Season opener for Thomas Nepveu in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Series

 April 15 to 17, 2021 - Races 1 & 2 - Barber Motorsports Park (Birmingham, Alabama)

Thomas Nepveu and his Cape Motorsports team are launching the driver's first season in a single-seater this coming weekend (April 15-17) at Barber Motorsports Park. The young Oka native is making a return to this now-familiar track for him, after having driven his #2 Cromwell| Karting Excellence | Home Hardware car there during pre-season test days last week, in addition to his off-track preparation using advanced simulation at Cape Motorsports.

Thomas Nepveu is looking forward to an intense weekend on this technical layout. "We had a few good days of testing last week. We will work some more until the first race with the data and video to gain a bit of speed. But it's been a good experience. With all the elevation changes and blind corners, you really need to trust the car and trust that the road is there! You have to have 100% confidence. It's great to work with Cape Motorsports: I have good data and good teammates, and that helps me on and off the track," explains Thomas Nepveu.

"The USF2000 car is more complex than the kart with more settings to analyze with the team. However, the feeling of racing is the same in karts as in USF2000. Tire management is important because we only have three sets of tires for two qualifying sessions and two races. We will run on used tires for practice and new ones for each qualifying session. It's important to start as far forward as possible on the grid and drive as few laps as possible in qualifying to save the tires for a race if necessary. A top-10 finish would make me happy for my first USF2000 races," said the newly appointed Breakfast Club of Canada ambassador.

Barber Motorsports Park

This Alabama layout is a technical one perfectly suited to cars such as the USF2000, with the current lap record set at 99.748 mph. The combination of tight and faster corners poses a challenge for the driver and team to determine the correct suspension and aerodynamic settings. It is always a question of finding an ideal compromise between mechanical grip for the slower corners, aerodynamic downforce for the faster corners and minimal drag to promote maximum speed on the straights.

Weekend Schedule (EDT)

• Thursday, April 15 - Practice (P1): 3:00 to 3:30 pm
• Friday, April 16 - Qualifying 1 (Q1): 10:50 to 11:10 am | Qualifying 2 (Q2): 2:50 to 3:10 pm
• Saturday, April 17 - Race 1 (R1): 9:00 to 9:40 am (20 laps) | Race 2 (R2): from 4:50 to 5:30 pm (25 laps)
• Live Timing: Road to Indy TV application | Website Cooper Tires USF2000

Breakfast Club of Canada

Thomas Nepveu is honoured to join to the Breakfast Club of Canada cause. He will add his name to a list of ambassadors dedicated to highlighting food insecurity among Canadian children and will participate in various fundraising events.

To make a donation on Thomas Nepveu's page: https://give.breakfastclubcanada.org/thomas-nepveu-pilote-de-course-professionnel-et-ambassadeur-du-club

Thomas Nepveu 2021 Results - Cooper Tires USF2000 Series

Photo Credit: CoForce

Cromwell

Cromwell is a private real-estate company active since 1986 in the multi-residential, office and commercial/ shopping centre segments.

Karting Excellence

A major reseller of sophisticated, up-to-date kart simulators, as well as offering driving courses for simulated racing, and kart track software development, based on liDAR technology.

Richelieu Hardware

Richelieu Hardware is the leading distributor of hardware products in North America, with over 80 points-of-sale across the continent.

Pétrole Bélanger

Transport, maintenance and delivery of petroleum and propane gas products to residential, commercial, and agriculture customers in the major Quebec regions for more than 65 years!

Home Hardware

With more than 1,000 independently owned outlets, Home Hardware is the most important distributor of renovation products in Canada.

Hamster

The largest Canadian-owned distributor of office products, which includes the Novexco commercial division.

PL-100

PL-100 with anti-friction treatment is the best all-purpose penetrating lubricant on the market. Its action is faster, longer lasting and more efficient than that of its competitors. PL-100 is a product from Prolab, a family-owned Quebec company established in 1985.

Ionik

This Quebec-based maker of sports-oriented clothing places a special emphasis on respect for the environment.

Centre de Médecine sportive de Laval

The Centre de Médecine sportive de Laval uses over 100 health professionals to deliver personalized medical services of the highest order to athletes of all levels.

