This season was due to be the biggest yet in the fledgling career of 21-year-old Irish motor racing driver James Roe.
Roe, the current Motorsport Ireland Young Racing Driver of the Year, is due to race in the American F3 championship in 2020 for the second year running as he continues to stepladder his way to his stated aim of the Indycar series in the USA, their motor racing equivalent of Formula 1.
Although there are signs that USF3 may yet run this year, Roe is still on the side-lines as the opening two rounds have been cancelled or postponed and like sports worldwide, they have kicked the can down the road, hopeful of completing a season before 2020 is out.
Roe, whose uncle Michael raced in Indy series and won the CANAM championship in the mid-80s, is now based in the States, is hoping that his F3 campaign can get under way with a revised calendar and an opening race weekend in Virginia in July.
"There is an international travel ban between the USA and Ireland and although I could have gone home, there was the risk that I would have been stuck in Ireland so I decided to stay in the US," the Naas native told RTÉ Sport.
"I was originally thinking of staying in my apartment in Indianapolis, but John Campion (Roe’s team owner at CJJ Motorsport) and his wife Suzanne told me to come to stay with them in New Jersey.
"Because I was moving around the States, I had to quarantine for 14 days, and it was as good a place as any to do it.
After a couple of seasons racing in Formula 4 in America, Roe jumped onto the next step on the ladder, Formula 3, in 2019, registering a win at the Road America track in Wisconsin on his way to fifth overall.
At the end of the campaign, and with his sights on a second season in the class, Roe was awarded the Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year award for 2019
"Winning the award was another boxed ticked and a case of finally getting unfinished business done," he admitted.
"It took a while as I was nominated a few times, but I learned over the years about the process, learning from mistakes as you do in life.
"But winning it last year was probably the year that I felt I deserved it the most as the level I was racing at was much higher than in previous seasons.
"I had the drive to keep coming back to try and win the award, so to finally get it was a serious honour."
With the prestigious prize in his back pocket, Roe faced into 2020 and the F3 Championship, which was due to start last month.
But America began to close down in March and Roe found himself at North America’s largest international construction trade show, CONEXPO, in Las Vegas showcasing his car for Topcon, one of his major sponsors, whose CEO is another Kildare man, Ray O’Connor.
The last day of the show was cancelled and the following week the F3 championship’s opening round, which was due to be run on 10 April in Atlanta, Georgia was postponed.
The young Irishman was then due to return to Indianapolis, before the call came through to move to the Campions' residence in New Jersey.
"It was kinda strange but not as strict in terms of lockdown as Ireland although everyone had to wear masks when they went out in New Jersey and we were so close to the epicentre of the coronavirus breakout in New York," Roe observed.
"President Trump has been on everywhere and it depends who you talk to about their opinions on him, some love him, some don't, but I get the impression that most people are listening to Dr Fauci (the US director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and at the moment are staying at home.
"I'm very fortunate that John Campion and his people at CJJ Motorsport are the kind of people that they are and they have been really looking after me.
"I do miss my family back home but John, Suzanne and the team are my family here in the US at the moment."
Saturday morning done right 🛣
— James roe (@jamesroe10) May 2, 2020
1978 #Porsche 930 turbo 😍 pic.twitter.com/0kacUW1rtn
Roe has now moved back from New Jersey to Indianapolis to prepare for a soon to be announced revised season, which is now due to open with three races in Virginia and will probably include rounds in Indianapolis, Barber and, it is hoped, supporting the US F1 Grand Prix in Austin Texas in October.
"The last six weeks in New Jersey actually proved to be very productive in terms of being in John’s car shop and being able to work out in the gym before we took the decision that I would go back to Indianapolis
"It was all a bit surreal. Everyone had to wear masks, they boarded the plane from back to front with the middle seats empty while the airports were eerily empty.
"But I’m back now and intend to get back to a routine, plus we are due to test the car on the West Coast at the end of the month."
It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Roe in recent months but now that the US is starting to open up in some areas and with a season of racing now in the offing, he is champing at the bit to get going.
He said: "For the first time ever we had everything ready to go. The team was ready, the sponsors were behind us and we had the season mapped out ahead of us before the present crisis kicked off.
"Now at least we will have a revised calendar, but it will still depend on the individual states and the advice of the governors, the federal government and the WHO. But I’m around a lot of optimistic people and I’m certain that we will be racing this year.
"The one thing about America is that they have a mind-set to get back to work ASAP and maybe things will move quicker here than in other parts of the world.
"There is talk that we will race behind closed doors at the start of the season, practicing social distancing at the race track.
"The season was meant to run until October but a revised schedule of races could possibly see us racing up to December to try and get a season in.
"It’s crucial for me as a driver to be racing to give the sponsors a return on their investments and there is also a million dollar scholarship on the line for the next step which is Indy Lights (one step down from Indycar).
"So you can imagine how devastating it would be if the season didn’t go ahead and that scholarship wasn’t there.
"Our goal and dream is the Indycar series, it’s a clear vision and let’s see if we can get there and the ultimate dream is to be the first Irishman to win the Indy 500 at Indianapolis."
