USF Juniors, the first step on the USF Pro Championships ladder, returns to action this week featuring a radically revamped calendar and an almost entirely new driver line-up. Feeder Series tells you all you need to know about the series’ upcoming fifth season.

By Marco Albertini

Established in 2022 as a competitor to Formula 4 United States, USF Juniors, begins its fifth season this weekend in the south of Florida. Since its inception, Andersen Promotions’ entry-level series has had a double-digit count of average drivers per round, starting out with 17.67 and gradually progressing to last year’s 21.33. Meanwhile, F4 US shrank from 21.67 drivers per round in 2022 to last year’s eight.

Starting out with a Ligier JS F4 chassis in its first year, USF Juniors then adopted a Tatuus JR-23 chassis from 2023 onwards, a slightly modified and detuned car relative to its USF Pro 2000 and USF2000 counterparts. It continues to use the car to this day.

Much like the other series on the USF Pro Championships ladder, the champion will receive a scholarship to move up to the next step. In this case, $249,675 will be awarded to the champion to move up to USF2000.

The calendar

This year’s calendar will feature six rounds, with only Mid-Ohio and Road America returning from last year as four new tracks join the calendar.

For the first time in series history, the first round will be held in February. That round, the season’s southernmost, takes place on the 2.25-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course, which makes its first appearance in the championship. Carolina Motorsports Park, Mosport and Lime Rock Park will also feature for the first time, as Mid-Ohio scales down from two to one round. The round at Mosport is the first outside the United States in series history.

Mid-Ohio will be the only IndyCar-supported round, as Portland will be absent for the first time since 2023. The only Canadian round of the season will support the NASCAR Canada Series, while the Lime Rock round will be supported by the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

• Round 1: Homestead-Miami Speedway (16–18 February)
• Round 2: Carolina Motorsports Park (16–19 April)
• Round 3: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (14–17 May)
• Round 4: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (2–5 July)
• Round 5: Lime Rock Park (10–11 July) 
• Round 6: Road America (24–26 September)

The opening round at Homestead will run mid-week, with three test sessions on Monday followed by competitive sessions Tuesday and Wednesday. The schedule is as follows, with all sessions taking place in Eastern Standard Time (UTC–5).

Monday 16 February

• 11:15–12:00: Test session 1
• 13:15–14:00: Test session 2
• 15:15–16:00: Test session 3

Tuesday 17 February

• 9:00–9:30: Practice
• 11:30–12:00: Qualifying 1
• 14:30–15:15: Race 1

Wednesday 18 February

• 9:00–9:30: Qualifying 2
• 11:15–12:00: Race 2
• 14:30–15:15: Race 3

The format

Every race weekend will begin with one or two practice sessions, followed up by at least one qualifying session and two or three races.

Each qualifying session will set the grid for its correspondingly numbered race. If there are more races than qualifying sessions, the remaining grids will be set by the quicker of each driver’s second-best lap in the previous qualifying session and fastest lap in the previous race.

Points will be awarded for every finishing position as well as retirements, starting from 30 points for a win. Second place gets 25, third receives 22, and then fourth and fifth take 19 and 17 points respectively. From sixth onwards, which awards 15 points, the number of points decreases by one integer per every position up to 20th place, which will hand out one point. Everyone 20th and below will receive one point. Non-finishers receive points according to the order in which they retired.

Bonus points will also be awarded to the driver who qualifies on pole, as well as the fastest lap holder and the driver who led the most laps in a race.

A different points system is used for the teams’ championship. Each team earns points for their two highest-finishing cars, while single-car teams receive three additional points per race as an equaliser. Points will be distributed on a 22-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 scale, with any positions below 10th awarding a single point.

Where to watch

Every race will be streamed on the USF Pro Championships YouTube channel. Live timing will be available on the USF Pro Championships app.

Teams and drivers

Just as was the case last year, seven teams will field at least one car. VRD Racing and Pole Position Motorsports have joined forces for a single entry, while Ligier JFC team Berg Racing joins the series.

All seven teams raced in the two-round Florida-based YACademy Winter Series, run with the same cars and featuring a near-identical grid to the Homestead USF Juniors opener.

Zanella Racing

Founded in 2012 as a karting team, Zanella Racing joined the single-seater ranks in 2024 by racing in USF Juniors. Last year, the team clinched their first drivers’ and teams’ championship with Leonardo Escorpioni, who will continue with the team as they both step up to USF2000. This year, Zanella will feature a seven-car line-up for their title defence in the series in which they achieved their greatest success so far.

Jared Oselka (#21) joins Zanella for his first season in USF Juniors. The 19-year-old raced with them in the YACademy Winter Series, during which he scored a best result of 14th in races two and three at Homestead. The American also raced in the Formula FARA winter series this winter, taking a best result of third at the same venue in race one of the final round.

