Kaylee Countryman secures first top-10 in USF2000 with P9 in Indianapolis

Kaylee Countryman secured her first top-10 finish in USF2000 with an impressive drive in the opening race of the Indianapolis Road Course weekend, in what proved to be a good step forward in the second round of the 2026 season for the F1 Academy racer.

Photo credits: Gavin Baker

Kaylee Countryman secured her first top-10 finish in USF2000 with an impressive drive in the opening race of the Indianapolis Road Course weekend, in what proved to be a good step forward in pace and confidence during the second round of the 2026 season.

The Haas-backed F1 Academy racer showed significantly improved competitiveness throughout the event, consistently running closer to the midfield battles and converting that pace into a breakthrough ninth-place finish at one of the most important venues on the Road to Indy calendar.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course hosted the second round of the USF2000 season during the prestigious Month of May in Indiana, a key period for the entire Road to Indy ladder as well as IndyCar ahead of the Indianapolis 500. Countryman continued her part-time campaign with JHDD powered by ECR, returning to domestic US competition after beginning her season internationally.

The American racer entered the weekend following the first international single-seater campaign of her career, having competed earlier in the year in both the UAE and Europe as part of her expanding development programme alongside her F1 Academy commitments representing Haas F1 Team. The extra mileage and experience gained overseas appeared to immediately pay dividends at Indianapolis, where Countryman showed a clear step forward in pace from the very first sessions.

Throughout practice and qualifying she ran competitively in the tightly packed field, eventually posting a best lap of 1:26.2225 to secure 16th on the grid, one of her strongest qualifying performances to date in the category.

Race 1 took place under slightly damp conditions, though the track was not fully wet. The field navigated the opening corners cleanly before several incidents unfolded over the first laps. Countryman handled the hectic beginning of the race extremely well, avoiding trouble and immediately moving up to 12th by the end of the second lap.

A caution was then deployed after Oliver Wheldon was turned around following contact. Wesley Gundler also pitted with issues sustained in the first-lap incidents, promoting Countryman to 11th as the race was neutralized.

At the restart, chaos erupted again before the field could properly return to green-flag racing, with drivers checking up and another competitor losing a front wing. Countryman brilliantly navigated the confusion and emerged in ninth place before another caution period was called.

Racing finally resumed on lap eight, and Countryman gained another position to climb into eighth place. Her remarkable recovery from 16th on the grid now placed her directly behind Exclusive Autosport's Ayrton Cahan.

Joao Vergara, however, fought back and managed to reclaim the position, dropping Countryman back to ninth. Nevertheless, Kaylee continued to show excellent pace, first lapping consistently in the 1:26.4 range before improving to a strong 1:24.2 lap. She stayed within one second of Vergara while simultaneously keeping Boshoff behind her under pressure.

Countryman maintained her consistency to take the chequered flag in ninth place, securing her first USF2000 top-ten finish after a superb drive through a chaotic race from 16th on the grid.

Photo credits: Gavin Baker

Race 2 on Saturday presented completely different conditions. Overnight rain left the track damp, forcing the entire field onto wet tyres. Countryman lined up 17th on the grid as Wesley Gundler suffered a breakdown on the formation lap, requiring an additional formation lap before the race could properly begin.

The start proved extremely difficult, with low grip and poor visibility caused by heavy spray. Despite the treacherous conditions, the field negotiated Turn 1 cleanly. Soon after, Ayrton Cahan went off and became stuck in the grass, bringing out a full-course yellow on lap two.

Countryman navigated the opening laps well and gained one position to move into 16th during the caution period. Racing resumed with 25 minutes remaining, but the difficult conditions continued to challenge drivers throughout the field.

Countryman slipped back to 18th while struggling slightly for pace in the wet conditions, running in the 1:41 range and falling around three seconds behind teammate Mohrhardt. As the race progressed, however, she steadily gained confidence and speed.

She climbed back to 17th when Elias Vignola dropped down the order on lap nine, though Vignola recovered and passed her again two laps later. Countryman meanwhile improved significantly, dipping into the 1:39s with a 1:39.4 lap before continuing to lower her times further.

By lap 12 she had found even more pace with a 1:38.1, and on the final lap she broke under the 1:38 barrier entirely with an impressive 1:37.4. Though she finished 18th, the race represented another confidence-building performance as she adapted to the challenging wet conditions.

Photo credits: Gavin Baker

Sunday’s third and final 15-lap race of the weekend saw Countryman lining up 15th on the grid. The start was extremely busy, with the field briefly running five-wide into the opening corner, though everyone remarkably made it through cleanly.

Countryman unfortunately lost several positions on the opening lap and dropped to 19th. The race quickly featured some chaos shortly afterwards when too many cars attempted to enter Turn 7 simultaneously, resulting in a multi-car collision. Ryan Giannetta was nearly launched airborne before sliding into the grass, though he somehow managed to continue. Joao Vergara, however, was stranded with damage, bringing out another caution period.

Countryman moved up to 18th under caution, though Mohrhardt had managed to pass her just before the full-course yellow. Cleanup was completed quickly and racing resumed on lap four.

Giannetta recovered positions rapidly after his earlier incident, dropping Countryman back to 19th. She then entered a fierce battle with Mohrhardt, with both drivers overtaking Callahan Peter on lap six. Peter fought back on the following lap and the trio repeatedly traded positions.

Countryman eventually regained the advantage, first overtaking Peter and then passing Mohrhardt to move into 17th on lap eight. She immediately set her sights on Holm, who was running just one second ahead.

Further drama unfolded when Anthony Martella, who had been running near the front in third position, slowed dramatically and pulled off the circuit safely. Countryman inherited 16th place, though Peter remained right behind her and continued applying pressure.

The midfield battles intensified further as three cars collided at Turn 1, leaving Boshoff and Giannetta with damage. Countryman once again capitalized on the incidents ahead and climbed into 14th by lap 12, while finally managing to establish a small gap over Peter behind her.

On lap 14, Lucas Nanji encountered problems and Countryman moved through into 13th. She closed rapidly on Holm over the final lap and reduced the gap to only a couple of seconds, but ultimately ran out of time and crossed the line in 13th place - in another highly encouraging recovery drive and her second-best result of the weekend behind the breakthrough top ten in Race 1.

The Indianapolis weekend marked a significant step forward for Kaylee Countryman as she continued building experience across multiple championships and environments. After showing major gains in pace, Countryman will now immediately switch focus back to F1 Academy, where she returns to action for the second round of the season in Montreal.