By Tony DiZinno

Several drivers took on sets of sticker Cooper Tires for this race – VRD Racing’s Nikita Johnson and Danny Dyszelski among others starting in P8 and P9 – as the USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires prepared for the second race of the Saturday Discount Tire Grand Prix of Road America doubleheader. So that added a wrinkle into the proceedings.

Mac Clark led the field to green ahead of Simon Sikes and Lochie Hughes as the 21-car field of Tatuus USF-22 chassis with the Elite Engines-prepared 2-liter MZR entries headed for Turn 1.

Someone else lost a front wing entering the corner. There was a car off at the Kink, Sam Corry, and at the end of Lap 1 a full-course caution flew.

Hughes made it around Sikes for second in the limited green flag running.

Race resumes end of Lap 3 and the start of Lap 4. Hughes tries around the outside of Clark for the lead at Turn 3 but nope. Clark now leading a train into Turn 5 and indeed Hughes is able to make it by for the left-hander at the end of the straight.

Max Garcia was up into third with Jorge Garciarce fourth and Sikes having lost several positions – down to eighth on Lap 4. Elliot Cox in the pit needed a new front wing.

Full-course caution number two flew for Evagoras Papasavvas off course, exit of the Carousel on driver’s right.

Chase Gardner in the pits as well.

The race resumes end of Lap 6 and start of Lap 7 for the second half of the 12-lap race.

Garcia tries for the lead around the outside of Hughes at Turn 1, doesn’t get it, and falls back a couple spots by Turn 3. Hughes leading Clark and Garciarce.

Sikes had made up two spots by Lap 8, now P6. But it didn’t last long as he fell to P9 by Lap 9.

White flag at the end of Lap 11 with Hughes up 0.7118 of a second on Clark, Garcia now back by Garciarce for third and Johnson completing the top five.

Checkered flag and Hughes gets a win he’d been close to all weekend given his early pace, with Clark just 0.6273 of a second behind and Garcia ending on the podium in another Pabst Racing entry. Garciarce finished fourth with Johnson fifth.

“I have to apologize for race one. I drove like a word I can’t say! Then had a problem with the wing. But this one was perfect. It’s hard with the tow to not get freight trained, and I came out with the win,” Hughes said.

“The guys told me what to do and I can’t thank everyone enough. Great end to the weekend.”

Jacob Douglas, Gardner, Dyszelski, Ethan Ho and Sikes completed the top 10.

Sikes and Hughes inverted their positions from Race 1; they finished first and 10^th.

In race two, Hughes won, Sikes finished 10^th… so the points should be identical or close as they were heading into the weekend when Hughes began four points up.

Race 2 Unofficial Results

P	No	Name	Team	Laps	Diff
1	8	Lochie Hughes	Jay Howard Driver Development	12	LAP 12
2	1	Mac Clark	DEForce Racing	12	0.6273
3	24	Max Garcia	Pabst Racing	12	1.0079
4	10	Jorge Garciarce	DEForce Racing	12	3.9853
5	17	Nikita Johnson	VRD Racing	12	3.9935
6	23	Jacob Douglas	Pabst Racing	12	9.2144
7	95	Chase Gardner	Exclusive Autosport	12	9.2617
8	18	Danny Dyszelski	VRD Racong	12	9.5123
9	68	Ethan Ho	DC Autosport	12	9.5307
10	22	Simon Sikes	Pabst Racing	12	11.5301
11	97	Zack Ping	VRD Racing	12	11.5842
12	92	Jack Jeffers	Exclusive Autosport	12	11.8678
13	7	Al Morey	Jay Howard Driver Development	12	15.5976
14	19	Gordon Scully	VRD Racing	12	15.9252
15	93	Avery Towns	Exclusive Autosport	12	16.7504
16	12	Maxwell Jamieson	DEForce Racing	12	18.2277
17	9	Dane Scott	Jay Howard Driver Development	12	19.1507
18	67	Elliot Cox	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development	12	20.0655
19	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	Jay Howard Driver Development	3	Contact
20	14	Sam Corry	VRD Racing	—	Contact
21	33	Max Taylor	VRD Racing	—	DNS

By Tony DiZinno

The 21 drivers in their Tatuus USF-22, Elite Engines-prepared 2-liter MZR cars fired their engines slightly delayed at 11:15 a.m. for the Discount Tire Grand Prix of Road America, the first of two races in the USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires weekend. The session was pushed back by five minutes owing to track cleaning post a red flag-laden practice for the NTT INDYCAR Series just beforehand.