Olivier Mrak (#23) also joins Zanella for his first season in USF Juniors, albeit with less single-seater experience under his belt. The 16-year-old Canadian made his junior single-seater debut in this winter’s YACademy Winter Series for the team, taking a best result of seventh in race two at Sebring to finish 10th in points. Prior to that, Mrak raced in karts, winning the Canadian Open in Senior Max, as well as racing in the RMC Grand Finals at the end of the year.

American Grant Mitchell (#28) will also embark on his second year in single-seaters with Zanella, having raced with them in the YACademy Winter Series, in which he was 21st in points. Last year, the 16-year-old finished 12th in the Skip Barber Race Series standings and partook in an extensive USF Juniors testing programme with Zanella. Towards the end of the year, Mitchell raced in the first round of the 2025–26 Formula FARA Winter Series, in which he scored a best result of fourth in race two.

Maddie Colleran (#29), the only returning driver in the line-up, stays in USF Juniors after finishing 20th in points last year with a best result of 13th in the Portland finale. The 16-year-old from outside Cleveland, Ohio, raced in the YACademy Winter Series at the start of this year, taking a best result of 16th in race two at both Sebring and Homestead to finish 22nd in points.

Eighteen-year-old Brazilian-American Victor Couto (#88) joins Zanella as he continues his trajectory in junior formulae. He comes to USF Juniors off the back of a third-place finish in Formula FARA for Gonella Racing, with three wins in his first year in single-seater competition.

Fourteen-year-old Max Mokarem (#46) joins Zanella Racing for his sophomore year in junior formulae. He began the year in the YACademy Winter Series, in which he took a best result of sixth in the final race at Homestead to finish 12th in points. The Lebanese-American raced in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship last year for Momentum Motorsports, taking a best result of second in race two at Virginia International Raceway en route to an eighth-place points finish. Mokarem has also been testing F4 machinery in Spain for Tecnicar since last November.

Canadian Leonardo Serravalle (#87) will make his debut in single-seaters with Zanella as he joins the USF Juniors grid following a winter campaign in the YACademy Winter Series in which he was seventh in points. The 14-year-old comes off a strong 2025 in karts, winning the RMC Canada, Ontario and Canadian Open titles in Junior Max last year in addition to finishing ninth in the RMC Grand Finals in the same category.

VRD Racing by Pole Position

Established in 2018, VRD Racing has been a staple on the American single-seater scene since, and has been racing in USF Juniors since its inception in 2022, winning the teams’ championship in 2022 and 2024. This year, VRD will partner up with French engineer Yannick Rolland’s Pole Position Motorsport, which ran a single car for Connor Aspley and finished sixth in the teams’ standings last year. Despite running four cars in the YACademy Winter Series at the start of the year, the team will scale down to one to start for the main season.

Twenty-four-year-old Iván Machado Pérez (#10) joins the team after winning the Skip Barber Race Series title last year in dominant fashion, scoring 10 wins and standing on the podium in all but two races. The Spaniard began racing in the series after finishing third in the Skip Barber Formula iRacing Series, which granted him an invite to the SBRS Formula Car shootout. He beat two other drivers in the shootout to earn a full-time spot in the series’ real-world counterpart. 

Machado Pérez is no stranger to USF Juniors machinery, having topped the timesheets with Olivia Racing in last year’s post-season tests at Indianapolis. He was set to race for them this year before joining VRD by Pole Position.

DEForce Racing

The brainchild of former Champ Car driver David Martínez and his brother Ernesto Martínez, DEForce Racing have been a constant presence on the USF Pro ladder since 2017 and have also been competing in USF Juniors since 2022. In their time in the series, DEForce won the 2023 teams’ title as well as the drivers’ title in 2022 and 2023 with Mac Clark and Nicolas Giaffone respectively.

The highest-placed returning driver from last year’s grid, 17-year-old Finnish driver Vilho Aatola (#14) continues with DEForce after finishing seventh in last year’s standings with a best result of second at Barber Motorsports Park.

Mexican Elías Vignola (#19) switches to USF Juniors for his sophomore season in single-seaters. Last year, the 15-year-old raced in NACAM F4 for Ram Racing and took a lone win at the second Mexico City round in race three, which helped him end the year sixth in points.

Colombia’s Pipe Chaparro (#20) will continue with DEForce after finishing 16th in the YACademy Winter Series with them earlier this year. Previously, the 16-year-old raced in karts, winning the ROK Cup Colombia in junior karting. He is leading this year’s GP Pro class in the same series after three rounds.

Jay Howard Driver Development with ECR

Staples of the American junior single-seater ladder since 2017, Jay Howard Driver Development have been racing in USF Juniors with a multi-car line-up since mid-2023. As they enter their third full-time season in the series, JHDD will partner up with IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing, who will provide technical support to the team in all three championships on the USF Pro ladder.

The most experienced of the trio is 15-year-old Casper Nissen (#6), who comes off a rookie title and an overall fourth place in last year’s Nordic 4 standings. The Danish driver took his only win of the season at the second Padborg Park round in addition to six other podiums.

