Ft. Lauderdale, FL - March 7, 2018 - With the first on track action of the weekend less than forty-eight hours away, Team BENIK is pleased to confirm a pair of drivers for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. Making their debuts in the Mazda Road to Indy program, Michael d’Orlando and Sabré Cook will steer the BENIK prepared USF-17s around the tight confines of the streets of St. Petersburg in the first event weekend of the 2018 season.

“We entered a few races in 2017 to get our feet wet and learn the car, series and program,” explained Nick Mitchell, Team Manager for the BENIK program. “While our goal was to work towards a complete program in 2018, we are happy that we are achieving what we have set out to do and can’t wait to get started.”

Mitchell continued, “Sabré has some car racing experience from last season while Michael has only done some testing and a pair of regional level races, so both are classified as series rookies but are experienced beyond their years. It has been a pleasure to work with former karting drivers and help them in their transition from karts to cars.”

Cook enters the 2018 season after competing in the SCCA program last year. Showing her speed and gaining experience in car racing, the Mechanical Engineering graduate enters the year with a healthy resume of regional, national and international karting championships. Michael d’Orlando is making the big jump from karting to the USF2000 program and like Cook, has karting championships and international experience on his side.

Both Michael and Sabré are familiar with the Team BENIK program and logged hours of simulator time this week in preparation for the upcoming event weekend.

With qualifying taking place on Friday morning, the first wheel-to-wheel action of the season will commence on Saturday morning at 10:15am for race one. Race two of the double header weekend will kick off at 5:25pm, following the Verizon IndyCar Series season opener.