With only 12 laps to run within a 45-minute window, time is of the essence for drivers to make their moves.

Title rivals Lochie Hughes (Jay Howard Driver Development) and Simon Sikes (Pabst Racing) started from the front row with Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park winner Mac Clark (DEForce Racing) just behind. Jorge Garciarce (DEForce Racing) and Sam Corry (VRD Racing) completed the top five on the grid.

The opening few corners were clean through Turn 5 before Turn 6, when leader Hughes ran wide on the exit of Turn 6 and dropped to third behind Sikes and Clark.

Full course yellow on Lap 2. Al Morey (JHDD) was slow through the Kink but able to limp back around. Meanwhile there was an incident for two cars into Turn 1. Zach Ping (VRD Racing) and Avery Towns (Exclusive Autosport) involved; they were 17^th and 18^th.

The race restarted at the conclusion of Lap 4 and start of Lap 5.

Hughes had issues on Lap 5 with his rear wing collapsing and falls to sixth. Max Garcia (Pabst Racing) off course at Turn 3 and loses his front wing, which brought out the second caution of the race.

This caution only lasted a lap and the green flew at the conclusion of Lap 6, start of Lap 7. Hughes hit the pit lane as the field restarted.

Clark looked to the outside of Sikes into Turn 1, but Sikes was able to defend. Garciarce ran wide at the exit of Turn 5 as he had a big run from fourth. Clark then went off at top of the hill Turn 6 and in trouble too, as was Corry who was in third.

This brought out the third full course caution at the end of Lap 7, start of Lap 8.

It’s been a significantly shuffled order from Laps 5 to 7.

Lap 5 was Sikes, Clark, Corry, Garciarce and Douglas fifth ahead of Hughes, Taylor, Johnson, Cox and Gardner in the top 10.

By Lap 7 the order was now Sikes, Douglas, Taylor, Cox and Gardner fifth with Johnson, Papasavvas, Garcia, Jamieson and Garciarce in the top 10.

Restart end of Lap 8 with the Pabst Racing pair 1-2.

Big battle behind them though with Gardner up to third, Cox fourth and Johnson fifth with Papasavvas sixth and Taylor having had a tough lap down to seventh. Garcia, with his front wing woes, backed up the rest of the field behind him.

White flag came out at the end of Lap 11 with the first real rhythm of the race, Sikes a full 3.4147 seconds ahead of Douglas in his debut race with Pabst, and Johnson now past Gardner for third.

Hughes had recovered to ninth. On the last lap Papasavvas goes wide trying to pass Cox but loses a couple spots at Canada Corner.

Sikes brought it home for Pabst, 4.3876 seconds clear of Douglas to give Augie Pabst’s Oconomowoc, Wis.-based team a 1-2 on home soil, with Johnson third. Gardner and Cox complete the top five. Taylor, Ho, Papasavvas, Garciarce and Hughes rounding out the top 10.

Big points day for Sikes before the second USF2000 race of the day as he’ll take over the points lead from Hughes.