Indian-American Aryan Narola (#7) is the team’s latest addition to their four-car line-up. Earlier this year, the 15-year-old raced with the team at the Homestead round of the YACademy Winter Series, scoring a best result of 20th in race two.

Fifteen-year-old Max Cuthbert (#8) joins the team for his rookie year in single-seater competition. He took a third place at Homestead in the final round of the YACademy Winter Series at the start of the year en route to an 11th-place points finish. Last year, the Briton finished third in the Ginetta Junior Championship standings for R Racing with a win at Donington Park.

Also making his single-seater debut will be American driver JW Main (#9), who continues with JHDD after racing in karts with their support. Main had his first taste of USF Juniors machinery in a test at Barber in March of last year.

Exclusive Autosport

Created in 2013 by Canadian businessman Michael Duncalfe and co-owned by American entrepreneur Joshua Cooley since mid-2024, Exclusive Autosport have been competing in USF Juniors since 2023 with at least two cars per round. The team’s best season to date was in 2023, when they finished third in the drivers’ standings with reigning USF2000 champion Jack Jeffers with three wins to his name.

Bex Cranston (#90) returns to Exclusive Autosport for his first USF Juniors season after finishing fifth in the YACademy Winter Series at the start of this year with a best result of second at Homestead. Previously, the 17-year-old American was the runner-up in the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series in his first year in single-seaters.

Twenty-year-old Connor Aspley (#91) switches to Exclusive Autosport for his second season in USF Juniors having raced Pole Position Motorsports’ sole entry last year. He took a best result of fifth at Road America and ended the year 13th in points. The Missouri native has already driven for Exclusive in this year’s YACademy Winter Series, in which he scored a best result of ninth at Homestead and again finished 13th in points.

Joshua Cooley’s youngest son, Brenden Cooley (#92), is the second-highest placed returning driver from last year. He remains with Exclusive Autosport for his sophomore season after taking a lone podium at Road America last year and rounding out the year 10th in points. The 16-year-old Illinois resident also made his USF2000 debut at Road America. Earlier this year, Cooley raced in the YACademy Winter Series for the same team, taking a win at Sebring and finishing sixth in points.

Canadian Cole Medeiros (#97) continues his first full year in single-seaters with Exclusive Autosport after finishing ninth in the YACademy standings earlier this year. The 15-year-old also raced in the Formula FARA winter series, scoring a best result of third in the finale at Homestead. Last year Medeiros raced in karts, most notably winning the Florida Winter Tour ROK Micro, RMC Canada West Junior Max and ROK Canadian Nationals Junior titles.

Olivia Racing

Racing in USF Juniors in 2022 as International Motorsport and from 2024 onwards as InterMS, the single-seater division of the Dana Delgado–led team rebranded to Olivia Racing in late 2025 ahead of their fourth season in the series. Since joining the series, the team had their best season in 2024, in which they finished fourth and sixth in the drivers’ standings with Ariel Elkin and Augusto Soto-Schirripa behind the wheel.

Karol Pasiewicz (#25) will drive the team’s sole entry for his first year in single-seaters after he secured runner-up honours in YACademy Winter Series earlier this year. The 19-year-old Pole raced in karts last year, with his standout results being third in the Andrea Margutti Trophy in KZ2, eighth in the Trofeo Delle Industrie’s OK-N class and 20th in the KZ FIA Karting World Championship.

Berg Racing

Having first appeared in competition in 2024, Berg Racing will join USF Juniors after finishing runner-up in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship with Drew Szuch in both the drivers’ and the teams’ standings last year. The team traces its roots to the Allen Berg Racing Schools operation founded in 2007 by former F1 driver Allen Berg, who now serves as the competitive squad’s team principal.

The team’s only confirmed driver is Allen’s son, Alex Berg (#68), who also serves as the sporting director and coach of the team. Last year, the 19-year-old Canadian raced in the first four rounds of GB4 for Graham Brunton Racing, during which time he scored a lone win in the reverse-grid race at Donington Park. Following that, Berg made a one-off appearance for his family’s team in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship at VIR, finishing second on track in race one before being relegated to 12th for blocking another driver.

The grid at a glance

Team	#	Driver
Jay Howard Driver Development with ECR	6	Casper Nissen (R)
	7	Aryan Narola (R)
	8	Max Cuthbert (R)
	9	JW Main (R)
VRD Racing by Pole Position	10	Iván Machado Pérez (R)
DEForce Racing	14	Vilho Aatola
	19	Elías Vignola (R)
	20	Pipe Chaparro (R)
Zanella Racing	21	Jared Oselka (R)
	23	Olivier Mrak (R)
	28	Grant Mitchell (R)
	29	Maddie Colleran
	46	Max Mokarem (R)
	87	Leonardo Serravalle (R)
	88	Victor Couto (R)
Olivia Racing	25	Karol Pasiewicz (R)
Berg Racing	68	Alex Berg (R)
Exclusive Autosport	90	Bex Cranston (R)
	91	Connor Aspley
	92	Brenden Cooley
	97	Cole Medeiros (R)

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography