedicated, and talented group under the EA tent. We couldn’t have achieved this without each and every member of the Exclusive Autosport team, as well as the drivers and families who believed in us. Thank you to everyone involved in the EA program, as well as our team partner Cambridge Global Payments for their support this year.”

The weekend event got underway on Friday afternoon with the lone practice session of the weekend. Petrov topped the charts to provide the team with the data it needed to pursue a winning weekend. On Saturday morning, the drivers took part in the qualifying session to set the field for Race 1. All three drivers flirted with top-five starting positions, but it was Petrov who stepped to the forefront to grab his first pole of the season. Eves and Brooks lined-up right behind him in third and fifth. Later in the afternoon, the opening race of the doubleheader got started and Petrov immediately jumped to the lead, creating a comfortable gap to second. However, an issue midway through the race slowed his pace and forced him to surrender the lead. Despite the problem, Artem rallied back to take second at the checkered flag. Eves and Brooks fought hard throughout the entire race, coming out of spirited battles to finish where they started in third and fifth, respectively.

Sunday started bright and early with an extremely wet track for Qualifying 2. The three EA drivers topped the charts the entire session, just to get pipped at the very end. Petrov would line up in third, with Brooks in fourth and Eves in fifth. In the final race of the year, Petrov quickly went to the lead but lost grip on the opening lap in turn four, going off course to bring out a full-course caution. Artem was extricated from the gravel trap quickly and restarted without losing a lap, although he was well behind the tail of the field for the restart. Another caution gave him the opportunity to get back in the fight, and he worked forward steadily into third. On the final lap, Artem slipped to fourth, where he would officially finish. Brooks delivered yet another stellar performance to garner a second top-five finish in his Indy Pro 2000 debut weekend. Like Petrov, Eves paced the field early in the race after Artem went off, but as the conditions changed through the race as the rain had stopped, a new shower coming through the facility caught Braden off-guard as the first driver through the now-wet section of the track. Eves went off-track and came back on in second, but another trip to the grass in the treacherous conditions left him with a 10^th place result.

Eves had already secured second in the championship prior to taking the green flag, while Petrov’s recovering moved him up a spot in the standings to finish the year in fourth overall. The combined efforts of the drivers delivered Exclusive Autosport with their first Road to Indy Team Championship, the most coveted honors in the paddock.

Posted by admin on Apr 25 ^th 2021 in Road to Indy

Race Recap of the Canadians at the GP of St.Petersburg 2021

Here’s a quick recap of where the Canadians that were involved in the race weekend at St.Petersburg placed in their respective series.

First up is the NTT IndyCar series with James Hinchcliffe and Dalton Kellett participating. James finished in 18th place one lap down on the race winner Colton Herta, while Dalton Kellett’s car came to a stop in the area between pit out and Turn #2 on Lap 67 and finished in 23rd position.

Next up for the NTT IndyCar series is the double race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway on April 30-May01.

Below are the results from the Road to Indy series races.

USF2000

Race #1 Start Position in ()

1^st (1^st) #44 Christian Brooks Executive Autosport

2^nd (2^nd) #92 Matt Round-Garrido Executive Autosport

4^th (8^th) #91 Billy Frazer Executive Autosport

11^th (14^th) #2 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports

12^th (25^th) #90 Grant Palmer Executive Autosport

USF2000

Race #2 Start Position in ()

1^st (2^nd) #44 Christian Brooks Executive Autosport

4^th (3^rd) #92 Matt Round-Garrido Executive Autosport

7^th (9^th) #2 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports

12^th (18^th) #91 Billy Frazer Executive Autosport

17^th (21^st) #90 Grant Palmer Executive Autosport

PRO2000

Race #1 Start Position in ()

1^st (1^st) #91 Braden Eves Exclusive Autosport

4^th (3^rd) #42 Artem Petrov Exclusive Autosport

PRO2000

Race #1 Canadian Start Position in ()

6^th (1^st) #91 Braden Eves Exclusive Autosport

8^th (3^rd) #42 Artem Petrov Exclusive Autosport

IndyLights

Race #1 Start Position in ()

12^th (3^rd) #17 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

7^th (9^th) #11 Antonio Serravalle Pserra Racing/AS Promotions

IndyLights

Race #2 Start Position in ()

5^th (3^rd) #17 Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport

10^th (10^th) #11 Antonio Serravalle Pserra Racing/AS Promotions

Posted by admin on Apr 23 ^rd 2021 in Road to Indy

@USF2000 at St.Petersburg Qualifying Results from Friday 23/April/2021

The Canadian team of Exclusive Autosport has had a great day of qualifying for the Streets of St Petersburg race weekend. For the first race of the weekend the #44 driven by Christian Brooks qualified in First place while the #92 driven by Matt Round-Garrido qualified in Second place. Below are the qualifying results for the other drivers involved in the weekends races in USF2000.