Race 1 Unofficial Results

P	No	Name	Team	Laps	Diff
1	22	Simon Sikes	Pabst Racing	12	LAP 12
2	23	Jacob Douglas	Pabst Racing	12	4.3876
3	17	Nikita Johnson	VRD Racing	12	6.1056
4	95	Chase Gardner	Exclusive Autosport	12	7.7244
5	67	Elliot Cox	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development	12	8.6036
6	33	Max Taylor	VRD Racing	12	11.3292
7	68	Ethan Ho	DC Autosport	12	12.1966
8	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	Jay Howard Driver Development	12	12.7432
9	10	Jorge Garciarce	DEForce Racing	12	17.4750
10	8	Lochie Hughes	Jay Howard Driver Development	12	18.1286
11	18	Danny Dyszelski	VRD Racong	12	18.2011
12	92	Jack Jeffers	Exclusive Autosport	12	20.3896
13	9	Dane Scott	Jay Howard Driver Development	12	25.7462
14	19	Gordon Scully	VRD Racing	12	25.8515
15	12	Maxwell Jamieson	DEForce Racing	12	28.7220
16	24	Max Garcia	Pabst Racing	12	40.2026
17	1	Mac Clark	DEForce Racing	12	46.6443
18	7	Al Morey	Jay Howard Driver Development	11	1 LAPS
19	14	Sam Corry	VRD Racing	6	Contact
20	97	Zack Ping	VRD Racing	1	Contact
21	93	Avery Towns	Exclusive Autosport	1	Contact

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).

—

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.

—

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

—

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.

By Tony DiZinno

The field of 16 USF2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires competitors in their Tatuus USF-22 chassis took the green flag at 8:54 p.m., 24 mins after the scheduled start of 8:30.

Additional infield temporary lighting helps to illuminate the 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park as some of the taller floodlights aren’t fully lit.

The sun is setting as the race is about to get going. Ambient temp of 72 for race start. 

Clark led the field away ahead of Papasavvas with Johnson up to third past Gardner, Hughes completing the top five. 

Gardner making a run on the low line around Johnson. He completes the pass after Lap 6 at the start of Lap 7. Further back in the pack, Cox and Garcia are big movers up three spots apiece to eighth and ninth from 11th and 12th on the grid. 

First full course yellow end of Lap 12 for Dyselzki stopped at pit in Turn 3. This wipes out a 1.6-second lead Clark had on Papasavvas. 

Restart comes end of Lap 17 start of Lap 18 as Clark, who’s kept the No. 1 DEForce Racing entry up front since the start, leads away. Gardner and Johnson remain side by side for third a little further behind.

Sikes closing on Hughes for P5, inside going into T1 L26 and clear for P5 exiting T4 L26. Hughes trying him back on the next lap and the two title combatants remain side-by-side. 

Clark has the gap on Papasavvas back to 1.6 seconds at L30. 

He’ll also be closing on traffic in the next several laps; Scully in P15 is last car running. Clark clears him on L34, through T3 and T4. Gets Jamieson a couple laps later. 

Halfway home in the Cooper Tires Freedom 75 – Lap 38 of 75 – and order is: 

Clark, Papasavvas, Gardner, Sikes (now fourth after passing Johnson), Johnson, Hughes, Morey, Cox, Garcia and Garciarce in top 10 with Towns, Corry and Brienza on the lead lap, Jamieson and Scully lapped and Dyselzski out of the race.

The gap from Clark to Papasavvas is 1.966 seconds at half distance.

Johnson now back by Sikes for fourth in the battle for best of the rest outside the podium runners. Sikes regains the spot on Lap 44. 

Clark has extended the gap to 3.381 seconds by Lap 47. 

With 25 laps to go, the top 11 cars are on the lead lap. Garcia is now up to eighth past Cox on Lap 52. 

Sikes has closed to mere hundredths on Gardner for third and completes the pass end of L63 exit of T4, after reeling him in. Gardner repossess him thought exit of T4 on the following lap in what has quickly blossomed into a great battle. 

Ambient temp has dropped three degrees to 69F since race start as at 9:21, the track is completely lit.

The Sikes/Gardner battle rages for four more laps, but Sikes finally completes the pass after the exchange by the end of L68. Further back Garcia gains another spot, now up to P7.

Five to go on L70. 

Clark brings it home after an authoritative flag-to-flag performance from pole. Papasavvas second and Sikes third, a smart drive that may pay dividends for him later this year.

“It feels great. I knew we had a strong car coming to the race and we put it together yesterday. To put it together with these boys… it’s been since Portland when we had a win. So it’s been a bit of a drought!” said Clark, referencing his most recent win in 2022. This is his second USF2000 win, first on an oval.

