By Patrick Stephan
The scattered rain in the forecasts landed on the Toronto Indy race track before the USF2000 Championship Race #1, but had stopped before the green would wave…leaving us with a wet in places but quickly drying track and the temperature at 74F, with the track 86F and the humidity 87%.
Evagoras Papasavvas led the field down to the start with the grid nicely aligned until the green flag flew – when all bets off. The field fanned out 3, 4, and 5 wide but everyone made it through Turns 1 and 2. Down at Turn 3, Nikita Johnson took the lead under braking on the inside of Papasavvas.
Toward the rear of the field, Eliott Cox rough weekend got even worse as he hit the inside wall at the little kink before Turn 3. Couldn’t quite tell from replay if he got loose under braking while at the far inside of the corner, or perhaps contact from the rear…the result was a damaged right front suspension and wing. He would slide through the corner nearly getting hit again.
That would bring out the yellow with Johnson leading Papasavvas, Hughes, Garcia, Douglas, Morey, Corry, and Gardner.
With the track nearly dry, everyone behind those drivers came to pit lane under the caution to switch to the slicks. While a change to wets happens with 5 minute reds, they can go back to slicks on their own, though teams are limited to the pit equipment allowed and they get just 3 crew members to do the tire change, so the key here is to get it done without losing a lap.
Nico Christodoulou and Mac Clark would lead the charge of the slicks when we went back to green.
Christodoulou, the first to take the slicks, was back up to fifth by Lap 8 and he was third on Lap 9 with Johnson and Papasavvas ahead.
On Lap 10 the yellow came out for Gordon Scully who hit the wall hard in Turn 11. This sent the remaining drivers on the rains to pit road, first Papasavvas and then Johnson the next lap as the gap from wets to dries was about four seconds.
Christodloulou would keep the lead for a couple laps after the green flag waved, but Sikes got around Clark and then took the lead on Lap 15.
Jorge Garciarce then brought out the yellow as he got loose through Turn 8 with the rear catching the tire barrier.
With the AMR INDYCAR Safety team quickly cleaning up the scene and the Garciarce car moved off the track hanging from a wrecker, we would get more green flag running.
The final restart came with 2 laps to run and the order Sikes, Clark, Christodoulou, Adams, Garcia, Papasavvas, Johnson, Gardner.
Max Garcia, who damaged his Pabst Racing machine during Race #2 qualifying on Saturday morning, made a strong move to the inside at Turn 3 to get from 5th to second at Turn 3. Coming out of Turn 5 we see the front wing of Papasavvas sliding across the track as things stacked up through 4 and 5.
Clark had been dropped to fifth but would get Christodoulou at Turn 1 to return to 4th. As the field came around on the final lap, Avery Towns spun off Turn 5, not hitting anything, and able to drive around to the finish.
Sikes held on for the victory, his fifth of the season. With Lochie Hughes finishing 15th, and Nikita Johnson 7th, this will stretch Sikes point lead from 40 to 55 over Johnson who now has sole possession of second as Hughes drops to third 64 back of the Sikes. That’s more than a race with just four to go as max points in a race are 33 for the USF2000 Series.
Race #2 for the USF2000 Series will kick off Sunday’s action in Toronto at 8:10am. After that, the USF2000 Series has just the triple header on Labor Day weekend at Portland to complete the season.
Point Standings and Quotes courtesy Andersen Promotions:
Provisional championship points after 14 of 18 races:
1. Simon Sikes, 341
2. Nikita Johnson, 286
3. Lochie Hughes, 277
4. Mac Clark, 266
5. Evagoras Papasavvas, 251
6. Chase Gardner, 189
7. Sam Corry, 176
8. Jorge Garciarce, 167
9. Max Garcia, 166
10. Jacob Douglas, 141
Simon Sikes (#22 Big Check Race Fans/Doug Mockett & Company/Group6Gear.com-Pabst Racing Tatuus USF-22): “I don’t even know where to start! It started in wet conditions. I played it a bit too safe in the first qually (qualifying session), so I started sixth and was just trying to work my way forward to a podium. That was my end goal for this race, but we got out there and we got under this first Safety Car period and the team called me in for slick tires. I was questioning it, I didn’t know if it would work, but ultimately that was the best call anyone could have made. (Canadian race engineer) Burke Harrison did such a fantastic job. He and Augie Pabst, the whole Pabst organization made this one happen. They made the strategy call that ended up winning the race and gave me a perfect car to go execute, so huge thanks to them, and Doug Mockett for being an awesome supporter. Just really happy to take away a Pabst one-two to start off the races in Toronto.”
Max Garcia (#24 Advance Auto Parts-Pabst Racing Tatuus USF-22): “Wow, it was a really fun race. You know, started out on wets and we had decent pace on wets and then the first caution came out and I decided not to give up track position and keep it going. And then when I saw all those slick-tires guys get past us, I knew, next yellow, we had to pit. A yellow came out at Turn Eight and I boxed (pitted) immediately. I got up to fifth at the restart, I think we had two green laps, and then it went yellow again and I knew that was my chance. It was pretty crazy with the double-pass into Turn Three”.
Logan Adams (#9 JHDD/CSU One Cure/Lucas Oil Products/LHP-Jay Howard Driver Development Tatuus USF-22): “I never expected my first podium to come from 13th (on the grid), especially my second weekend in the USF car, but it was a blast. I love driving the car, I love the series, the team. Jay Howard obviously got the car dialed in. We made the smart move to go to slicks early. I wouldn’t be here without my sponsors, Comet Kart Sales and New Castle Motorsports Park, they’ve brought me to where I’m at today and I can’t thank them enough.”
USF2000 Toronto Race #1 Results:
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Laps | Diff | Team |
| 1 | 22 | Simon Sikes | 20 | LAP 20 | Pabst Racing |
| 2 | 24 | Max Garcia | 20 | 0.1833 | Pabst Racing |
| 3 | 9 | Logan Adams | 20 | 1.3807 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 4 | 1 | Mac Clark | 20 | 3.0343 | DEForce Racing |
| 5 | 2 | Nico Christodoulou | 20 | 3.273 | VRD Racing |
| 6 | 6 | Evagoras Papasavvas | 20 | 3.5325 | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 7 | 17 | Nikita Johnson | 20 | 4.3873 | VRD Racing |
| 8 | 95 | Chase Gardner | 20 | 4.4873 | Exclusive Autosport |
| 9 | 14 | Sam Corry | 20 | 9.1648 | VRD Racing |
| 10 | 12 | Maxwell Jamieson | 20 | 14.4071 | DEForce Racing |
| 11 | 93 | Avery Towns | 20 | 29.562 | Exclusive Autosport |
| 12 | 7 | Al Morey | 19 | 1 LAPS | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 13 | 23 | Jacob Douglas | 18 | 2 LAPS | Pabst Racing |
| 14 | 10 | Jorge Garciarce | 14 | Contact | DEForce Racing |
| 15 | 8 | Lochie Hughes | 10 | Contact | Jay Howard Driver Development |
| 16 | 19 | Gordon Scully | 10 | Contact | VRD Racing |
| 17 | 67 | Elliot Cox | ‑‑‑ | Contact | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development |
| 18 | 91 | Joey Brienza | ‑‑‑ | DNS | Exclusive Autosport |