Michael d’Orlando will pursue his next title with Turn 3 Motorsports in Andersen Promotions’ USF Pro 2000 series presented by Cooper Tires.
The 20-year-old New Yorker claimed the USF2000 title last season with Cape Motorsports on the strength of four wins and great consistency to close the season, and with Cape moving to Indy NXT, d’Orlando spent the offseason searching for the right home to bring his advancement prize and secure a front-running seat.
“I’m so excited to be back,” said d’Orlando. “Since the final USF2000 race in Portl and last year, I’ve had very limited testing or any sort of driving time in general. I’m very appreciative of Turn 3 Motorsport’s support of me in the off-season, and I’ve absolutely loved working with them during pre-season testing. I’m confident that we can perform well together in my rookie year in the USF Pro 2000 series, especially in those beautiful USF Pro Championships scholarship colors.”
Signing with the team owned by former Road To Indy standout Peter Dempsey should help d’Orlando to continue his march towards the NTT IndyCar Series.
“It’s a great honor for our team that the USF2000 scholarship winner has chosen us for his 2023 USF Pro 2000 program,” Dempsey said. “It shows how far we’ve come since joining the series in 2020. Michael has been a pleasure to have so far in our program throughout pre-season testing and has proved to us why he is a champion. He adapted to the IP-22 car very quickly and is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with throughout the year. I’m confident we can give him the tools for a successful rookie season and look forward to carrying both Turn 3’s and Michael’s momentum into 2023.
“The scholarship provided by Andersen Promotions and Cooper Tires gives these young drivers one of the best opportunities in the world to move up the ladder to the top level of motorsport. I know I wouldn’t be in the position I am in today without the support of Dan Andersen and Andersen Promotions during my r acing career, so for us to come full circle and have our team as part of the scholarship program is a huge honor. I feel we have a strong driver lineup to push for the title this season, and we are proud to be representing the series champion in 2023.”