Talking championship aspirations for the rest of the year:

“For a Canadian reference… this is the TSN Turning Point of our season! We can fight for the championship. We have what, four rounds left? Lots of racing.

“Now it’s about being smart. We clawed back a little bit of ground. You can’t have a DNF, you can’t have a mechanical failure. It needs to be all brains from here.”

Any advice he received coming in?

“I got some good advice; well my dad taught me how to drive. Hinch was texting me before the race! He’s won big races before and he had a bit for me. It helped. 

Cooper Tires Freedom 75 Unofficial Results

P	No	Name	Team	Laps	Diff
1	1	Mac Clark	DEForce Racing	75	LAP 75
2	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	Jay Howard Driver Development	75	3.752
3	22	Simon Sikes	Pabst Racing	75	10.529
4	95	Chase Gardner	Exclusive Autosport	75	12.273
5	17	Nikita Johnson	VRD Racing	75	16.479
6	8	Lochie Hughes	Jay Howard Driver Development	75	17.880
7	24	Max Garcia	Pabst Racing	75	18.117
8	7	Al Morey	Jay Howard Driver Development	75	18.928
9	67	Elliot Cox	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Dev	75	19.423
10	10	Jorge Garciarce	DEForce Racing	75	20.226
11	93	Avery Towns	Exclusive Autosport	74	1 LAPS
12	14	Sam Corry	VRD Racing	73	2 LAPS
13	12	Maxwell Jamieson	DEForce Racing	73	2 LAPS
14	91	Joey Brienza	Exclusive Autosport	73	2 LAPS
15	19	Gordon Scully	VRD Racing	72	3 LAPS
16	18	Danny Dyszelski	VRD Racing	9	Retired

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

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Lap 1	Lap 2	Total Time	Avg. Speed
1	1	Mac Clark	DEForce Racing	22.437	22.525	44.962	109.853
2	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	Jay Howard Driver Development	22.566	22.453	45.019	109.714
3	95	Chase Gardner	Exclusive Autosport	22.587	22.636	45.223	109.219
4	17	Nikita Johnson	VRD Racing	22.697	22.755	45.452	108.668
5	8	Lochie Hughes	Jay Howard Driver Development	22.802	22.693	45.495	108.566
6	7	Al Morey	Jay Howard Driver Development	22.968	22.829	45.797	107.850
7	10	Jorge Garciarce	DEForce Racing	22.943	22.938	45.881	107.652
8	14	Sam Corry	VRD Racing	22.922	23.005	45.927	107.545
9	22	Simon Sikes	Pabst Racing	23.040	22.836	45.876	107.664
10	93	Avery Towns	Exclusive Autosport	22.932	23.060	45.992	107.393
11	67	Elliot Cox	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Dev	23.042	23.023	46.065	107.222
12	24	Max Garcia	Pabst Racing	23.283	23.163	46.446	106.343
13	91	Joey Brienza	Exclusive Autosport	23.251	23.234	46.485	106.254
14	12	Maxwell Jamieson	DEForce Racing	24.061	23.888	47.949	103.009
15	19	Gordon Scully	VRD Racing	-.—-	-.—-	No Time	No Speed
DQ	18	Danny Dyszelski	VRD Racing	22.616	22.717	45.333	108.954

By Patrick Stephan

Simon Sikes brought the field to green with contact near the back as the flag was waving. Four wide down the front straight and Papasavvas gets by as the field makes it through Turn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…maybe…yes, 8, 9, and someone goes of at Turn 10…it’s the 90 of Jacob Douglas in the grass on the outside of Turn 10.

Jorge Garciarce is also involved and he limped his car to pit lane with the left front suspension broken and pointed the wrong direction.

On the start, the field packed up before the green flew and accordioned with the Chase Gardner getting into the rear of Jorge Garciarce as row 6 met row 5. Not sure of Gardner got help, but seemed like some were launching and others hadn’t gone yet and the field was very tightly packed.

