Entering its third season, USF Juniors is hitting its stride with the largest field by far in its history. In this season preview before this weekend’s season opener in Louisiana, Feeder Series tells you all you need to know.

By Jeroen Demmendaal

After two years of getting the basics right, USF Juniors is stepping things up a gear in 2024. Devised as an alternative to the F4 US championship that seamlessly connects drivers to the other Andersen Promotions–owned series (USF2000 and USF Pro 2000), USF Juniors counted around a dozen full-time drivers in each of its first two seasons, with a few additional part-timers thrown in throughout the season.

That is set to change this year, as the grid currently stands at an impressive and healthy 26 cars, with the potential for more entries later on. Andersen’s ingenious ‘three-cars-for-the-price-of-one’ concept is really starting to pay dividends now, as USF Juniors continues to peel away teams and drivers from its F4 rival in the United States. First DEForce left F4 US, and more recently VRD and Jay Howard Driver Development have made the same switch.

The reason is that USF Juniors provides a much better business case to both drivers and teams. Its growth coincides with ongoing struggles for F4 US, which has introduced a new Ligier-built car but hasn’t attracted many entries so far and was recently forced to postpone its season start until May. 

In contrast, USF Juniors car owners can easily transform their Tatuus chassis into a USF2000 or USF Pro 2000 car whenever they want, with limited added spending. That gives their investment a much longer shelf life than the new F4 US car, which can only be used in one series, and allows teams and drivers to climb the Road to Indy ladder with the same car.

As in USF Pro 2000 and USF 2000, 2024 is the first season in which USF Juniors uses tyres from new series partner Continental Tire after many seasons on Cooper rubber. While pre-season testing hasn’t presented any obvious issues, it will be interesting who best adapts to the new tyres.

The calendar

The schedule has undergone a few changes compared to 2023. Sebring and COTA are gone; the season opener now takes place at NOLA outside New Orleans; and the grand finale moves from Texas to Portland, Oregon, to coincide with the IndyCar Series race weekend there. The Barber and Mid-Ohio races also take place during an IndyCar weekend.

• Round 1: NOLA Motorsports Park, Louisiana (5–7 April; three races)
• Round 2: Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama (25–28 April; two races)
• Round 3: Virginia International Raceway, Virginia (14–16 June; three races)
• Round 4: Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course, Ohio (4–7 July; two races)
• Round 5: Road America, Wisconsin (9–11 August; three races)
• Round 6: Portland International Raceway, Oregon (22–25 August; three races)

The format

A race weekend usually comprises one to two practice sessions and a qualifying session. As a result of this year’s large grid size, USF Juniors will split the field in two for qualifying and set the grid via two separate sessions, similar to the format used in IndyCar and Indy NXT.

At rounds with two races, the grid for the second race is usually set based on the fastest race lap in race one or the second fastest lap in qualifying, whichever is quicker. At three-race rounds, each driver’s fastest race lap in race two is used to determine the grid for race three.

Race points are handed out to all finishers, with a race win generating 30 points and a clear premium placed on finishing in the top five. Drivers from 20th downwards earn a single point. The pole winner gets an additional point, as does the driver leading the most laps in each race and the driver who sets the fastest race lap.

Where to watch

To watch the USF Juniors sessions and races this year, check the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel, which will stream all sessions free of charge. For live timing and extra content, download the USF Pro Championships app.

Teams and drivers

DEForce Racing and DEForce Racing Driver Development

While there is no formal teams’ championship in USF Juniors, reigning driver champions DEForce Racing has promoted its two main stars from last season, Nicolas Giaffone and Quinn Armstrong, to USF2000. For 2024, the squad returns with one sophomore and three rookies.

Brady Golan (#18) finished 10th overall in 2023 and will aim for race wins and a championship run this year. Of the team’s rookie contingent, Brazilian F4 champion Vinícius Tessaro (#15) is arguably the most exciting prospect. The other two greenhorns are karters Leandro Juncos (#17) – the son of IndyCar team owner Ricardo Juncos – and Bruno Ribeiro (#16) of Brazil.

Apart from its main team, DEForce also launched a satellite operation this winter that it describes as a driver development outfit. This year, it will run brothers Patricio Gonzalez (#19) and Rodrigo Gonzalez (#20), both young karters from Mexico. A third entry was announced when DEForce Racing DD was launched, but it has so far not materialised.

Exclusive Autosport

Leading Exclusive’s five-car squad is Jack Jeffers (#92), one of the clear title favourites. The American returns for a second season after finishing third overall last year and will also run some USF2000 races this year.

