Velocity Racing Development

Velocity Racing Development

Founded	2019
Founder(s)	Dan Mitchell
Base	Dawsonville, Georgia, United States
Team principal(s)	Dan Mitchell
Current series	USF Pro 2000 Championship GB3 Championship USF2000 Championship USF Juniors
Former series	GB4 Championship Formula 4 United States Championship Formula Regional Americas Championship
Current drivers	USF Pro 2000 Championship: 84. Owen Tangavelou 88. Max Taylor GB3 Championship: TBA. TBA TBA. TBA TBA. TBA USF2000 Championship: 2. Thomas Schrage 19. Christian Cameron 25. Teddy Musella USF Juniors: 10. João Vergara 77. Matan Achituv 99. Ryan Giannetta
Teams' Championships	USF Juniors : 2022, 2024 Formula 4 United States Championship : 2021
Drivers' Championships	USF Juniors : 2024: Max Taylor Formula 4 United States Championship : 2020: Hunter Yeany
Website	https://vrd-racing.com/

Velocity Racing Development, also competing as VRD Racing in select championships, is an auto racing team from the United States. The team competes in the USF Pro Championships in the United States and the GB3 Championship in Europe in collaboration with Arden Motorsport. ^[1] The team is based in Dawsonville, Georgia near Atlanta Motorsports Park and was founded by British engineer Dan Mitchell. ^[2]

History

Velocity Racing Development was founded in 2019 by British engineer Dan Mitchell, following an engineering role with Team Benik and driver Kyle Kirkwood in 2018. ^[2] VRD made its competitive debut in the 2019 F3 Americas Championship and the 2019 Formula 4 United States Championship. ^{[3] [4]} The team finished second in the F3 Americas teams' championship in its first year of competition.

In 2020, VRD driver Hunter Yeany won the Formula 4 United States Championship, marking the team's first drivers' title. ^{[5] [6]}

In 2021, VRD expanded it's operation into the Road to Indy, entering into the 2021 Indy Pro 2000 Championship and the 2021 USF2000 Championship. ^{[7] [8]} At the end of year, the team would win the 2021 Formula 4 United States teams' championship, marking VRD's first championship.

VRD added another series to their program in the form of the 2022 USF Juniors, the inaugural season of the series. ^[9] Drivers Sam Corry and Nikita Johnson would finish second and third in the drivers standings, while VRD won the teams' championship. ^{[10] [11]}

The following year saw continued expansion of VRD's operations with the team entering the 2023 GB3 Championship and the 2023 GB4 Championship. VRD entered a partnership with established British racing team Arden International to field cars in both championships. ^[12] 2023 was a successful year for the team, finishing third in the USF2000, USF Juniors, and GB3 teams' championships. ^{[13] [14]}

In 2024, the team made the decision to leave the Formula Regional Americas and F4 United States championships. In the 2024 USF Juniors, VRD driver Max Taylor won the drivers' championship, marking the team's second drivers' title. ^[15] VRD would also win the 2024 USF Juniors teams' championship. ^[16]

In 2025, VRD elected to part ways with Arden International and enter the 2025 GB3 Championship on its own, under the name VRD Racing. ^[17]

Current series results

USF2000 Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2021	Tatuus USF-17	Erik Evans	12	0	0	0	0	54	22nd	12th
2022	Tatuus USF-17	Alex Quinn	3	3	0	2	3	93	17th	5th
		Nikita Johnson	8	0	0	1	1	85	18th
		Viktor Andersson	12	0	0	0	0	81	19th
		Nicholas d'Orlando†	10	0	0	1	0	77	20th
		Ethan Ho	3	0	0	0	0	27	25th
2023	Tatuus USF-17	Nikita Johnson	18	1	2	2	8	344	2nd	3rd
		Sam Corry	18	1	0	0	3	222	7th
		Danny Dyszelski	13	0	0	1	0	141	13th
		Gordon Scully	18	0	0	0	0	133	15th
		Max Taylor	11	0	0	0	0	86	18th
		Zack Ping	12	0	0	0	0	60	19th
		Nico Christodoulou	2	1	0	1	1	48	21st
2024	Tatuus USF-17	Max Taylor	18	4	1	2	8	343	3rd	3rd
		Thomas Schrage‡	15	0	3	2	2	156	12th
		Nico Christodoulou	7	1	0	1	1	92	19th
		Xavier Kokai	10	0	0	0	0	80	20th
		Cole Kleck	5	0	0	0	0	19	25th

† D'Orlando drove for Exclusive Autosport from round 14 onwards.