Lap 3 order under yellow is Papasavvas, Hughes, Johnson, Clark, Corry, Sikes, Cox, Garcia, Taylor, Scully, Dyszelski, Ho, Towns, Morey, Jameison, Mann, Ping, Gardner (back on track with new front wing), Garciarce (also coming back out after suspension repairs), and Douglas.

Towns and Taylor get penalties for jumping the original start.

Back to green. Hughes gets the lead from Papasavvas, who is also passed by Nikita Johnson. Sikes gets back to 4th, Clark, Cox, Corry, Garcia, Taylor, Dyszelski are the Top 10.

Taylor warned to serve the penalty or he will be black flagged, Towns had already come down.

Sikes inside of Johnson to 2nd at Turn on Lap 7. Report of debris (hatch cover) on track near Turn 14, but off line. Surface flag being shown there.

Garciarce gets a drive through for avoidable contact from that incident with Towns earlier.

Lap 7 completed order is Hughes by 1.8

Spin at Turn 5 by Elliot Cox, and…Full Course Yellow. Hughes, Sikes, Johnson, Papasavvas, Clark, Ho, Gardner, Scully, Morey, Dyszelski, Ping, Mann, Taylor, Corry, Cox, Garciarce,Towns, Jameison, Douglas.

Corry and Cox had been battling earlier, but haven’t see a replay of what put Cox in to the tire barrier inside Turn 5. Race Control must have seen it though as Sam Corry is assessed a penalty for avoidable contact. He is already out of the car after having already pulled the car to pit lane after the incident. Clean-up taking a bit as Cox car is placed on the flat bed and tire barrier repairs are made.

The top three on the track are also the top three in USF2000 points entering this race. Hughes has 154, Sikes 147, Johnson 119, and Papasavvas 93. Corry came in to the race in 5th, with Mac Clark 6th – that should change with Corry now out.

Hughes leads the field to the restart zone that begins at Pit In but they don’t launch until nearly the front straight. Sikes took the lead on the outside, but slipped to the grass slightly and Hughes got the lead back by Turn 2. Johnson is now P2.

Lap 13 completed and Hughes leads by 0.43, Johnson is second, Garcia also got by Sikes who is now 4th, Clark, Ho, Papasavvas, Gardner, Dyszelski, Scully.

Gardner is now off the track at Turn 9. Told to stay in the car and most of the track stays green.

Last lap Sikes goes around Garcia to get back on the podium at Turn 7 and we see Gardner sitting next to the tire barrier drivers left of Turn 9…possibly had pulled off to that spot.

Hughes wins by 0.35 over Johnson and Sikes.

In victory lane Hughes notes his up and down weekend, even though he finished well. Tries to say “always a bridesmaid never a bride,” but laughing says, “always a bridesmaid, never a groom…or whatever that is.”

The 21 year old from Gold Coast Australia notes in victory lane that it’s already Mothers Day back home so he says hello his mom. Nice sentiment and I’m sure appreciated at 2:30am on Sunday morning in Australia.

The order is unofficial, I believe Mac Clark has a 5 second penalty coming for blocking earlier in the race. It was announced as a 5 second post race penalty…perhaps pushing him from 5th to 11th.

• This is Lochie Hughes 3rd win of the season (St Pete #1 and Sebring #1)
• If this race weekend was scored like outdoor motorcross, Hughes is the overall winner having gone 2nd, 2nd, 1st at IMS.
• The Top 3 in points will remain as noted above.
• Hughes had started 4th
• Biggest mover of the race – Ping 19th to 11th.

