Red Deer’s young racing star is shifting into another gear as he changes race teams for 2016.
Parker Thompson has left JDC Motorsports and signed a deal with Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing to drive for them in the Cooper Tires USF2000 championship series, the next step in the Mazda Road to Indy.
“ I got a contract offer from Cape Motorsports and they are the most winningest team in USF2000 history. They’ve raised some of the most successful motorsports drivers across not only America but around the world so it’s an honour to be a part of the program, “ said Thompson.
Cape Motorsports was formed in 2010 by two brothers, Dominic and Nicholas Cape and the boys have won seven national championships and seven rookie of the year honours so the pedigree is high. Thompson will be one of two drivers on the track for Cape in the USF2000 and he is humbled and honoured, adding it’s a huge confidence booster for him and validates the road he’s traveled to get to this point.
“ They usually sign a lot more mature drivers by age . Their drivers last year were 23 and 24 and I’m 17 and will be 18 in the season so it’s a pretty big accomplishment for myself.”
“ Parker is a great addition to the team,” said Dominic and Nicholas in a press release. “ He has a great rookie season and we know he can win races in 2016. We are excited to have him on the team”
Thompson had tested for Cape in November and the moment he walked into their trailer he was sold on wanting to be a member of this team.
“ They have about 30 quotes all across their hauler. So all throughout where the drivers get changed, where you go over data with the engineers and even where you store race parts, they’ve got quotes on the wall about how to win a championship and how to be a champion. Right there that kind of sums it up in one statement about what they’re all about,” he said. “ When they show up to the racetrack they’re not there to place second or third. They’re there to do nothing but make their competitors hurt.”
Case in point-this team has produced the last five USF2000 champions.
With that attitude going in Thompson says it might add some pressure as a driver but it will also push him to perform in order to achieve what they want.
“ I see how hard they’re working and it makes me work harder than I already was. To have a team that dedicated to winning a championship makes a driver want to push harder and I think that’s why they’ve been so successful.”
An example of that drive was during some testing in Florida and the car reached a speed which hadn’t been registered before but the crew kept on tweaking the car to squeeze out a little more speed.
Thompson will be driving the same spec car he drove with JDC, a Mazda 2 litre which pushes out 175 horsepower but he says the Cape teams seems to be able to do things to the car in order to get the most out of it and the results are proof.
“I’m really situated well with a team that’s had a lot of success and hopefully we can carry that on into 2016.”
For the next little while Thompson will be in Red Deer with family but then it’s off to Florida for the most part as many of the races are on the east coast. He’s excited about 2016 and pumped about being a driver for Cape.
“ When you spend a full season getting your butt kicked by an organization and then you get to join them, it’s quite a relief,” he said.
The 2016 season starts the March 11-13 weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
