By Steve Wititch

The final official USF2000 practice session of the 2017 season was led by Calvin Ming. The native of Guyana turned a lap at 106.685 seconds – that equates to an average of 113.718mph over the course of the 3.4-mile, 11 Turn Watkins Glen International road course.

Calvin Ming, a Pabst Racing rookie led his second Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda session of the year at Watkins Glen International ((Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

DE Force Racing driver Kory Enders was just under three-tenths of a second behind Ming, with championship leader Oliver Askew another three-tenths back.

Kaylen Frederick (Pabst Racing), David Malukas (BN Racing), Andres Gutierrez (DE Force Racing), Phillipe Denes (Team Pelfrey) and Niall Murray (Newman Wachs Racing) were all within one second of Ming.

The second USF2000 practice session for the season ending Mazda USF2000 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Presented by Cooper Tires race got underway under partly sunny skies at 1pm, and the entire session was run under green flag conditions.

At the half-way point of the session, it was a lap of 107.411 seconds by Pabst Racing rookie Ming that topped the half-hour session.  The remainder of the top 10 were: David Malukas, Kory Enders, Darren Keane, Oliver Askew, Naill Murray, Andres Gutierrez, Kaylen Frederick, Phillipe Denes, and Lucas Kohl.

Impressively, the Newman Wachs Racing team were able to get the No. 36 Mazda powered Tatuus of Darren Keane repaired and 17 year-old was able to turn the 9th quickest lap of the session.

Rinus VeeKay, who is trailing Askew by 13 points heading into the “Soul Red Finale,” only turned three laps.

Pabst Racing team owner Augie Pabst told us that they were holding back two sets of sticker Cooper Tires tires to allow themselves some options come qualifying and race day. If VeeKay, who was the quickest in the morning practice, and in recent testing at Watkins Glen International, is on provisional pole, they will save a fresh set of tires for the race. If their qualifying isn’t where it needs to be, they will have a second set of tires to try and improve Veejay’s starting position.

Rinus VeeKay did not turn any laps at speed during the second Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda session at Watkins Glen International – the team elected to save a set of sticker Cooper Tires for Saturday’s qualifying and race. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Mazda USF2000 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Presented by Cooper Tires practice # results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE LAPS TURNED
1 22 Calvin Ming 1:46.685 –.—- 10
2 11 Kory Enders 1:46.975 0.2905 15
3 3 Oliver Askew 1:46.982 0.2969 14
4 81 Kaylen Frederick 1:47.337 0.6517 10
5 79 David Malukas 1:47.495 0.8100 3
6 10 Andres Gutierrez 1:47.606 0.9206 14
7 82 Phillippe Denes 1:47.638 0.9528 11
8 37 Niall Murray 1:47.686 1.0011 5
9 36 Darren Keane 1:47.840 1.1550 5
10 4 Alex Baron 1:47.841 1.1562 12
11 23 Lucas Kohl 1:47.878 1.1930 14
12 7 Devin Wojcik 1:47.933 1.2481 14
13 90 Parker Thompson 1:48.229 1.5443 15
14 72 Zach Holden 1:48.368 1.6826 16
15 80 Robert Megennis 1:48.636 1.9509 5
16 31 Callan O’Keeffe 1:48.754 2.0687 13
17 97 Bruna Tomaselli 1:48.950 2.2650 14
18 92 Dev Gore 1:49.842 3.1569 16
19 93 Jayson Clunie 1:51.830 5.1447 15
20 21 Rinus VeeKay 2:07.119 20.4338 3

The USF2000 drivers and teams are back on track bright and early for qualifying tomorrow (Saturday, September 3) morning at 8am.

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