Pos	Car #	Driver	Laps	Diff	Led	ST	Status	Team
1	8	Lochie Hughes	15	LAP 15	11	4	Active	Jay Howard Driver Development
2	17	Nikita Johnson	15	0.3586		2	Active	VRD Racing
3	22	Simon Sikes	15	1.5911		1	Active	Pabst Racing
4	24	Max Garcia	15	1.9069		6	Active	Pabst Racing
5	1	Mac Clark	15	2.6457		5	Active	DEForce Racing
6	68	Ethan Ho	15	3.579		11	Active	DC Autosport
7	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	15	3.9701	4	3	Active	Jay Howard Driver Development
8	18	Danny Dyszelski	15	4.6668		13	Active	VRD Racong
9	33	Max Taylor	15	4.9895		14	Active	VRD Racing
10	19	Gordon Scully	15	7.5463		16	Active	VRD Racing
11	97	Zack Ping	15	7.7381		19	Active	VRD Racing
12	92	Lucas Mann	15	8.4341		18	Active	Exclusive Autosport
13	7	Al Morey	15	9.2113		15	Active	Jay Howard Driver Development
14	10	Jorge Garciarce	14	1 LAPS		10	Active	DEForce Racing
15	95	Chase Gardner	13	Off Course		12	Off Course	Exclusive Autosport
16	14	Sam Corry	8	Contact		7	Contact	VRD Racing
17	67	Elliot Cox	7	Contact		9	Contact	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development
18	93	Avery Towns	4	Contact		17	Contact	Exclusive Autosport
19	12	Maxwell Jamieson	4	Contact		20	Contact	DEForce Racing
20	90	Jacob Douglas	—	Contact		8	Contact	Exclusive Autosport

By Patrick Stephan

Welcome to the first race of a busy day the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. USF2000 presented by Cooper Tires took the green flag bright and early at 8:00am Eastern Time with the Air and Track Temp about 68F, and 92% humidity making it quite muggy here.

The start was as chaotic as you’d expect with Sikes taking the lead from Johnson at Turn 2. Further back the field stacked up at the exit of Turn 1 and Gordon Scully and Max Taylor wound up losing their front wings in Turn 2.

That brings out the yellow flag.

Simon Sikes brings them back to green after 2 laps, and again keeps the lead, but he has a trio of BRD cars in Dyszelski, Johnson, and Corry behind him as they settle nose to tail through Turn 2.

Further back, Elliot Cox is making moves in several turns, including 12 to get up to 13th from his 18th starting position.

Lap 3 also shows Mac Clark and Lochie Hughes getting back to 5th and 6th respectively.

Nikita Johnson moves to second on Lap 4 as Sikes gets out to a 1.8 second lead.

Lap 5 we get a couple incidents as Zack Ping is off at Turn 7. Al Morey and Maxwell Jameison get together when Jameison gets a run on the inside but doesn’t have the angle and can’t get the car turned so they make left front to right rear contact, taking them both to the outside and off the track.

Order with 6 laps completed is Sikes, Johnson, Dyszelski, Hughes, Clark, Douglas, Ho, Gardner, Cox (P10), Papasavvas, Garciarce, Garcia, Towns, Taylor, Morey, Jameison, Ping, Scully.

Back to green and Sikes is able to get a clean jump and lead through Turn 1. Note they had put the lapped car of Max Taylor up behind Taylor helping the leader a bit on that start.

Chase Gardner is now getting a drive through for his incident at Tun 7 earlier and Jameison will also get a penalty should he return – both are for avoidable contact. Watching now, quite a few people are trying the same move as Jameison, he just couldn’t get his car to rotate and Turn for that 90 degree right hander.

Fight up front has Sikes leading Hughes, Johnson, Clark and Corry in the Top 5. Douglas is 6th and Cox is up to 7th as they both came through in a scramble that pushed Dyszelski wide in Turn 2.

Papasavvas also gets Dyszelscki on Lap 11 as he moves to the 9th spot. Race Control comes back and corrects that saying there was a shortcut, and they’ll have to swap those spots back.

Gardner missed the penalty the first opportunity but does come down pit lane before the black flag is shown a second time.

Sikes lead as the white flag is shown is 1.2 seconds over Hughes is trying to hold off Johnson in what would be a better battle if we could see it (camera was following a car all by itself for a bit 😉 ).

Sikes takes the win by 1.6738 over Hughes with Johnson joining him on the podium. Mac Clark, Sam Corr and Jacob Douglas follow. The timing sheet say Papasavvas is 7th, but race control announced that car would get a post race penalty for a short-cut. Cox listed 8th for now, then Dyszelski and Garciarce round out the Top 10.

