Florida teen Darren Keane will returns for a second season in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda after signing to return to Newman Wachs Racing for 2018. 

The 18-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida had a strong rookie season after joining Newman Wachs Racing at Road America in June. Keane, who raced in six of the eight weekends last year, posted five top-10 finishes with a best result of fourth in Toronto. He finished the year 11th in the overall championship standings.

“I'm really happy to be signing with NWR,” Keane said. “They're a great group of guys and we have improved so much as a team over the last season. I'm really pleased to have a plan put together this early, because it gives us all the time we need to prepare for a championship next season. I think we're going to have a great year and I'm looking forward to coming back to USF2000. Last year's purpose was to learn as much as I could, and now I'm ready to use that knowledge to get results this season.”

A highly-acclaimed karting graduate, Keane took all he learned from his rookie season and applied the training behind the wheel when he returned to the track with NWR at the official Chris Griffis Memorial Test on October 21-22 at Indianapolis. Keane was in the top-four of all eight sessions over the weekend, topping two sessions while posting the fastest outright USF2000 lap of the test. Keane is being coached by veteran driver Oswaldo Negri.

“We had the pleasure of running Darren last year in his rookie season and we’re thrilled to have him back with us for 2018,” said NWR team manager Brian Halahan. “I’m stoked with the speed he showed at the Chris Griffis test at Indianapolis and I’m extremely impressive with his development. He’s matured so much over the last few months and I’m pleased that we’ll be able to continue on the path that we started on last year. I’m very excitied for next season.”