‡ Schrage drove for Exclusive Autosport until round 7.

USF Pro 2000 Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2021	Tatuus PM-18	Hunter Yeany	8	0	0	0	0	79	14th	9th
2023	Tatuus IP-22	Nikita Johnson	5	2	0	2	4	118	17th	8th
2024	Tatuus IP-22	Nikita Johnson	18	8	7	8	10	355	2nd	3rd
		Nico Christodoulou	5	0	0	0	0	48	23rd
		Shawn Rashid	4	0	0	0	0	19	27th
		Noah Ping	2	0	0	0	0	17	28th

USF Juniors

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2022	Ligier JS F4	Sam Corry	16	3	3	2	11	369	2nd	1st
		Nikita Johnson	16	3	2	5	10	352	3rd
		Alessandro De Tullio	15	5	0	5	9	314	4th
		Noah Ping	4	0	0	0	0	46	20th
2023	Tatuus JR-23	Jimmie Lockhart	16	2	0	1	5	292	4th	3rd
		Max Taylor	16	1	0	2	3	236	6th
		Ethan Barker	16	0	0	0	0	228	7th
		Hudson Schwartz	13	0	1	1	3	208	8th
2024	Tatuus JR-23	Max Taylor	15	3	3	3	9	329	1st	1st
		Sebastian Wheldon	16	4	2	4	9	308	3rd
		Christian Cameron	16	0	0	0	0	135	10th
		Michael Suco	16	0	0	0	0	75	21st

GB3 Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2023	Tatuus- Cosworth MSV-022	James Hedley	23	2	0	0	3	347	6th	3rd
		Nico Christodoulou	23	0	0	1	3	261	8th
		Noah Ping	23	2	0	0	3	204	12th
2024	Tatuus- Cosworth MSV-022	Noah Ping	23	0	0	1	2	211	10th	5th
		Nikita Johnson	18	2	0	1	2	193	11th
		James Hedley†	14	0	0	0	2	151	15th
		Shawn Rashid	23	0	0	0	1	125	17th

† Hedley drove for Rodin Motorsport and Chris Dittmann Racing from round 4 onwards.

Former series results

GB4 Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2023	Tatuus F4-T014	Zack Ping	8	0	0	0	0	74	16th	8th
		Erik Evans	2	0	0	0	0	22	22nd
2024	Tatuus F4-T014	Ava Dobson	6	0	0	0	0	40	17th	8th

Formula 4 United States Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2018	Ligier JS F4	Oliver Clarke	17	0	0	0	0	12	19th	10th
		Sabré Cook	5	0	0	0	0	0	39th
2019	Ligier JS F4	Ryan MacDermid†	16	0	0	0	0	48	11th	6th
		Michael d'Orlando	11	0	0	0	1	40	14th
		Oliver Clarke	6	0	0	0	0	11	20th
2020	Ligier JS F4	Hunter Yeany	15	7	1	6	14	285	1st	2nd
		Erik Evans	13	1	0	0	3	101	6th
		Nick Persing†	15	0	0	0	1	70	9th
		Kyffin Simpson	9	0	0	0	0	14	18th
2021	Ligier JS F4	Jason Alder	16	5	0	4	7	184	3rd	1st
		Nico Christodoulou	16	3	1	4	10	174.5	4th
		Hayden Bowlsbey†	17	0	0	0	1	40	11th
		Erik Evans	5	0	0	0	0	32	14th
		Nick Persing	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2022	Ligier JS F4	Noah Ping	18	4	0	4	8	196	3rd	2nd
		Matthew Christensen	15	2	1	2	4	129	6th
		Nicholas Rivers	6	1	0	1	2	68	9th
		Jacob Loomis	3	0	1	1	2	38	12th
		Ethan Barker†	12	0	0	0	1	18	16th
2023	Ligier JS F4	Jimmie Lockhart	3	2	0	1	2	50	10th	7th
		Max Taylor	3	0	0	0	0	4	25th
		Cole Kleck†	6	0	0	0	0	2	28th

