Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Max Garcia picked up his sixth pole of the season as he led a Pabst Racing one-two in qualifying for USF2000’s first race of the weekend on the streets of Toronto.
The championship leader was the driver to beat throughout Friday’s track action, starting in practice where he set a 1m14.0309s to pip Jay Howard Driver Development’s Evagoras Papasavvas to top spot by 0.096 seconds.
There were gaps of 0.5374s and 0.7733s to Pabst duo Sam Corry and Hudson Schwartz in third and fourth, with only eight drivers within a second of Garcia. Most drivers also set their personal best times towards the end of their time on track, while Garcia did four more laps after posting the benchmark laptime.
Ninth fastest was Exclusive Autosport’s debutant Eddie Beswick, who is graduating to slicks-and-wings racing this weekend from Australia’s Formula Ford scene where he races in multiple series. He has replaced Giovanni Cabrera.
Garcia improved to 1m13.2411s in qualifying to secure race one pole by 0.1459s over Corry, with Papasavvas 0.1932s off pole in third. Velocity Racing Development’s Max Taylor was 0.2109s behind in fourth, and GB4 star Liam McNeilly qualified fifth for his debut with JHDD.
Beswick ended up in 10th place, only 0.888s off the pole time and behind team-mates Evan Cooley and Joey Brienza, VRD’s Thomas Schrage and Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development’s Elliot Cox. The top 12 were covered by 0.9346s, with Schwartz and DEForce Racing’s Nicolas Giaffone in 13th and 14th. VRD was without Xavier Kokai.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Garcia | Pabst Racing | 1m13.2411s | 14 | |
| 2 | Sam Corry | Pabst Racing | 1m13.3870s | +0.1459s | 13 |
| 3 | Evagoras Papasavvas | JHDD | 1m13.4343s | +0.1932s | 14 |
| 4 | Max Taylor | VRD | 1m13.4520s | +0.2109s | 14 |
| 5 | Liam McNeilly | JHDD | 1m13.5532s | +0.3121s | 14 |
| 6 | Evan Cooley | Exclusive Autosport | 1m13.7278s | +0.4867s | 14 |
| 7 | Joey Brienza | Exclusive Autosport | 1m13.8604s | +0.6193s | 13 |
| 8 | Thomas Schrage | VRD | 1m13.8780s | +0.6369s | 13 |
| 9 | Elliot Cox | SFHRD | 1m13.8986s | +0.6575s | 13 |
| 10 | Eddie Beswick | Exclusive Autosport | 1m14.1291s | +0.8880s | 14 |
| 11 | Michael Costello | JHDD | 1m14.1328s | +0.8917s | 14 |
| 12 | Quinn Armstrong | DEForce Racing | 1m14.1757s | +0.9346s | 14 |
| 13 | Hudson Schwartz | Pabst Racing | 1m14.3320s | +1.0909s | 10 |
| 14 | Nicolas Giaffone | DEForce Racing | 1m14.4872s | +1.2461s | 12 |
| 15 | G3 Argyros | JHDD | 1m14.5207s | +1.2796s | 7 |
| 16 | Lucas Fecury | DEForce Racing | 1m14.8534s | +1.6123s | 13 |
| 17 | Brady Golan | DEForce Racing | 1m15.0444s | +1.8033s | 13 |
| 18 | Jace Bacon | JHDD | 1m15.0651s | +1.8240s | 14 |
| 19 | Maxwell Jamieson | DEForce Racing | 1m15.2621s | +2.0210s | 13 |
| 18 | Carson Etter | DC Autosport | 1m15.4351s | +2.1940s | 14 |