Kaylee Countryman returns to USF2000 Championship on the streets of St Petersburg

 In preparation for her F1 Academy debut in less than two weeks, Kaylee Countryman gained valuable street circuit experience as she achieved a best finish of 18th position at St Petersburg, on her return to the USF2000 Championship.

Photo credits: Gavin Baker

It was a promising return to the USF2000 Championship for Kaylee Countryman with the American driver completing a clean weekend on the streets of St Petersburg. In preparation for her F1 Academy debut in less than two weeks, Countryman gained valuable street circuit experience as she achieved a best finish of 18^th position in Florida. 

Countryman stepped up into the USF2000 Championship for the 2026 season after a promising rookie season in its direct feeder series, USF Juniors. Racing for Exclusive Autosport, Countryman finished 16^th in the overall championship standings with four top-10 results to her name. Her best finish of eighth came at Mid-Ohio in a successful portion of the season for Kaylee who went on a run of three top-10 finishes in four races. Countryman also competed in two rounds of the USF2000 Championship, securing a best result of 11^th on her street circuit debut in Toronto.

In addition to climb up the American single seater ladder, Countryman claimed a spot on the 2026 F1 Academy grid representing Haas F1 Team. Driving alongside French racers Lisa Billard and Jade Jacquet, Countryman is targeting a learning-oriented year with the ART Grand Prix squad. With three street circuits on the upcoming F1 Academy calendar, supplementing her racing with a campaign in the USF2000 Championship was a smart choice. 

Countryman has also raced in the UAE4 Series over the winter, providing the American racer with additional mileage in F4 level machinery. Securing a best result of 28^th position at Yas Marina, Kaylee was now targeting a strong start to an expanded campaign in the USF2000 Championship on the streets of St Petersburg in Florida.

The sole free practice session took place on Friday morning on what was to be an extremely busy first day of action. It was a clean start to the weekend for Countryman and the session was only red flagged on one occasion following an off-track moment for Erik Holm. At the conclusion of the 35-minute free practice, Countryman had set the 22^nd fastest time with a quickest lap time of a 1:15.606. 

Qualifying took place less than two hours later with Kaylee targeting further improvements in her Exclusive Autosport machine. It was a heavily disrupted session with multiple red flags preventing the drivers from building up a rhythm around the tricky street circuit. At the end of qualifying, Countryman’s quickest lap of a 1:15.072 was over half a second faster than she managed in free practice and this placed her in 21^st position overall. 

Photo credits: Gavin Baker

The opening race of the season was held later on Friday morning with Countryman starting from 22^nd on the grid following a post-qualifying penalty. As the drivers approached turn one, an incident at the head of the field between teammates Anthony Martella and Evan Cooley led to a quick full course yellow period. Behind the safety car, Kaylee had moved up to 20^th spot and her position was improved further after Eddie Beswick pitted his Pabst Racing machine for a new front wing.

The race resumed on lap four with Beswick overtaking Countryman on the first green flag lap as the Australian driver recovered from his early-race contact. Countryman settled in behind debutant Jack Mohrhardt and she began improving her lap times as her tyres came up to temperature. The gap between the two drivers remained around three-quarters of a second and therefore Kaylee was within striking distance should Mohrhardt make an error.

As the race approached the halfway point, Countryman remained in 20^th position before setting a new personal best time on lap 10. The Exclusive Autosport driver was edging closer to Mohrhardt and by lap 13, she had cut the deficit to just over half a second. Now utilising the slipstream on the main straight, Kaylee was looking to shape for an overtake and move through the field in the closing stages.

As the battles intensified in the midfield, contact was made between Colin Aitken and Brady Golan on lap 15 and this resulted in Golan pitting with a puncture. Countryman was now back into 19^th spot and her position was improved further after Beswick hit the wall and was forced to retire. On the penultimate lap of the race, a new personal best time of a 1:15.291 drew Countryman closer to Mohrhardt. However, the VRD Racing driver remained consistent and Kaylee therefore took the chequered flag in 18^th position, four tenths of a second behind her rival. 

Race two on the streets of St Petersburg took place on Sunday afternoon and the drivers were keen to get back up to speed after over 48 hours out of the car. Countryman lined up from 22^nd on the grid courtesy of her second fastest time set in Friday morning’s qualifying session. As the race got underway, Kaylee did a nice job to negotiate contact at the first corner which again saw Evan Cooley retire from the race, along with debutant Callahan Peter. Anthony Martella also went off-course on the opening lap and as a result, the race entered a full course yellow period.

The Exclusive Autosport driver had made her way up to 20^th position as the drivers circulated behind the safety car, while Connor Aspley encountered an issue on the restart. Therefore, just half a lap of green flag racing took place before the yellow flags were displayed for a second time. Erik Holm was able to overtake Countryman on the brief restart, however with Kaylee ahead of Aspley and Jack Mohrhardt, she was up to 19^th spot. 

The race resumed on lap nine, however not before Liam Loiacono pitted to repair damage and this promoted Countryman to 18^th position. From there, the race settled into a rhythm with Kaylee chasing down JHDD Powered by ECR racer Naim Saleh. In her attempt to move towards the top-15, Countryman made a small error on lap 12 and this saw her swap positions with Mohrhardt.

Nonetheless, Countryman immediately ran a personal best time and with Loiacono closing in after his unscheduled stop, the three drivers began to battle. On lap 16, Loiacono dropped Countryman to 20^th and now the Exclusive Autosport driver could learn from her Australian rival as he cut the deficit to Mohrhardt. 

On the penultimate lap of the race, Countryman set a new personal best time of a 1:14.638 which was almost half a second quicker than she had managed over the entire weekend. This enabled her to mount a late challenge on Mohrhardt, just missing out on the position by six tenths of a second. Therefore, Countryman completed her return to the USF2000 Championship with a 20^th place result in Florida.

It was a positive weekend for Countryman on the streets of St Petersburg as she banked valuable mileage on a challenging street circuit. Completing all the laps throughout the event, it was a learning-oriented return to the series for Kaylee who will be looking to build upon this performance as the season progresses.

Countryman’s next event will be her debut in F1 Academy which takes place in Shanghai on the weekend of March 14^th/15, while her USF2000 Championship return will come at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.