2026 USF Pro 2000 Championship

Team changes

DEForce Racing, a series mainstay since the 2018 season, announced no drivers ahead of the start of the season while the one-car FatBoy Racing! outfit also did not confirm its presence on the grid ahead of the season opener.

IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing announced a partnership with Jay Howard Driver Development, with JHDD's cars in the USF Pro Championships entering under the Jay Howard Driver Development powered by ECR guise.^[8]

Driver changes

Reigning teams' champions Pabst Racing downsized from three to two entries after reigning driver's champion Max Garcia graduated to Indy NXT with Abel Motorsports and Michael Costello moved over to Turn 3 Motorsport.^[21][16] The team promoted G3 Argyros from their USF2000 outfit after he came fourth in 2025.^[10]

Turn 3 Motorsport saw both Alessandro de Tullio and Nicholas Monteiro leave the team and the series to join A. J. Foyt Racing on their graduation to Indy NXT, while neither Cooper Becklin nor any of the teams' single-round entrants returned.^[22][23] The team signed Michael Costello and Sebastian Manson from Pabst Racing and TJ Speed Motorsports after they came seventh and twelfth in 2025, respectively, while Brady Golan rejoined the team for a full-season program after contesting ten races in 2025.^[16] Turn 3 Motorsport also fielded a fifth car at the opening seven rounds for reigning USF Juniors champion Leonardo Escorpioni.^[17]

TJ Speed Motorsports initially only confirmed its all-new lineup for the opening race weekend. GB4 graduate Leandro Juncos replaced Turn 3-bound Manson for the opening event, while USF2000 graduates Thomas Schrage and Christian Cameron, who came third and eleventh in 2025 both driving for VRD Racing, replaced Jace Denmark and 2025 runner-up Ariel Elkin for the first five races of the season.^[13][16]

Exclusive Autosport saw Carson Etter move up to Indy NXT, joining Chip Ganassi Racing.^[24] To replace him, the team promoted reigning USF2000 champion Jack Jeffers from their outfit in that championship.^[6] USF2000 drivers Evan Cooley and Anthony Martella also joined the team for the opening round at Arlington.^[4]

VRD Racing replaced Max Taylor, who joined Andretti Global in Indy NXT after having already undertaken a part-time campaign alongside his 2025 USF Pro 2000 season, with their 2025 USF2000 runner-up Teddy Musella.^[25][19] The team also entered a third car at the opening three weekends for their USF2000 driver Colin Aitken.^[18]

The newly formed JHDD/ECR partnership initially only confirmed one full-season entry for JT Hoskins, who jumps up from their USF Juniors outfit, with whom he finished 11th in 2025.^[9] The team entered two additional cars, with Tanner DeFabis returning to the team for Arlington and the IRP after a six-race spell in 2025 and Andrés Cárdenas, who joined the team for the opening seven races after moving over from Eurocup-3, where he came seventh in 2025 driving for MP Motorsport.^[2]

None of the two departing teams' drivers returned to USF Pro 2000 in 2026.

First half

The 2026 USF Pro 2000 Championship began with a new track for the series as Exclusive Autosport's Jack Jeffers took pole position ahead of Turn 3 Motorsport's Leonardo Escorpioni around the Streets of Arlington.^[27] Jeffers initially lost out to Escorpioni, but retook first and led the majority of the race as VRD Racing's Frankie Mossman slotted into third. With two laps to go, Jeffers then spun, hit the wall and retired. That handed the victory to Escorpioni and promoted Turn 3's Michael Costello onto the podium.^[28] Setting the fastest lap in race one meant Jeffers was back on pole position for race two, and this time, he remained faultless throughout multiple incidents and safety car periods. JHDD/ECR's Andrés Cárdenas finished second on the road, but multiple penalties meant Pabst's G3 Argyros inherited second, with Mossmann in third taking the championship lead.^[29]

Two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway followed, and Cárdenas took pole position for the first one. In tricky wet/dry conditions, he lost the lead to Mossman at the start before an early safety car saw half the field pit for slick tyres. With the track drying, a second caution saw the rest of the drivers also pit, promoting Pabst's early stopper Jacob Douglas to the lead. He held on to take victory, with Exclusive's Mac Clark and Pabst's debutant Mayer Deonarine completing the podium. Race two was held in the dry, and polesitter Jeffers battled Mossman throughout four caution periods, one of them after Escorpioni was launched into a series of rolls following contact. Jeffers would ultimately win the race, with Mossman taking second and VRD's Teddy Musella claiming his first podium in third. Jeffers and Mossman ended the weekend equal on points atop the standings.^[30][31]

The first oval race around IRP saw Escorpioni claim pole position ahead of Costello and Indy NXT driver and TJ Speed's oval debutant Tymek Kucharczyk. Escorpioni initially held the lead, surviving an early caution period before Costello overtook him on lap 18 as the leading pair gapped the field. Costello almost brushed the wall with two laps to go but was still able to just hold on and take his maiden series victory. He rose to second in the standings, seven points behind Jeffers as Mossmann dropped to fourth after a crash.^[32]

Drivers' Championship

Scoring system

• The driver who qualifies on pole is awarded one additional point.
• One point is awarded to the driver who led the most laps in a race.
• One point is awarded to the driver who set the fastest lap during the race.

Pos Driver ARL IMS IRP ROA1 MOH POR MAR MIL ROA2 Points 1 Jack Jeffers 18* 1* 5 1* 6 4 2 155 2 G3 Argyros 11 2 10 15 8 1 1* 135 3 Leonardo Escorpioni 1 8 12 16 2 5 5 131 4 Frankie Mossman 2 3 7 2 20 3 4 130 5 Michael Costello 3 7 18 5 1* 8 12 125 6 Andrés Cárdenas 4 13 14 6 12 2* 3 113 7 Thomas Schrage 21 9 8 7 4 6 6 100 8 Teddy Musella 15 18 13 3 7 7 7 88 9 Brady Golan 6 6 6 12 5 80 10 Christian Cameron 5 20 4 13 11 16 8 78 11 Jacob Douglas 16 17 1* 9 9 70 12 Colin Aitken 14 10 9 14 14 11 16 63 13 Mac Clark 17 19 2 8 10 61 14 JT Hoskins 9 5 15 19 17 14 13 58 15 Joey Brienza 10 22 11 17 18 9 9 55 16 Sebastian Manson 22 16 19 4 15 15 10 53 17 Tyke Durst 12 15 17 18 13 10 14 52 18 Mayer Deonarine 3 10 13 11 51 19 Tymek Kucharczyk 3 33 20 Evan Cooley 19 4 21 21 Anthony Martella 7 14 21 22 Tanner DeFabis 20 11 16 19 23 Charles Finelli 16 11 19 18 24 Leandro Juncos 13 12 17 25 Jeshua Alianell 12 15 15 26 Logan Adams 8 21 14 — Jack William Miller DNS DNS 0 Pos Driver ARL IMS IRP ROA1 MOH POR MAR MIL ROA2 Points

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th–10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate In-line notation Bold Pole position (1 point) Italics Ran fastest race lap (1 point) * Led most race laps (1 point) Not awarded if more than one driver led most laps Rookie

Teams' championship

Scoring system

• Single car teams receive 3 bonus points as an equivalency to multi-car teams.
• Only the best two results count for teams fielding more than two entries.