Both races of the weekend will take place on Saturday at 10:55am-11:35am and 5:20pm-6:00pm

Race #1

1st #44 Christian Brooks Executive Autosport

2nd #92 Matt Round-Garrido Executive Autosport

8th #91 Billy Frazer Executive Autosport

14th #2 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports

25th #90 Grant Palmer Executive Autosport

Race #2

2nd #44 Christian Brooks Executive Autosport

3rd #92 Matt Round-Garrido Executive Autosport

9th #2 Thomas Nepveu Cape Motorsports

18th #91 Billy Frazer Executive Autosport

21st #90 Grant Palmer Executive Autosport

Posted by admin on Mar 5 ^th 2020 in Road to Indy

Exclusive Autosport Welcomes Back Manuel Cabrera For USF2000 Program

SASKATOON, SK (March 5, 2020) – Exclusive Autosport is excited to announce the return of 19-year-old Manuel Cabrera to expand their Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship team for the 2020 season. Cabrera competed with the team in limited programs during the 2018 and 2019 racing seasons, participating in a total of 12 races with a best finish of eighth at Road America. The Atizapán de Zaragoza, Mexico resident will drive the #91 Gateway Telecomunicaciones / PMC Promotions Tatuus USF-17. Cabrera has been keeping his driving skills honed by recently racing in the 2020 Jaguar I-PACE eTrophy race in Mexico City and he’s also been working extremely hard on his fitness, all while maintaining stellar grades at Universidad Anáhuac México.

“I am very happy to welcome Manuel back to the Exclusive Autosport USF2000 program in 2020,” enthused Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “Manuel is strong behind the wheel and brings uncompromising determination and work ethic. He is such a pleasure to have on the team. His personality will without a doubt mesh really well with our engineering staff and the team we have put together. I am really looking forward to a positive USF2000 campaign with Manuel in 2020.”

Cabrera began his racing career in the assorted Mexican karting series in 2010 at the age of 10, running up front and winning numerous races and championships along the way. Manuel made the move to car racing by attending the Skip Barber Racing School in 2016, and then participated in their Championship Series that season. Cabrera graduated to the Formula PanAm series in 2017 and earned the championship title, winning a ticket to attend the Mazda Road to Indy $200,000 Scholarship Shootout in the process. In the Formula PanAm program, he scored four wins in the six-series races and was on the podium in the other two. He also raced in the Formula Masters Asia series, scoring six top-five finishes, and was awarded the Rookie of the Year honors. In 2018, Manual raced seven races with Exclusive Autosport, racking his highest finish of eighth place at Road America and was named the Road to Indy Insider’s ‘Star of the Race’ at the Royal Purple Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After taking some time off at the end of 2019, Manuel is ready and ultra-focused to fight for redemption posting winning results.

“I feel really happy to be able to be back with the whole team,” offered Cabrera. “As I have always said, it is a pleasure to work with them. I feel very grateful to them and at the same time very excited to be able to return to the track. There have been difficult days in my career as a driver, but I think that this year I come with more desire than ever. I will do my best in each race and I am definitely looking for great achievements. I hope to have a season to remember and that the team achieves good results this year.”

Cabrera will join his Californian teammate – Prescott Campbell – on Exclusive Autosport’s USF2000 squad, and he will also be teammates with Nikita Lastochkin (Indy Lights) and Braden Eves (Indy Pro 2000) at the official Spring Training test at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 7-9. The team is poised and ready to battle for the championship titles in all three levels of this year’s Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires.

Posted by admin on Dec 23 ^rd 2019 in Road to Indy

Exclusive Autosport announces driver for 2020 Indy Lights season

SASKATOON, SK (December 23, 2019) – Exclusive Autosport is happy to announce the return of Nikita Lastochkin to the team, making his debut in the 2020 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire season. The Russian-born, Los Angeles, CA resident will pilot the team’s #90 Dallara IL-15 featuring the Exclusive Autosport’s red and white livery with branding from his sponsor Russkaya Mekhanika. This will be the team’s first season in Indy Lights, but they have already shown in the series’ official winter test that they have serious pace, topping the speed charts in one of the five sessions earlier this month in Sebring.

“We are thrilled about our 2020 Indy Lights program and we’re equally excited to announce that Nikita, who ran with us in Indy Pro 2000 this past season, has chosen to take the next step in his career with Exclusive Autosport in our first year in the program,” enthused Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “I am truly proud of the relationship that has been built with Nikita the past year. To me, it speaks volumes about his trust and belief in EA. Nikita showed extremely well at the first series test in Sebring and we can’t wait for the start of the year in St. Petersburg.”

Lastochkin began his racing career in 2013 in the Skip Barber and SCCA series, scoring many victories, all with his eyes on making the jump to the Road to Indy program. In 2015, Nikita began a two-year stint in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, where he earned a combined 24 top-10 finishes. In 2017, he set his sights on an Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires program (Pro Mazda, at the time) and the 28-year-old finished fifth in the championship standings, posting eight top-fives and 11 top-10s with a season-high result of third in both races at Road America. In 2018, Nikita was ninth overall in the Indy Pro 2000 championship fight with 10 top-10 finishes. Last year, Lastochkin completed his first season with Exclusive Autosport in Indy Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires, gaining five top-five finishes and sixth overall in the championship battle.

“I am extremely happy to be able to work things out and make the step up to Indy Lights,” said Lastochkin. “It is a humbling experience every time I get in the car, since I could not imagine how I was going to make it this far a few years ago. ‘Where there’s a will there’s a way’ is what they say, and my plan is to just keep working hard and see how far we can take it. Exclusive Autosport is going to be my home on the Road To Indy for the second year and I am confident we are going to be able to make it a great debut in the new series. Michael and Kimberly Duncalfe have been amazing in building a team that I am happy to be a part of. Our first test at Sebring went well, we have a great group of people together for the Lights program and I am very excited for my first Indy Lights start in St. Pete.”

Exclusive Autosport is already preparing for the 2020 season, continuing with their winter testing program. Though this is EA’s first Indy Lights season, they are using the winter to mold the team and prepare to give Nikita a car that can contend for a win at every race. Lastochkin will join his EA teammate Braden Eves under the tent, as the reigning USF2000 champion was announced last week for his Indy Pro 2000 debut.