For the second time this season, Pabst Racing rookie Rasmus Lindh has led a USF2000 practice session with a fast lap of 1:11.013, only four-hundredths quicker than his teammate Kaylen Frederick.
Lindh’s lap, along with the laps of 17 of the 18 drivers was under the track record of 1:12.748 set by J.R. Hildebrand in 2006.
The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda drivers are used to being the first cars on track during a race weekend, but today, the 18 entries were the fifth series on tack, following the featured Verizon IndyCar Series.
The green flag for the half-hour session came out at 11:45 AM.
The first red flag came out only seven minutes into the session when ArmsUp Motorsports returnee Max Peichel made contact with the barriers in Turn 11 on his third lap of the session.
At that point in the session, newcomer Braden Eves was leading the way with a lap of 1:11.8925. Most drivers had completed four or five laps of running. Rasmus Lindh, Igor Fraga, Colin Kaminsky, and Julian Van der Watt rounded out the top five.
The green flag came back out with 18 minutes remaining in the session with most drivers heading back out on the track.
It didn’t take long for Rasmus Lindh to go to the top of the timing screens and with 10 minutes in the session was joined by Pabst Racing teammates Lucas Kohl, Kaylen Frederick and Calvin Ming in the top five.
At this point in the session, Kyle Kirkwood, the 2018 USF2000 Champion was on pit road undergoing adjustments by his Cape Motorsports crew. The 19-year-old got back on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn natural terrain circuit with seven minutes remaining.
With four minutes remaining, Kirkwood was able to move into the top three but was not able to improve on his next flying lap.
Lindh, Fraga, and Kohl, the three drivers in contention for second place in the championship ended with the quickest, ninth quickest and fourth quickest times respectively.
Portland International Raceway – USF2000 Practice Session #1 results
RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | FAST LAP | DIFFERENCE | TOTAL LAPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 | Rasmus Lindh | 1:11.013 | –.—- | 18 |
2 | 24 | Kaylen Frederick | 1:11.059 | 0.0460 | 17 |
3 | 8 | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:11.312 | 0.2990 | 15 |
4 | 22 | Lucas Kohl | 1:11.361 | 0.3480 | 20 |
5 | 80 | Julian Van der Watt | 1:11.438 | 0.4242 | 21 |
6 | 41 | Braden Eves | 1:11.444 | 0.4303 | 19 |
7 | 11 | Kory Enders | 1:11.509 | 0.4955 | 20 |
8 | 21 | Calvin Ming | 1:11.535 | 0.5220 | 19 |
9 | 91 | Igor Fraga | 1:11.600 | 0.5866 | 17 |
10 | 9 | Dakota Dickerson | 1:11.764 | 0.7504 | 18 |
11 | 81 | Kyle Dupell | 1:11.806 | 0.7931 | 21 |
12 | 27 | Colin Kaminsky | 1:11.907 | 0.8935 | 20 |
13 | 82 | Bruna Tomaselli | 1:12.033 | 1.0192 | 19 |
14 | 12 | Jose Sierra | 1:12.100 | 1.0861 | 15 |
15 | 29 | Russell McDonough | 1:12.118 | 1.1047 | 19 |
16 | 38 | Oscar DeLuzuriaga | 1:12.720 | 1.7063 | 20 |
17 | 90 | Kellen Ritter | 1:12.736 | 1.7227 | 19 |
18 | 14 | Max Peichel | 1:13.881 | 2.8673 | 3 |
The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda drivers are back on track at 4:15 PM for their first qualifying session. That will be the last official track activity of the day.