Compared to the rest of the USF Juniors field, Fort Lauterdale-native Giovanni Cabrera does not have the track time most of his competitors do.

Cabrera, 16, only started karting in South Florida just before tracks around the country temporarily shuttered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After three years of karting, he made the jump to compete in USF Juniors in 2023.

The first season Cabrera was in the series saw him finish thirteenth in the standings, last out of the series’ full-time runners. With a renewed sense of confidence and a second run at the title, Cabrera is ready to continue making progress in USF Juniors in 2024.

“At the beginning of the weekend (last season) I’d be pretty far off,” Cabrera said. “By the end, we’d still not be where we wanted to be, but (we were) a lot better.”

One highlight for Cabrera in 2023 was the middle of the season. He had a season-best finish of 8th at Virginia International Raceway before securing three consecutive 10th place finishes at Mid-Ohio and Road America.

Cabrera said that his team was pushing him toward treating each weekend as a learning experience.

“One of the things that my teammates told me is to just trust the process,” Cabrera said. “Your experience compared to your competitors is almost nothing, so just trust the process and keep improving.”

Cabrera currently is a part of Exclusive Autosport, a USF Juniors team which won races last season with Jack Jeffers and Joey Brienza. Those drivers have both grown from when they started in the series to eventually experience success. Jeffers is returning to the team in USF Juniors and is considered to be a title favorite in 2024 while Brienza is moving up to USF2000 while staying with Exclusive Autosport.

Originally, Cabrera and his family wanted to start their own team in USF Juniors. They began working around six months before the start of the 2023 season to try to get resources together but ended up running into concerns about aspects of team management getting in the way of Cabrera focusing on his own development as a driver.

During the exploratory period of potentially starting a team, they got connected with various people throughout USF Juniors, including Exclusive Autosport team owner Michael Duncalfe. 

After Cabrera got to meet the Exclusive Autosport team at Sebring afterward, the team and driver struck up a tentative deal over the next couple of weeks that was eventually formally announced on Feb. 24.

“At Exclusive (Autosport) we all help each other,” Cabrera said. “There’s no gatekeeping either video or data. They’re all trying to help me in any way and I’m trying to help them. My teammates have helped me improve a lot.”

Cabrera got the chance to test alongside his teammates recently in adverse conditions when they took part in a test in the rain at Barber Motorsports Park.

Once again, Cabrera was impressed with the amount he grew throughout the session. He focused greatly on the improvement that he gains from any more time he has spent in the car.

“It’s probably the closest I’ve been to (Jack) Jeffers since we became teammates,” Cabrera said. “Just like our season went, we got better throughout the day and by the end we were not really where we wanted to be, but (the test ended) okay.”

While he continues to close the experience gap between himself and his teammates, Cabrera finds enjoyment in the racing he gets the chance to partake in during the USF Juniors season. He spoke positively about USF Pro Championship’s role in developing young drivers and providing them the prize money to move up after they are successful.

However, for now, Cabrera remains focused about the level he is at and what draws him to love what he does. It is a combination of being around the racing fans, his teammates and everyone else he gets to interact with and who supports him.

“I’ve always had people (at each race) supporting me,” Cabrera said. “This season or last season wouldn’t be possible without any of them.”