For the second straight qualifying session, it was Christian Rasmussen and Darren Keane leading the way in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship series. After turning the second quickest lap in Saturday’s qualifying session, it was Keane, the Cape Motorsports veteran that will start on the pole for Sunday’s race.
It’s Keane’s second pole of the season. The 19-year-old also started on the pole for the second race in St. Petersburg, Fla.
The pole is the 12th time that a Cape Motorsports driver will start on the pole in Toronto. Keane joins fellow Cape Motorsports pole sitters Oliver Askew, Anthony Martin, Nico Jamin, Florian Latorre, Neil Alberico, and J.R. Hildebrand.
Rasmussen, who will start on pole for today’s race will start to the outside of Keane.
Points leader Braden Eves (Cape Motorsports) and Pabst Racing veteran will start on the second row.
For the second straight day, it was the Elite 2.0L engines that served as a wake-up call for the residents of Liberty Village. The 17 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship drivers took to the 1.786-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place street circuit at 8:05 am for 20 minutes of qualifying.
Keane grabbed provisional pole early and held it until the half-way point of the session. Keane’s quick lap with 10 minutes remaining was 72.361 seconds. He was followed in the top five by his teammate and points leader Eves, Race # 1 pole winner Rasmussen, second generation driver Eduardo Barrichello and Pabst Racing’s Colin Kaminsky.
Keane and Rasmussen were the first two drivers to break the 72-second barrier.
With eight minutes remaining McElrea was on pit road with reports that he had brushed the wall. The Cape Motorsports crew was able to get him back out on track with seven minutes remaining. Unfortunately for the Mazda $200K Scholarship Shootout winner, a red flag negated a last minute run and the No. 22 Soul Red machine will start on the inside of row six.
With just over six minutes remaining, the red flag came out for Barrichello, who had an incident in Turn 8. At the time, the Brazilian was the fifth quickest driver. However, he lost his fastest lap for causing the red flag, dropping down to sixth.
The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team was able to get things cleaned up quickly, and drivers were given one flying lap to try and improve on their position. However, the red flag was shown on the final lap when Bruna Tomaselli spun in Turn 1.
The Legacy Autosport crew worked late into the night to get the Metalloid Corporation sponsored No. 14 prepared after Zach Holden found the tire barriers at the exit of Turn 8. Holden was able to turn nine laps and will start seventh.
Qualifying for Race #2 was the first session that 14-year-old Jak Crawford was able to turn laps at speed on the 1.786-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place street circuit, and after 11 trouble-free laps, will start 13th.
USF2000 Unofficial Qualifying Results For Race #2
RANK | CAR NO | NAME | TEAM | QUICK LAP | DIFFERENCE | TOTAL LAPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Darren Keane | Cape Motorsports | 1:11.747 | –.—- | 12 |
2 | 6 | Christian Rasmussen | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:11.874 | 0.1278 | 12 |
3 | 8 | Braden Eves | Cape Motorsports | 1:11.960 | 0.2137 | 12 |
4 | 23 | Colin Kaminsky | Pabst Racing | 1:12.587 | 0.8403 | 12 |
5 | 73 | Cameron Shields | Newman Wachs Racing | 1:12.854 | 1.1078 | 12 |
6 | 41 | Eduardo Barrichello | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1:12.967 | 1.2202 | 8 |
7 | 14 | Zach Holden | Legacy Autosport | 1:12.967 | 1.2204 | 11 |
8 | 12 | Manuel Sulaiman | DEForce Racing | 1:13.057 | 1.3103 | 12 |
9 | 27 | Matt Round-Garrido | BN Racing | 1:13.079 | 1.3325 | 12 |
10 | 7 | Christian Bogle | Jay Howard Driver Development | 1:13.332 | 1.5856 | 12 |
11 | 22 | Hunter McElrea | Pabst Racing | 1:13.377 | 1.6302 | 8 |
12 | 36 | Nolan Siegel | Newman Wachs Racing | 1:13.671 | 1.9247 | 12 |
13 | 52 | Jak Crawford | DEForce Racing | 1:13.699 | 1.9526 | 11 |
14 | 40 | Jack William Miller | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1:13.774 | 2.0270 | 11 |
15 | 21 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | 1:14.023 | 2.2762 | 12 |
16 | 24 | Bruna Tomaselli | Pabst Racing | 1:14.261 | 2.5145 | 12 |
17 | 3 | Reece Gold | Cape Motorsports | 1:15.337 | 3.5904 | 3 |
Teams will have just under three hours to get their USF-17s turned. The first of two Cooper Tires Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products races is scheduled for 11:20 am.