Jacob Douglas in action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in May, 2022. Photo / Getty
Jacob Douglas in action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in May, 2022. Photo / Getty
Heading to Europe to seek a Formula One fortune has long been the dream for many aspiring young Kiwi drivers but Jacob Douglas is a convert to the American road to the top.
In an inspired decision not to trudge the normal path to single seater success by going toEurope, his family and manager Tiffany Chittenden looked to the United States as a better option.
The Road to Indy programme rewards talent rather than a cheque book and it looks to be paying off for the Christchurch 17-year-old.
“The structure of Road to Indy is really good and opens a lot of doors in trying to get to IndyCar,” Douglas told the Herald from Indianapolis. “Compared to going to Europe and trying to get into Formula One, it’s much more organised and there are a number of scholarships if you do well to move up the categories [USF2000, USF Pro2000, Indy Lights, IndyCar].
“It’s really structured and the goal is clearly defined. When we’re at the same race meetings as IndyCar, we pit right next them, so are able to learn how they go about doing things. They get us involved in everything and we can get a good insight into how to do things.
“The big teams are always watching how we’re doing and we get to watch how they race at their crazy speeds. It all helps in understanding how to get to their level. The whole atmosphere and racing are really cool in America.”
Douglas finished his debut season in 2022 in the USF2000 as the third best rookie and 12th overall. He’s locked into another full season with his Exclusive Motorsport team.
He also enjoyed recent success in the American YACademy USF2000 winter series, winning five of the six races, and has been happy with his progression racing single seaters after a successful time in karting.
“It was a great couple of weekends. It’s been great to race, which was the main goal, before we get under way at St Pete’s in March [the start of the main USF2000 season].”
Jacob Douglas with his USF2000 winter series champion trophy. Photo / Supplied
Douglas recently spent some time back in New Zealand before returning to his base in Indianapolis. Proving how much his rookie season in the USF2000 series has helped his development, he jumped into an FT-50 (former TRS car) and went faster than Robert Schwartzman when he qualified it on pole.
Despite not having been in a kart for nine months, he then broke the lap record at the Carrs Road track in his KZ2 machine. To round out his five-week break back home, he set an unofficial lap record at Hampton Downs in an FT-60.
Douglas has to cope with living on his own in an overseas country. He’s not daunted by this prospect, as he has his eye on the prize of making it all the way into the main game.
With an increasing number of fellow Kiwis joining groundbreaker Scott Dixon in IndyCar — Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Hunter McElrea and Billy Fraser — Douglas has something of a support network in place.
“It’s a lot easier living on my own in America than it would be in Europe. New Zealanders are really good at knowing what’s going on with each other and helping each other out when they can.
“Scott McLaughlin has been great. I’ve meet him a few times and he’s been really cool with helping me out. He showed me around the Penske team and stuff. Hunter and Billy have also been really helpful.
“Learning to live on my own, learning to drive a street course and ovals and being around a whole lot of different people has been really different, but I’ve enjoyed the challenge and learning how to figure things out myself.
“You can ask for advice, but at the end of the day, you have to figure out what works for you. Jumping into the deep end is sometimes the best way to learn.”
The 2023 USF2000 season begins on March 4-5 and is over eight race weekends, six of which are in support of IndyCar.