Note on the short cut. Race control had announced before the race they would monitor shortcuts electronically with timing and scoring loops in that area and penalties could be enforced during or after the event -including post race time penalties.

Sikes, a 22-year old from Atlanta, picks up his second win of the year. This was his 32nd USF2000 start after doing partial seasons with smaller teams from 2020 through 2022. Now with Pabst Racing, he’s got a win at Sebring, Indy and is currently 2nd in points.

Sikes came in to the weekend leading the points, but his 13th place finish yesterday allowed Lochie Hughes to resume the top spot in the season long battle. Sikes win today closes that gap to 7, with another race to run today at noon.

But, like previous seasons, and similar to others on the ladder, he still needs funding to finish this season. Ideally, performances like today will help attract the sponsorship necessary to keep him in the seat for race weekends to come.

Big movers of the race are Papasavvas from 19th to 7th (subject to penalty enforcement) and Elliot Cox from 18th to 8th.

USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires Discount Tire GP of Indianapolis Race #2 UNOFFICIAL Results

Pos	Car #	Driver	Laps	LapTime	Led	ST	Team
1	22	Simon Sikes	15	1:26.6615	15	2	Pabst Racing
2	8	Lochie Hughes	15	1:27.1049		3	Jay Howard Driver Development
3	17	Nikita Johnson	15	1:27.3245		1	VRD Racing
4	1	Mac Clark	15	1:26.6515		5	DEForce Racing
5	14	Sam Corry	15	1:26.9883		4	VRD Racing
6	90	Jacob Douglas	15	1:26.9972		10	Exclusive Autosport
7	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	15	1:26.8493		19	Jay Howard Driver Development
8	67	Elliot Cox	15	1:26.8913		18	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development
9	18	Danny Dyszelski	15	1:27.6423		6	VRD Racong
10	10	Jorge Garciarce	15	1:27.6200		12	DEForce Racing
11	68	Ethan Ho	15	1:28.4472		9	DC Autosport
12	24	Max Garcia	15	1:27.0685		17	Pabst Racing
13	93	Avery Towns	15	1:27.7725		15	Exclusive Autosport
14	92	Lucas Mann	15	1:28.1663		20	Exclusive Autosport
15	95	Chase Gardner	15	1:27.0816		7	Exclusive Autosport
16	33	Max Taylor	14	1:28.5274		16	VRD Racing
17	7	Al Morey	13	1:27.3683		11	Jay Howard Driver Development
18	19	Gordon Scully	13	1:27.6715		14	VRD Racing
19	12	Maxwell Jamieson	7	2:09.7712		8	DEForce Racing
20	97	Zack Ping	4	1:27.8623		13	VRD Racing

By Patrick Stephan

On the start we have three or four cars involved with three winding up backwards or sideways, including Jacob Douglas who had started on the outside of the front row. Looked like Douglas in the 90 had wound up about four back as they entered the braking zone. He then tried to dive inside of cars that had gone a little wide but probably got clipped and turned in to the curbing which he ramped over.

That send him into another car, who lost their front wing. Lucas Mann would come to a stop over at Turn 6 and need to be retrieved, bringing out the yellow flag.

The order under yellow is Johnson, Sikes, Cox, Hughes, Garcia, Clark, Taylor, Towns, Morey, Ho, Ping, Corry, Dyszelski, Jameison, Scully, Douglas, Garciarce, Papasavas, Mann.

Big movers on that start include Sikes from 4th to 2nd, Hughes from 11th to 4th, Taylor from 16th to 7th.

Back to green on Lap 4 and they come down single file and Johnson hugs the inside of the front straight, then pops out with Sikes alongside.

Lochie Hughes goes around Cox and picks up 3rd over in Turn 7. Lap 5 and the order is now Johnson, Sikes, Hughes, Clark, Cox and Garcia.

Battle for the lead at Turn 1 and several cars lock tires, and get through…but over at Turn 7 bigger issues.