† Shared results with other teams

Formula Regional Americas Championship

Year	Car	Drivers	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2019	Ligier JS F3	Mathias Soler-Obel	16	1	1	2	6	161	3rd	2nd
		Parker Locke	16	0	0	0	1	61	10th
		Dominic Cicero	11	0	0	0	0	28	14th
		Antonio Serravalle	2	0	0	0	0	8	16th
2020	Ligier JS F3	Matt Round-Garrido	3	0	0	0	0	12	16th	7th
		Mathias Soler-Obel	5	0	0	0	0	9	17th
		Hunter Yeany	3	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2021	Ligier JS F3	Nick Persing	12	0	0	0	1	67	11th	4th
		Hunter Yeany	12	0	1	0	0	67	12th
		Jason Alder	3	1	0	0	1	41	14th
		Arias Deukmedjian	3	0	0	0	0	13	18th
		Matt Round-Garrido	3	0	0	0	0	10	19th
2022	Ligier JS F3	Nico Christodoulou	6	0	0	0	0	44	9th	4th
		Rodrigo Gutiérrez	12	0	0	0	0	35	10th
2023	Ligier JS F3	Cole Kleck†	6	0	0	0	1	51	10th	7th
		Rodrigo Gutiérrez	3	0	0	0	0	14	16th

† Cleck drove for Speed Factory in round 6.

Timeline

Current series
USF2000 Championship	2021–present
USF Pro 2000 Championship	2021, 2023–present
USF Juniors	2022–present
GB3 Championship	2023–present
Former series
GB4 Championship	2023–2024
Formula 4 United States Championship	2018–2023
Formula Regional Americas Championship	2019–2023

References

1. Whitfield, Steve (2023-01-19). "Christodoulou to continue racing in GB3 with Arden VRD". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
2. Gascoigne, Roger (2024-01-24). "Dan Mitchell: The British expat aiming to forge America's future F1 stars". Formula Scout. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
3. Greenway, Amy (2018-11-21). "Velocity Racing Development Signs Mathias Soler-Obel for F3 Americas Program". FR Americas Championship. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
4. Greenway, Amy (2019-02-05). "Ricco Shlaimoun Joins Velocity Racing Development F3 Americas Program". FR Americas Championship. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
5. Greenway, Amy (2020-10-04). "NEWS FLASH: Two for Blanco at Homestead, Yeany Clinches Provisional Championship". F4 U.S. Championships. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
6. Greenway, Amy (2020-10-28). "Hunter Yeany Becomes Youngest F4 Champion in the World". F4 U.S. Championships. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
7. "Velocity Racing Development Enters Road to Indy with Three Car Effort". www.usf2000.com. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
8. "Road to Indy News and Notes". www.usf2000.com. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
9. "Nikita Johnson to Campaign the All-New USF Juniors with VRD Racing". www.usfjuniors.com. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
10. "2022 USF JUNIORS PRESENTED BY COOPER TIRES PROVISIONAL POINT STANDINGS - After Round 16" (PDF). usfjuniors.com. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
11. "VRD Racing Claims Inaugural USF Juniors Team Championship". www.usfjuniors.com. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
12. "Arden Motorsport GB3 Squad Strengthens Ties with USA's VRD Racing". www.gb-3.net. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
13. "2023 USF2000 PRESENTED BY COOPER TIRES PROVISIONAL POINT STANDINGS - After Round 18" (PDF). usf2000.com. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
14. "2023 USF JUNIORS PRESENTED BY COOPER TIRES PROVISIONAL POINT STANDINGS - After Round 16" (PDF). usfjuniors.com. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
15. "McNeilly Bags Two Wins as Taylor Clinches Title". www.usfjuniors.com. Retrieved 2025-02-23.
16. "2024 USF JUNIORS PRESENTED BY CONTINENTAL TIRE PROVISIONAL POINT STANDINGS - After Round 16" (PDF). usfjuniors.com. Retrieved February 23, 2025.
17. "VRD Racing Confirms GB3 Championship Plans for 2025". www.gb-3.net. Retrieved 2025-02-23.

External links

• Official website