Exclusive Autosport Leads the Way in Competitive USF Fall Combine Weekend
The USF Fall Combine
One of the USF Pro Championships’ most exciting weekends of the offseason each year is the USF Fall Combine, held for all three series on the USF ladder at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. This weekend, sixty-five drivers tried to make their cases to teams as to why they deserve a shot at being a 2026 Road to Indy series contender. With six sessions of thirty-five minutes each per series, drivers had around a total of three and a half hours on track to put their best laps down.
Once the dust settled on Sunday afternoon, it was an overwhelmingly strong performance from the Exclusive Autosport team. Though the team owned by Michael Duncalfe and Joshua Cooley was the biggest constant over the course of the combine, plenty of other new names made their mark and surprised, as did returning drivers back for another shot at an RTI scholarship.
USF Pro 2000 Testing
The top level of the USF ladder was possibly the tightest of the three throughout the weekend, with several teams and drivers having times at the top of the charts. The Exclusive Autosport cars were strong, with third year driver and title favorite Mac Clark and USF 2000 champion Jack Jeffers establishing themselves as among the quickest and most consistent drivers. It would be the rookie, Jeffers, who led two of the six sessions, with Clark taking multiple second places as his best result of the combine.
Pabst Racing brought a strong trio to the track, with 2025’s second highest returning driver in Jacob Douglas, USF 2000 contender G3 Argyros, and Formula 3 race winner Ivan Domingues. While they did not lead a session over the course of the weekend, the threesome combined for twelve appearances in the top five, with a best of second from Argyros in test session three, and Douglas in test session six. Among the series’ most accomplished teams, Pabst Racing has taken their first steps towards repeating as champions once more.
The TJ Speed Racing team, fresh off a runner up finish in 2025 with Ariel Elkin, brought a trio of Nicholas D’Orlando, Thomas Schrage, and Bruno Ribeiro to IMS for the weekend. Only Ribeiro was able to finish a session higher than tenth position, doing so three times in sixth, seventh, and ninth. Though the results may not have been what D’Orlando or Schrage desired, it was a solid two days of data collection and acclimation in a USF Pro car.
The biggest surprise of the weekend, and leader of the most sessions (three) at the Pro 2000 was Jay Howard Driver Development rookie Andres Cardenas. The Peruvian veteran of Spanish Formula 4 and Eurocup-3 was very strong on debut at IMS, leading sessions three, four, and six. He also had the quickest time of the entire weekend, at a time of 1:20.7744. While most eyes have been on Liam McNeilly’s possible return to JHDD for the 2026 USF Pro 2000 campaign, these sessions suggest he could perhaps have a teammate challenging him for the scholarship.
Velocity Racing Development was another team to bring three cars to the track, piloted by Teddy Musella, Tanner DeFabis, and Frankie Mossman. Though Musella and DeFabis were unable to reach the top ten, Mossman succeeded in doing so on all six occasions. The Pro 2000 veteran once again showed off his pace, even leading the second session on the opening day.
Turn 3 Motorsport also brought notable drivers to the circuit, including Michael Costello, and Tymek Kucharczyk. The former finished seventh in his rookie season at the Pro 2000 level, and the latter has been highly rated around the world as a potential Indy NXT driver (where he will also test on Monday) or Formula 2 driver. Costello originally topped the opening session before having his time disallowed, but recovered to finish top ten in four of the remaining five sessions. Kucharczyk only competed on the second day of testing, finding his way into the top ten on two of three runs. An overall strong showing by the T3 team rounded out a very closely contested upper portion of the Pro 2000 grid this weekend.
USF 2000 Testing
A field high in both quality and quantity made for plenty of parity in the middle series of the USF Pro Championships, yet the name at the very top of the timing charts remained constant in five of the six testing sessions for the USF 2000 series. Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley swept day one of the combine, and the first two of three sessions on day two. He was closely trailed throughout the test by 2025 Freedom 75 winner Anthony Martella, who returned to the Exclusive team after making starts for them in 2024.
Brand new to the USF 2000 series for 2026 is Zanella Racing, fresh off a massively successful season in USF Juniors, where they captured both the drivers and teams titles. Defending USFJ champion Leonardo Escorpioni and fourteen year old Canadian Ty Fisher made the step up with the team, looking strong in the opening session but unspectacular compared to some of the more experienced drivers and teams as the weekend continued. Still, valuable data was gathered for a team that is expecting to be contenders from day one when the season begins in February.
The Jay Howard Development Team had multiple big announcements this past week, announcing a partnership with Cape Motorsports and Ed Carpenter Racing, as well as a large and revered testing lineup for the combine. The results, at the USF 2000 level, were perhaps not what they had desired, but a respectable weekend put in from five different drivers over the two days leaves plenty of reason for optimism for the team. Most notably, 2025’s highest returning driver, Caleb Gafrarar, was strong throughout, making the switch from Pabst Racing for the test.
VRD Racing’s Joao Vergara remained with the team after making the jump up from USF Juniors, after a strong third place result in 2025. Perhaps the weekend’s most impressive rookie at the USF 2000 level, he found himself in the upper section of the order for nearly the entire duration of the test. Another strong member of the ‘25 USFJ class, it was an excellent first showing for Vergara.
Also worth shouting out from this weekend are returning drivers Eddie Beswick and Brad Majman, who put in good laps on multiple occasions as well. The 10th and 12th place finishers from the previous season looked well set to improve upon their standing, putting in notable efforts.
USF Juniors Testing
The youngest series on the USF ladder, with the youngest drivers, also took to the IMS infield circuit, and the top team was no different from the upper series. For Exclusive Autosport on this step of the ladder, it was returning driver Brenden Cooley who spent all six sessions in the top three spots. Brenden, the second highest returning driver from the 2025 season (only below Vilho Aatola), was often joined at the top by rookie teammate Justin di Lucia. The Canadian karting phenom continued to show his strong form last seen during testing at Portland International Raceway in August.
Alongside the EA duo at the top of the timing sheets in every session was Olivia Racing rookie Ivan Machado Perez, the twenty-three year old Spaniard. After winning the Skip Barber iRacing shootout, Machado Perez joined the Skip Barber Racing Series for 2025, impressing and winning a championship. Now with the newly rebranded Olivia Racing team, he got out to a swift start, closely contesting and on multiple occasions topping the Exclusive pair over the two days of hot lapping.
Stay tuned for more…
The USF Pro Championships now enter their winter break after a busy season and postseason weekend of testing. They will next be on track February 16-19, when the USF Pro 2000 and USF 2000 series test at the Homestead-Miami Speedway Road Course, and the USF Junior series have the opening three races of the season at the same venue. With a mix of drivers progressing through the American open wheel ladder, and European stars making the trek over to the USA, the chase for the RTI scholarships has never been more tightly contested, making the 2026 season of the USF Pro Championships an absolute must-watch.
written by Owen White / Media Credit: Penske Entertainemt