Dyszelski on pole as van Berlo joins USF Pro 2000 grid in Toronto

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Danny Dyszelski claimed pole for USF Pro 2000 race one in Toronto, which will mark the series debut of Glenn van Berlo.

Friday’s track action started with a half-hour practice session, and Turn 3 Motorsport’s points leader Lochie Hughes set a 1m11.3465s to lead Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Johnson by just 0.0905 seconds.

There was an even smaller 0.0321s gap between third and sixth place, but Jay Howard Driver Development’s Frankie Mossman and the Pabst Racing trio of Simon Sikes, Jace Denmark and van Berlo were all more than 0.4s off the pace.

Turn 3’s Dyszelski was down in 13th place, 0.9453s slower than his team-mate Hughes.

Van Berlo was replacing Christian Brooks, who recently stepped up to Indy Nxt, and it marked the 22-year-old Dutchman’s first single-seater outing since 2020. That year he came ninth in Euroformula, and since then has been racing in sportscars. He was third in the 2022 International GT Open standings, and won the Silver Cup title in last year’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.

“My last formula racing season was in 2020 before I transitioned to sports car racing,” said van Berlo. “However, my passion for single-seater racing has always remained strong, and I am eagerly looking forward to the weekend and collaborating with Pabst. This will be my first experience racing in Toronto and on a street course, making it an exciting challenge that will require quick adaptation.”

The pace was lowered in qualifying, with Dyszelski setting a 1m10.6353s to clinch pole by a tiny 0.0452s over Hughes. Sikes and Denmark were 0.2s behind in third and fourth, and van Berlo qualified fifth for his USFP2000 debut.

The title-contending Johnson was down in eighth, 0.5042s off the pace, and for the third time this season his team-mate was Shawn Rashid. The GB3 regular was slowest in the 17-car field as he took over the car normally raced by Nico Christodoulou.

Qualifying results