By Tony DiZinno
Heading into the weekend for the USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, the Discount Tire Grand Prix of Road America, it’s a two-horse race between Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) with Sikes seeking to win in the home race for the Oconomowoc, Wis.-based team. Just four points (208-204) separates the pair of drivers as they head here to Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Third-placed Nikita Johnson (VRD Racing) is in a spot of his own, on 170 points, with Evagoras Papasavvas (JHDD) and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park winner Mac Clark (DEForce Racing) a bit further back on 144 and 140 points, respectively.
The big talking point heading into this weekend is of course the repave of the 4.014-mile Road America road course. Times, naturally, are expected to tumble compared to previous records.
Will that impact the pacesetters and winners? We’ll see about that.
Pabst (Jace Denmark) and Cape Motorsports (Michael d’Orlando) split the two races last year, which wound up running only 12 (31 minutes) and 11 laps (45 minutes).
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Practice 1 Notes
Heading into the weekend, lap records were:
- Race: Scott Anderson, August 17, 2012, 2:09.656
- Qualifying: Rasmus Lindh, June 22, 2018, 2:09.2583
By Friday’s first official sessions on the Discount Tire Grand Prix of Road America, we were heading towards new records after the opening practice session for USF2000 before two qualifying sessions are later today at 10:45 (Q1) and 1:00 (Q2).
Hughes led both of Thursday test sessions on the freshly repaved track and it followed up in FP1 with best time of 2:08.1636, more than one second quicker than the qualifying lap record set here by Rasmus Lindh in 2018.
In fact the top eight drivers in FP1 down to Jacob Douglas were all under Lindh’s mark. The top 15 were within 1.9 seconds, a relatively small margin on the 4-plus mile course.
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Qualifying 1 Notes
When the green flag fell for the first of two qualifying sessions, the 11-year record held by Scott Anderson was always going to fall. It was a question of who would break it best, and also how many of the 21 competitors would beat it.
In the end, Hughes carried through his momentum to lead his fourth consecutive session of the weekend with a new qualifying record of 2:07.8964 (112.895 mph).
This time was a full 1.7596 seconds under Anderson’s old mark. Hughes led his title protagonist, Sikes, by 0.1304 of a second. Clark was third ahead of Jorge Garciarce (DEForce Racing) and Sam Corry (VRD Racing). A full 17 of the 21 competitors clocked in under the previous track record.
Qualifying 1 Official Results
| P | No | Name | Team | FTime | Diff | Laps | FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Lochie Hughes | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:07.8964 | 2:07.8964 | 9 | 7 |
| 2 | 22 | Simon Sikes | Pabst Racing | 2:08.0268 | 0.1304 | 8 | 8 |
| 3 | 1 | Mac Clark | DEForce Racing | 2:08.2069 | 0.3105 | 9 | 9 |
| 4 | 10 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | 2:08.4026 | 0.5062 | 9 | 9 |
| 5 | 14 | Sam Corry | VRD Racing | 2:08.5012 | 0.6048 | 7 | 5 |
| 6 | 23 | Jacob Douglas | Pabst Racing | 2:08.6719 | 0.7755 | 9 | 7 |
| 7 | 24 | Max Garcia | Pabst Racing | 2:08.7171 | 0.8207 | 9 | 7 |
| 8 | 68 | Ethan Ho | DC Autosport | 2:08.8156 | 0.9192 | 9 | 7 |
| 9 | 6 | Evagoras Papasavvas | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:08.8398 | 0.9434 | 9 | 5 |
| 10 | 67 | Elliot Cox | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development | 2:08.8433 | 0.9469 | 7 | 5 |
| 11 | 18 | Danny Dyszelski | VRD Racing | 2:08.9300 | 1.0336 | 6 | 6 |
| 12 | 17 | Nikita Johnson | VRD Racing | 2:08.9550 | 1.0586 | 5 | 4 |
| 13 | 95 | Chase Gardner | Exclusive Autosport | 2:08.9947 | 1.0983 | 9 | 9 |
| 14 | 33 | Max Taylor | VRD Racing | 2:09.2531 | 1.3567 | 4 | 4 |
| 15 | 92 | Jack Jeffers | Exclusive Autosport | 2:09.3168 | 1.4204 | 6 | 6 |
| 16 | 12 | Maxwell Jamieson | DEForce Racing | 2:09.3369 | 1.4405 | 9 | 9 |
| 17 | 19 | Gordon Scully | VRD Racing | 2:09.5026 | 1.6062 | 8 | 6 |
| 18 | 9 | Dane Scott | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:09.8190 | 1.9226 | 9 | 6 |
| 19 | 93 | Avery Towns | Exclusive Autosport | 2:09.9723 | 2.0759 | 9 | 7 |
| 20 | 97 | Zack Ping | VRD Racing | 2:10.1082 | 2.2118 | 6 | 4 |
| 21 | 7 | Al Morey | Jay Howard Driver Development | No Time | 0 | 0 |
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Qualifying 2 Notes
In marginally warmer conditions compared to this morning – still just cresting 60F ambient with cloud cover still hovering – the second qualifying session confirmed that apparently, Hughes is human.
