ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Late last year, Caleb Gafrarar signed with the Pabst Racing team, to compete in the USF Pro Championships USF2000 Series for the 2025 season. Joining the team as a true rookie of the series, having never raced the Tatuus USF22 car or this series for that matter, made the St. Petersburg Street race one to watch.
On Friday, Gafrarar only had one 30-minute session to get a feel for the circuit. Coming off that practice session, he was fifth fastest in the 19-car field. Only a few hours later it was time to qualify for the two races scheduled for the weekend. Gafrarar went second fastest right out of the gate before a full course caution came out. Once the session was back to green, Gafrarar held on to a top ten spot before a stop on pit lane to get a fresh set of Continental tires. He climbed up the charts quickly and with two laps remaining, he took the pole position for race one with a time of 1:12:1698, just two tenths shy of the track qualifying record. Gafrarar also had the second fastest lap in the session, which placed him on the outside pole for race two.
Race one soon followed qualifying. Gafrarar led the field to green and held the top spot for 2 laps until the caution came out. Taking the green on a single file re-start, Gafrarar moved down the order in turn 1. He held the second position for 3 additional laps until he made contact with the turn 4 barrier on lap 6, ending his day and chances for a podium finish. The Pabst Racing team quickly repaired the car that evening and it would be ready for race two the following day.
The final day of racing was scheduled for 12:30 ET on Saturday. With the newly repaired car, Gafrarar started race two on the outside pole. At the green flag, Gafrarar settled into third position and held that place for the duration of the 20-lap race, finishing on the podium in his inaugural race weekend.
Gafrarar shared, “to race on the streets of St. Petersburg with the Pabst Racing team is truly a dream come true. But to leave this event with a pole, outside pole and podium finish is something I am really proud of. I can’t wait to get back in the car at the next event.”
Caleb would like to thank all of the Pabst Racing team members that work so hard to keep the car up front and for the repairs following the contact. He added, “I can’t thank Augie, Miles, Steve, Steven, Dave, Matt, Luke, Ron and all of the Pabst crew enough for all they do. It is definitely a team effort.” He would also like to thank all of the partners and people that help support his racing efforts: CG Investments, Circle K, Bell, Molecule and Racing Electronics.
Not to be left out of the week’s racing activities, Caleb also supported the Johns Hopkins Children’s Hospital ‘Kart 4 Kids’ charity pro am at the T4 Kartplex on Wednesday. Joining the ‘Euro Crash’ team, Caleb was the pro for the team. He qualified fourth and finished fourth in the first pro stint of the race. Over the course of six heats, his teammates would again have Caleb starting from the fourth position to wrap up the last race of the day for the pros. Caleb quickly took the lead but it was a battle every lap with INDYCAR driver Kyffin Simpson and INDY NXT driver Nikita Johnson. At the line, it would be Gafrarar taking the win.
For more information on how you can support Caleb or to follow along all season, visit Caleb’s website – www.calebgracer.com or his social channels @calebgracer.