USF2000 leader Garzón on title fight, racing journey and representing Colombia  – Feeder Series

Sebastián Garzón has been one of the most impressive drivers of the USF Pro Championships ladder this season. The 16-year-old now in his second year in USF2000 has been the championship leader since the very first race of the season. Feeder Series caught up with the DEForce Racing driver at Road America to discuss his season and his racing career before USF2000.

By Vincent van der Hoek

In 2025, Garzón had just one podium across the entire year, a third-place finish in the final race of the season in Portland. This year, however, he has made a huge leap forward in performance and consistency.

He started the season with six consecutive podium finishes, including three wins, one second place and two third-place finishes. Though that form levelled off slightly in subsequent rounds, Garzón has retained a healthy 19-point lead, with his only finish outside the top five coming in race one at Mid-Ohio.

“I knew and the team knew we had the pace to fight for the championship this year, but some of our title contenders we thought [we would have] this year, they had bad luck during the year,” he told Feeder Series. “It’s really good just to try to get good results throughout the season, top five, maximise my results and have the [USF2000] championship.”

Garzón finished eighth in the championship last year, 221 points behind champion Jack Jeffers. While the speed was there on most weekends, it was consistency that proved to be his biggest hurdle. The Colombian had four finishes in the top five – three of which came in the final round at Portland – but combined that with eight finishes outside the top 10 from 18 races.

“Last year was our rookie season,” Garzón said. “It was my first year doing these cars. I had been doing Lucas Oils [Lucas Oil Formula Race Car Series], a really different car. But last year, I was fighting the top six, top five. I just didn’t have the experience how to race side by side with these cars. I had so many DNFs. But I learned, and today [I’m] giving the results and trying to do my best.”

One of the aspects that has aided Garzón’s development in his second year is his understanding of the car and how to interact with his DEForce Racing team, especially team owners David Martínez and Ernesto Martínez and driver coach Simon Sikes.

“The communication with my team this year has been a lot better than last year because I have learned how to understand the car when there’s IndyCar grip [versus] where it’s not,” Garzón said.

“The team have helped me a lot because karting to cars is different [in terms of] driving. David, Ernesto, Simon, the whole crew have helped me. My relationship with the team is really good.”

Sikes brings a valuable perspective to title contenders such as Garzón. The 25-year-old won the 2023 USF2000 title with Pabst Racing with a level of consistency similar to Garzón’s 2026 campaign. With that, he earned a scholarship to USF Pro 2000 that proved critical given his historically low independent budget.

“He has already had the experience of how to win the championship,” Garzón said of Sikes.

“He’s just trying to say all the good things you can do throughout the season. Do not risk everything because a P4 is better than trying to go to victory and have a DNF.”

“Now I’m just focused on winning the championship, and if I win the championship, go to Pro and try to do my first year there and win the championship and go into Indy NXT,” Garzón added.

An example of this mentality was apparent during the weekend at Road America, where Garzón caught up with Feeder Series. In race one, he made a mistake on the opening lap and fell back from eighth to 21st. Rather than panic, however, he stayed calm and worked his way back up to sixth at the flag, passing some drivers on track and making up spots from others’ retirements. He rated it his best drive of the season, even above his victories. 

To say racing is ingrained in Garzón’s life is putting it mildly. He has been taking part in some form of motorsport since he was four years old, starting with a baby kart. Garzón quickly moved on to competitive karting in Colombia and won several championships. Entries in the WSK Super Master Series, WSK Euro Series and FIA Karting Academy Trophy followed.

Ultimately, though, Garzón set his sights on the United States, joining Florida-based Orsolon Racing in 2023. His big breakthrough came a year later, when he won four different titles across both karts and cars: the SKUSA Winter Series, both the KA100 Jr and X30 Junior classes of the SKUSA SuperNationals, and the Lucas Oil Formula Car Series. 

That dominance paved the way for him to step up to USF2000 with DEForce Racing last year, aided by a scholarship he received as champion – and a bit of support from Orsolon Racing, who still support him.

“I started karting when I was in Colombia, and I have won every championship there. And then my family had a really good effort to go to the USA and some races in Europe that helped me a lot to race side by side in karting,” he explained.

On top of Garzón’s natural competitive drive, representing Colombia in motorsport is a huge source of pride for him and his fellow countrymen. While the South American nation’s IndyCar presence is invariably associated with Juan Pablo Montoya, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and the 1999 CART champion, several other talents have broken through in Garzón’s lifetime, notably Carlos Muñoz and Gabby Chaves, IndyCar’s Rookie of the Year award winner in 2014 and 2015 respectively

IndyCar has not seen the Colombian flag represented in competition in more than four years, however, with Tatiana Calderón the most recent to compete in IndyCar in 2022. Garzón hopes that one day, he can change that.

“Colombia has a lot of good talent. It’s just the money doesn’t help too much with the economy in Colombia,” Garzón said. “Some drivers are really good, [but] they cannot go to the USA, Europe because they don’t have money. So every driver of Colombia tries to represent Colombia because it’s one of the countries where we have talented drivers in every sport.”

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography