Tatuus iMagazine

34 IndyPro The year of the Sting Ray The 2020 Indy Pro 2000 championship saw veteran Sting Ray Robb cruise to an early title, rounding out a perfect run mid‐year and beating Devlin De Francesco. Coming fromUSF2000, Hunter McElrea and Braden Eves got their maiden wins although the latter was stopped by injury by Marco Cortesi W hile dominated by uncertainty and by the challenges of the 2020 pandemic in the first months of the year, the Indy Pro 2000 championship lined‐up for its St.Petersburg finale with an early champion to cap a season where experience turned out to be the key component. Those who had more high‐profile racing under their belt seemed to have the upper hand in managing the conditions, making the difference when they eventually went on‐track aboard their Tatuus PM‐18 racecars. In the end, it was Sting Ray Robb who delivered, the American taking the title at the end of his fourth run in the series. Born in 2001, Robb kept faith to his name and started a hard‐fought challenge from the word go. After round one at Road America, which featured wins by two second‐ year drivers, Russian Artem Petrov and Singapore's Danial Frost, Robb rose to the top of the rostrum at Mid‐Ohio. Then, six more wins followed from him, while Petrov and Frost struggled to keep themselves consistently in contention at the top of the charts. But as the season progressed, a new contender quickly emerged. Coming from FIA Formula 3, Canadian Devlin De Francesco captured his maiden series win on oval at Gateway moving to P2 overall. Unfortunately for him, Robb performed without a hitch in the middle stint of the season, with three straight wins on the Indianapolis road course and three more, one for each of the closing rounds at Mid‐Ohio, New Jersey Motorsports Park and St. Petersburg. In the end, DeFrancesco settled for second in fornt of Frost and Petrov. The best‐ranked rookie coming from USF2000 was 2019 runner‐up Hunter McElrea, who scored four second‐place finishes throughout the season and eventually broke through to record his maiden win in the St.Pete finale and P5 overall in points. Two more names deserve a mention. Reigning USF2000 champion Braden Eves had a flying start and snatched his first win in round 2. Unfortunately, he had to sit out the second part of the season due to a fiery crash in round 5 at Indianapolis. The Ohio‐based racer suffered serious injuries, but he has already been back to the racetrack as a spectator and is expected to make a full recovery in time for 2021. On the other hand, a legendary champion made a real breakthrough at the Lucas Oil Raceway short oval. Five‐time USAC Silver Crown Series Champion Kody Swanson entered the event in preparation for a possible run in the Indy 500, and obliterated the field to take the win. The 32‐year‐old had less luck at Gateway, but definitely showed his potential on the track. For 2021, champion Robb is now expected to make the switch to Indy Lights relying on his scholarship for winning the title totalling more than 600.000 dollars.