Max Garcia jumped Max Taylor on the inside line under braking, going over the top of Taylor and then Garcia landed on the rear of Eliott Cox car. Cox was on the more traditional line when Garcia came down on his car. Another big save for the halo’s on these open wheel cars.

Garcia wound up hard in to the tire barrier at the end of the back straight.

Lap 8 order under yellow is officially Johnson, Sikes, Hughes, Clark, Corry, Dyszelski, Morey, Douglas, Gardner, Towns, Scully, Ping, Garciarce, Jameison, Ho, Cox, Taylor, Garcia, Papasavvas, Mann.

Race control is correcting the order as the tire barrier is being reset at the end of Turn 7. They moved Towns up to 6th as he had been passed under the yellow.

Green will come out again on Lap 10 and Johnson again protects the inside, but locks up under braking and with a bad angle, allowing Hughes to take the lead. Johnson had to bail and take the run-off (oval Turn 4 apron) and go around to rejoin at Turn 3. That will drop Johnson to 7th.

Next time by and Mac Clark takes the lead, with Hughes dropping to 4th.

Lap 12 order is Clark, Sikes, Corry, Hughes, Dyszelski, Johnson (6th), Towns, Morey, Douglas. Gardner is 10th.

Lead for Clark is 0.5017 on lap 13.

Lap 14 and again at Turn 1 we have tires locking at several spots in the field. The draft down the main straight is significant, but then some clearly don’t have enough grip to make the pass.

Johnson moves to 5th as the field takes the white flag.

At Turn 1, Sikes to the outside and Clark to the inside. They go side by side, and run wide and in to the grass…that makes Sam Corry the leader. He is able keep the lead with Hughes and Johnson getting side by side off Turn 14 as they raced for the finish line.

That gets us a podium of Corry, Hughes, and Johnson was 0.0336 out of 2nd.

This is Sam Corry’s first USF2000 win. He graduated from the inaugural season of USF Juniors. He finished second in that championship with three victories.

Corry started this race in 12th. Hughes in 2nd started 11th and Danny Dyszelski 4th started 14th. Johnson started on the pole, but got dropped to 7th with his own Turn 1 issues, and was able to get back on the podium.

Unofficial Results USF2000 Presented by Cooper Tires Discount Tires Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race #1

Pos	Car #	Driver	Laps	Diff	Gap	Led	ST	Team
1	14	Sam Corry	15	LAP 15		1	12	VRD Racing
2	8	Lochie Hughes	15	1.1502	1.1502	1	11	Jay Howard Driver Development
3	17	Nikita Johnson	15	1.1838	0.0336	10	1	VRD Racing
4	18	Danny Dyszelski	15	1.9367	0.7529		14	VRD Racong
5	1	Mac Clark	15	2.5984	0.6617	3	6	DEForce Racing
6	95	Chase Gardner	15	4.3955	1.7971		19	Exclusive Autosport
7	10	Jorge Garciarce	15	6.9211	2.5256		7	DEForce Racing
8	7	Al Morey	15	7.3635	0.4424		18	Jay Howard Driver Development
9	90	Jacob Douglas	15	7.5353	0.1718		2	Exclusive Autosport
10	68	Ethan Ho	15	7.7561	0.2208		9	DC Autosport
11	97	Zack Ping	15	8.7025	0.9464		15	VRD Racing
12	12	Maxwell Jamieson	15	9.2395	0.537		20	DEForce Racing
13	19	Gordon Scully	15	9.5998	0.3603		17	VRD Racing
14	93	Avery Towns	15	14.1735	4.5737		10	Exclusive Autosport
15	22	Simon Sikes	15	31.9552	17.7817		4	Pabst Racing
16	67	Elliot Cox	6	Contact	10.9397		3	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development
17	33	Max Taylor	6	Contact	4.7025		16	VRD Racing
18	24	Max Garcia	5	Contact	0.3899		5	Pabst Racing
19	6	Evagoras Papasavvas	1	Contact	0.8895		8	Jay Howard Driver Development
20	92	Lucas Mann	—	Contact	0.6133		13	Exclusive Autosport