Wian Boshoff has had a good start in the USF2000 programme for the Sarah Fisher Hartman Development team. He had a hard few weeks to acclimatise to the new environment, having little experience in single-seaters. Looking into his testing, qualifying, and his first race.
Welcome to USF2000
Wian started on the back foot needing to become comfortable with the new conditions. His first week focused on testing the car and working in the simulator under the SFHD team. Asked if the simulator work was effective for track knowledge and how his first experience was in the car he responded “Yes, it made me more knowing of the track with the braking points and what to expect when going there. Driving the real thing was obviously still a big jump as you could feel the bumps and the different curbs on the track, and it is a very fast track, so I had to adapt to that quickly. Overall, I am super happy because I showed good pace.”
Streets St. Petersburg Qualifying
Qualifying had Wian still relatively on the back foot having limited time in the car. With a $800 000 scholarship on the line Wian started quick staying a little above 1 second behind pole. He found himself in a hard place with a left front lockup in turn 4 which led him to the wall. He qualified P19 for his first race in USF2000.
Start your engines
As the first race kicked off Wian found himself at the back of the grid in 19th. The first lap went through without incident with Wian remaining in P19, 8 seconds behind the race leader in a competitive USF2000 field. Still adjusting to the new conditions, Wian remained calm at the back of the grid ensuring he keeps out of trouble. As he started becoming more comfortable, Wian gained a second to his closest competitor. Using his karting experience, he looked to capitalise only on errors till the later part of the race. Lap 17 saw a 1 place gain with another gained on the final lap in a clean race to earn himself a 17th place finish.