King Canada

Canada's leading distributor of woodworking, metalworking, automotive and material handling machinery, tools, equipment and accessories.

Festidrag Development

Under the leadership of Martin D'Anjou, this production and promotion house assist in the development of Canadian drivers' careers, on as well as off the tracks.

Additional Information

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship

Managed and promoted by Andersen Promotions, LCC, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship is the first step in the Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires, and leads on to more advanced stages in quicker, more competitive series: the Indy Pro F2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, including the Indianapolis 500 and the top level in single-seater car racing in America. The champions of the three lower series earn major scholarships each year to help fund their next season in the Road to Indy program.

 The Road to Indy Program

The Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires program offers an entry level series into professional racing, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. From there, drivers move on to the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, which uses a more refined and quicker version of the USF2000 car. The drivers then move on to the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Series, using a much more powerful, much quicker and more complex car to set up and drive, in preparation for their move to America's top single-seaters, the super-fast NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Car

This series uses a standardized Tatuus USF-17 chassis which delivers an exciting level of performance and is a logical step up from the lower learner series to continue the development of young drivers.

The car features:

• A carbon fibre and aluminum honeycomb safety cell for the driver and the fuel tank, and carbon-fibre bodywork and wings
• A sealed two-litre (175 HP) engine and a six-speed sequential gearbox with steering-mounted paddle shifters 
• Adjustable suspensions and front-rear brake bias
• Bespoke Cooper Tires
• A dry weight of 500 kg 

Thomas Nepveu Career Path and Results

Born in Oka (Quebec), Thomas Nepveu has always shown a great interest in extreme sports, starting with small motorcycles on dirt tracks. He quickly moved on to karts first in the Montreal area, then on to provincial and national series in Canada, on to the United States, Europe and other continents.

2020

• Single seater debut in the Mexican F4 series at the Autodromo de Querétaro, Mexico
• 1 victory and 2 podiums out of 3 F4 races
• Victory in the ROK Fest East series - Charlotte (NC) (ROK Senior class)
• 6^th out of 52 entries, one pole from 3 races in ROK Cup Florida Winter Tour
• 6^th and 1 podium (3^rd) out of 4 races in the SKUSA Winter Series
• 8^th and 2 poles out of 6 races in the SKUSA Pro Tour

2019

• Transition to Rotax Senior class
• Canadian Karting Champion
• Canadian Shifter Open Champion
• Two top-5 finishes in the SKUSA Pro Tour (Senior class)
• Qualified for the Final in the WSK Euro Series (Sarno, Italy)

2018

• US Open Champion
• 3^rd in the ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour series
• 4^th in the Max Challenge class at the Rotax Grand Final (Brazil)
• 15^th in the CIK-FIA World Championship OKJ (Sweden)
• 5^th in the ROK the Rio (Las Vegas)

2017

• Transition year to the Junior class (12 to 16)
• 1st in the Florida Winter Tour (2^nd round)
• 2^nd in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship  

2016

• Debut with PSL Karting
• Youngest driver (11) on the Canadian Karting Team
• Champion in the Eastern Canadian Karting Championship with 7 victories in 7 races, a first in this event
• Champion at the Mini Swift Super Nationals
• Runner-up in the Mini Max world championship
• Team Canada finishes first of 54 countries in the Rotax World Championships with Thomas Nepveu the top Canadian finisher in the Mini-Max class

2015

• Transition year (11 to 13 age group)
• Quebec Cup runner-up
• 4^th in the Eastern Canada Championship
• 3^rd in the Canadian Championship

2014

• Quebec Cup champion
• Eastern Canada champion
• 3^rd in the Canadian Championship
• 3^rd in the Florida Winter Series (first podium for Thomas Nepveu in the United States)

2013

• Wins all Canadian championships in the 9-year-old class
• Quebec Cup champion
• Western Canada champion
• Eastern Canada champion
• 6^th in the Micro Max class at the Rotax Grand Finals in New Orleans, Louisiana

2012

• First year in racing, in the Micro Max class, in Quebec and Ontario
• 5^th in the Quebec Cup