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

Oka, Quebec – 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

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)

6th out of 52 entries, one pole from 3 races in ROK Cup Florida Winter Tour

6th and 1 podium (3rd) out of 4 races in the SKUSA Winter Series

8th 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

3rd in the ROK Cup USA Florida Winter Tour series

4th in the Max Challenge class at the Rotax Grand Final (Brazil)

15th in the CIK-FIA World Championship OKJ (Sweden)

5th in the ROK the Rio (Las Vegas)

2017

Transition year to the Junior class (12 to 16)

1st in the Florida Winter Tour (2nd round)

2nd 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

4th in the Eastern Canada Championship

3rd in the Canadian Championship

2014

Quebec Cup champion

Eastern Canada champion

3rd in the Canadian Championship

3rd 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

6th 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

5th in the Quebec Cup