#1 Mac Clark, DEForce Racing, Valkyrie AI, ARM, Clubine Motorsports. Photo by Gavin Baker – USF Pro Championships

By Tony DiZinno

Mac Clark will led the 16-car field to green for tonight’s USF2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires race, the Cooper Tires Freedom 75, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

The young Canadian in the Tatuus USF-22 drove his No. 1 DEForce Racing car to two laps at 44.962 seconds and an average speed of 109.853mph around the 0.686-mile oval.

Evagaoras Papasavvas was next in the first Jay Howard Driver Development entry ahead of Chase Gardner (Exclusive Autosport), Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing) and points leader Lochie Hughes (JHDD).

Second in points, Simon Sikes, will roll off from ninth in his Pabst Racing entry.

Michael d’Orlando of Cape Motorsports won the last two USF2000 races on the oval in 2021 and 2022. Christian Rasmussen (JHDD) took the 2020 win, with other winners with this Tatuus chassis including Cameron Shields (Newman Wachs Racing) in 2019 and Kyle Kirkwood (Cape) in 2018.

The only oval on the schedule means the USF2000 field has a slightly different points structure.

A win is 45 points, second 38, third 33, fourth 29, fifth 26, with the remainder of the top 10 23-21-20-18-17 and then 15 for 11th down to 2 for 20th.

Hughes holds a 14-point lead on Sikes (185-171) with Johnson on 144, Papasavvas on 106 and Sam Corry on 94 completing the top five.

Qualifying Results

PosNo.DriverTeamLap 1Lap 2Total TimeAvg. Speed
11Mac ClarkDEForce Racing22.43722.52544.962109.853
26Evagoras PapasavvasJay Howard Driver Development22.56622.45345.019109.714
395Chase GardnerExclusive Autosport22.58722.63645.223109.219
417Nikita JohnsonVRD Racing22.69722.75545.452108.668
58Lochie HughesJay Howard Driver Development22.80222.69345.495108.566
67Al MoreyJay Howard Driver Development22.96822.82945.797107.850
710Jorge GarciarceDEForce Racing22.94322.93845.881107.652
814Sam CorryVRD Racing22.92223.00545.927107.545
922Simon SikesPabst Racing23.04022.83645.876107.664
1093Avery TownsExclusive Autosport22.93223.06045.992107.393
1167Elliot CoxSarah Fisher Hartman Racing Dev23.04223.02346.065107.222
1224Max GarciaPabst Racing23.28323.16346.446106.343
1391Joey BrienzaExclusive Autosport23.25123.23446.485106.254
1412Maxwell JamiesonDEForce Racing24.06123.88847.949103.009
1519Gordon ScullyVRD Racing-.—--.—-No TimeNo Speed
DQ18Danny DyszelskiVRD Racing22.61622.71745.333108.954