After leading four straight sessions, Hughes ended third in the second qualifying session of the day.
Instead, the new man on top was the same man on top at the IRP oval in Clark of DEForce Racing.
Times were a little bit slower, Clark ending at 2:08.3365 with Sikes second again, 0.1100 behind, and Hughes third. Max Garcia (Pabst Racing) was fourth with Corry fifth.
Only 10 of the 21 drivers were under Anderson’s old mark in this session.
Qualifying 2 Unofficial Results
| P | No | Name | Team | FTime | Diff | Laps | FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Mac Clark | DEForce Racing | 2:08.3365 | 2:08.3365 | 8 | 4 |
| 2 | 22 | Simon Sikes | Pabst Racing | 2:08.4465 | 0.1100 | 8 | 4 |
| 3 | 8 | Lochie Hughes | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:08.4879 | 0.1514 | 8 | 8 |
| 4 | 24 | Max Garcia | Pabst Racing | 2:08.6040 | 0.2675 | 8 | 3 |
| 5 | 14 | Sam Corry | VRD Racing | 2:08.7173 | 0.3808 | 7 | 7 |
| 6 | 10 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | 2:08.8029 | 0.4664 | 7 | 4 |
| 7 | 23 | Jacob Douglas | Pabst Racing | 2:08.8170 | 0.4805 | 8 | 3 |
| 8 | 17 | Nikita Johnson | VRD Racing | 2:08.8951 | 0.5586 | 7 | 6 |
| 9 | 18 | Danny Dyszelski | VRD Racing | 2:09.1680 | 0.8315 | 7 | 4 |
| 10 | 6 | Evagoras Papasavvas | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:09.4810 | 1.1445 | 9 | 7 |
| 11 | 68 | Ethan Ho | DC Autosport | 2:09.6104 | 1.2739 | 9 | 8 |
| 12 | 33 | Max Taylor | VRD Racing | 2:09.8224 | 1.4859 | 9 | 4 |
| 13 | 7 | Al Morey | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:09.9350 | 1.5985 | 8 | 7 |
| 14 | 95 | Chase Gardner | Exclusive Autosport | 2:10.0169 | 1.6804 | 8 | 4 |
| 15 | 9 | Dane Scott | Jay Howard Driver Development | 2:10.0539 | 1.7174 | 9 | 4 |
| 16 | 67 | Elliot Cox | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development | 2:10.0889 | 1.7524 | 8 | 4 |
| 17 | 97 | Zack Ping | VRD Racing | 2:10.2390 | 1.9025 | 8 | 3 |
| 18 | 19 | Gordon Scully | VRD Racing | 2:10.3416 | 2.0051 | 8 | 3 |
| 19 | 12 | Maxwell Jamieson | DEForce Racing | 2:10.5590 | 2.2225 | 8 | 7 |
| 20 | 93 | Avery Towns | Exclusive Autosport | 2:10.6565 | 2.3200 | 8 | 6 |
| 21 | 92 | Jack Jeffers | Exclusive Autosport | 2:43.5195 | 35.1830 | 1 | 1 |
USF2000 races twice on Saturday, with the first at 11:10 a.m. and the second at 3:45 p.m.