Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Max Garcia put himself in a strong position to claim the USF Pro 2000 title in Toronto by taking pole for both races.
Garcia set the pace in free practice, running at the top throughout and gradually lowering the benchmark to 1m09.6906s. It did not long before he matched that laptime in qualifying for race one, and he was lowering his pace when red flag waved midway through the session.
Turn 3 Motorsport’s Tyke Durst had run wide exiting turn 11 and hit the wall, but the incident was quickly cleared.
After the restart, the whole field improved. Turn 3 ‘s Alessandro de Tullio and Velocity Racing Development’s Max Taylor went second and third fastest, beating Garcia’s practice pace while he secured his eighth pole of 2025.
Championship debutant Liam McNeilly had been third quickest in practice for Jay Howard Driver Development, 0.2914 seconds off Garcia. He improved in qualifying but it was only good enough for fifth place and he was almost 0.8s off pole.
Q1 was ended four minutes early due to further red flags after TJ Speed’s Sebastian Manson ran slightly wide and hit the wall coming out of the final corner.
That left Exclusive Autosport’s Mac Clark only eighth fastest, having completed one less lap than most of the field. He ended qualifying 0.051s behind VRD’s Frankie Mossman.
In Q2 the next day, de Tullio earned race two pole by outpacing Garcia by 0.1169s. It was another disrupted second session, and de Tullio has posted a 1m08.4676s benchmark prior to a mid-session stoppage. After the restart, he improved to 1m08.4676s.
There had been a red flag break moments into the session when JHDD’s Nick Gilkes, competing on home soil, hit the wall at turn two.
Exclusive’s Carson Etter was on his fourth lap when he had an accident before turn 17 and caused the next stoppage. He entered the corner with damage to the left side of his car and came to a halt.
By the time the incident was cleared, just four minutes remained of Q2. Garcia briefly took provisional pole, improving on de Tullio’s earlier time to go sub-1m09s. However, he only stayed top of the order until de Tullio completed his next lap.
Garcia would have to settle for second, ahead of Taylor and McNeilly, Mossman took fifth, Jacob Douglas and Nicholas Monteiro.
TJ Speed’s title contender Ariel Elkin was only eighth, leaving Garcia very well placed to become champion in race two should he not seal the title in race one. Clark qualified 11th, behind Cooper Becklin and Michael Costello.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Max Garcia Pabst Racing 1m09.1813s
2 Alessandro de Tullio Turn 3 Motorsport +0.1721s
3 Max Taylor Velocity Racing Development +0.3431s
4 Jacob Douglas Pabst Racing +0.7036s
5 Liam McNeilly JHDD +0.7919s
6 Logan Adams Comet/NCMP Racing +0.8412s
7 Frankie Mossman Velocity Racing Development +0.8496s
8 Mac Clark Exclusive Autosport +0.9006s
9 Michael Costello Pabst Racing +0.9172s
10 Ariel Elkin TJ Speed +1.0443s
Race 2 grid
1 de Tullio 1m08.4676s
2 Garcia +0.1169s
3 Taylor +0.4733s
4 McNeilly +0.4960s
5 Momssman +0.5110s
6 Douglas +0.5558s
7 Nicholas Monteiro Turn 3 Motorsport +0.6224s
8 Elkin +0.7003s
9 Cooper Becklin Turn 3 Motorsport +0.7056s
10 Costello +0.7714s