Indian USF2000 Driver Continues Breakthrough With IMS Victory
The 2021 USF2000 season has been life-changing for Yuven Sundaramoorthy on and off the track.
It began in the offseason at Sebring International Raceway, where the 18-year-old tested often at the Florida road course. The track simulates street course conditions and is a favorite test track for drivers in the Road to Indy ladder system and in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. But for Sundaramoorthy, the task was simple: Hone his craft.
Sundaramoorthy struggled with qualifying in his first two USF2000 seasons and finished 12th in the points standings in 2019 and ’20. Feeling there was a direct correlation, Sundaramoorthy worked on hitting what he called his “theoreticals.” He could put together portions of a good lap, but the driver of the No. 22 for Pabst Racing needed to put together a full lap.
At his first true test of the season at Barber Motorsports Park, all his hard work paid off. Sundaramoorthy scored the pole position for Race 1 of the weekend, even though he spun out in qualifying.
“We eventually just put it all together in qualifying, like I’ve been saying we needed, and getting that lap together,” he said. “I hit that lap. Definitely all the offseason work came together there.”
Now with the best spot in the field, Sundaramoorthy was able to show he had what it takes to win.
He convincingly won his first USF2000 race that day, pacing the field from start to finish in the black No. 22. It was a relief for the driver who had never finished better than fifth in a race. Sundaramoorthy followed up that breakthrough win with another victory Friday in the first of three USF2000 races during the GMR Grand Prix weekend on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The win was a big moment for Sundaramoorthy and his family, but it was also a big moment for the motorsports industry. With the win at Barber, he became the first driver of Indian descent to win a race in INDYCAR and in the Road to Indy ladder system.
He’s also one of just a handful of drivers of Asian descent to win in INDYCAR and the Road to Indy since 2010, following Weiron Tan (Malaysia) in Indy Pro 2000 in 2015, Yufend Luo (China) in USF2000 in 2016, Danial Frost (Singapore) in Indy Pro 2000 in 2019-20, Robert Megennis (Asian-American) in Indy Lights in 2019 and Takuma Sato in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, who is the defending Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner.
Sundaramoorthy is from Wisconsin, but his mother is from India, while his father was born in Malaysia and lived in India.