The Canadian team also runs the third Brazilian in the field. João Vergara (#90) finished runner-up in the Lucas Oil Formula Car Series last year and was a frontrunner in the YACademy Winter Series earlier this year.

Elsewhere in the Exclusive squad, Evan Cooley (#91) is a 16-year-old with some Radical Cup experience who finished third overall in the YACademy series. Completing the line-up are Canadian karter Anthony Martella (#95) and Juniors sophomore Giovanni Cabrera (#93), who finished 13th overall last year.

VRD Racing

VRD also comes with a five-car squad to USF Juniors this season, and in practice it has six cars under its wing. Without a doubt the biggest name in its line-up is Sebastian Wheldon (#98), son of Indy 500 legend Dan Wheldon and winner of the Skip Barber Formula Race Series in 2023. That championship landed him a scholarship to graduate to Juniors, and he also finished second in the YACademy Winter Series. Many eyes will be focused on the youngster, who is supported by Andretti Global.

Like Jeffers, Max Taylor (#33) returns for a second season in USF Juniors and is another title favourite with the proverbial bookies. Taylor will be busy this year, as he is also committed to a USF2000 campaign with VRD.

Alabama karter Michael Suco (#10) and Californian Christian Cameron (#70), the son of former IMSA driver Steve and cousin of current IMSA star Dane, complete the VRD line-up as things stand now. The grapevine tells Feeder Series that Jimmie Lockhart will also return to the VRD fold, assuming budget matters can be worked out.

Skip Barber Racing

As for that sixth VRD car: formally, Jeshua Alianell (#50) will be on the entry list as a driver for Skip Barber Racing. In reality, the entry is heavily supported by VRD, which should help Alianell this year in terms of data and engineering. The Texan comes with some promise, having finished runner-up in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series in all three seasons between 2021 and 2023.

Jay Howard Driver Development

Arguably the biggest coup for USF Juniors heading into 2024 is the proper arrival of JHDD. The team run by former Indy 500 driver Jay Howard has sold its F4 US material and, after a few trial races at the end of last season, now readies itself for a full-blown Juniors campaign with no less than seven cars.

Four of its seven drivers already raced at Road America and/or COTA last season. This experience should help Kentucky youngster Hudson Potter (#4), the unrelated Florida-born Tennesseean Aidan Potter (#6), Canadian karter Ayden Ingratta (#7) and Wisconsin’s Ava Dobson (#5) get up to speed relatively quickly.

With G3 Argyros (#3) – short for George III – and Timothy Carel (#8), JHDD also has two complete Juniors rookies in the team. Argyros in particular did a lot of testing with the team throughout 2023, and both showed decent speed in the YACademy series this winter.

The final JHDD car is for Briton Liam McNeilly (#9), who has made the switch to American open-wheel racing after finishing third overall in GB4 last season. Before that, he raced for three years in Ginettas, making him relatively experienced. His switch to Juniors is an exciting choice, and he was fastest overall at the two-day pre-season test at NOLA at the end of February.

International Motorsport

Another team making the switch from F4 US, Florida-based International Motorsport fields two cars with intriguing names behind the wheel. Augusto Soto-Schirripa (#24) only ran a partial season in F4 US last year, following a three-year hiatus from racing due to financial issues, but thanks to four wins and three more podium finishes, he still ranked third overall in the standings.

The other car is for Ariel Elkin (#25), who also ran a handful of F4 races with International last year and immediately demonstrated top-five pace. Notably, in a sport that usually eschews overt political statements, Israeli driver Elkin has been an outspoken supporter of his country on his social channels in recent months.

International has a third car and has tested extensively with Emma Scarborough during the off-season. It’s very possible that the young karter from Georgia will make her Juniors debut later this season.

Zanella Racing

Also from Florida, Zanella Racing is another new team on the Juniors grid for 2024. Given that Zanella’s roots are in the US karting scene, it’s no surprise the team’s ambition is to help talented karters take their first steps into open-wheel racing. Both Diego Guiot (#12) and Leonardo Escarpioni (#55) are inexperienced, but Zanella is exactly the type of team for which USF Juniors was created.

Team Tonis

Former Champ Car and Indy Lights driver Tonis Kasemets announced last December he would field a two-car team for young brothers Ethan and Jackson Tovo, but Feeder Series has since learned that the still 13-year-old Tovo twins will in fact not race in USF Juniors in 2024.

Instead, they will continue to race in karts and F1600 this season and test their Tatuus cars, with the ambition of making the step up to Juniors in 2025. Whether the Pabst Racing–supported Team Tonis will field other drivers during 2024 is unclear at the time of writing but also unlikely.

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography