The USF2000 Championship is the first level of the “Road to Indy” IndyCar ladder. It’s a (relatively) inexpensive way to enter open wheel racing where young prospects get their first shot to show what they got on the same tracks the NTT IndyCar Series races on.
The start of the USF2000 season went off in a very Fast and Furious way. As the green flag flew in the first race of a doubleheader in St. Petersburg, Frenchman Alex Baron clipped a couple cars and hit them in such a way where Baron did a complete barrel roll and landed the car as it spun to a stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnH0vxNZlho
As you can see on Bruna Tomaselli’s onboard camera, Baron was either looking to thread the needle between two cars and was late to react when that closed or he missed his braking point. The farther back you are at the start of a race, the earlier your braking point will be than in normal race conditions so that could have been the case.
By the time Baron reacted, he locked up the tires but he was too late and crashed into the two cars in front of him. At that point, Baron became a passenger and his rear tire drove up over the tire of the car in front and launched him up into the barrel roll.
Only Baron was unable to continue in the race and he would uninjured from the crash. On Sunday, the defending St. Petersburg USF2000 Championship winner finished fourth in a different car.
Rookie Braden Eves would win both races and take a 15 point lead in the standings.
