Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
USF2000 points leader Max Garcia just denied Michael Costello as he topped qualifying at Road America.
Track action began with two test sessions on Thursday, with Exclusive Autosport’s Joey Brienza edging VRD’s Max Taylor top spot in the first by 0.0855s after setting a 2m10.5442s. JHDD’s Costello was third fastest, 0.2285s behind, Pabst duo Garcia and Sam Corry were within 0.4s of Brienza and JHDD’s Evagoras Papasavvas was 0.4312s back in sixth.
Taylor topped session two with a 2m10.3434s, putting him 0.232s ahead of Costello. Garcia was 0.3099s behind in third, and Brienza was slower than before in fourth. Papasavvas, Corry and JHDD’s G3 Argyros were also within a second of the pace.
Costello went fastest in Friday morning’s practice with a 2m09.7160s, putting him 0.4021s ahead of Garcia, who was followed closely by Corry, Taylor and Brienza.
That practice pace from Costello could not be matched by anyone, although he got close himself when he put in a 2m09.8326s to go fastest on his last lap. Garcia, however, would get even closer when he set a 2m09.7262s to take pole.
Taylor had been quickest leading up to the chequered flag and ended up third, but had the best second-quickest time to still secure one pole position for race two, just in front of Garcia.
For just his fourth start in USF2000, Argyros will line up fourth for race one, ahead of Brienza and Corry. Papasavvas, second to Garcia in the standings, was ninth fastest behind Elliot Cox and Nicolas Giaffone.
Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Max Garcia Pabst Racing 2m09.7262s
2 Michael Costello JHDD +0.1064s
3 Max Taylor Velocity Racing Development +0.3144s
4 G3 Argyros JHDD +0.4064s
5 Joey Brienza Exclusive Autosport +0.4341s
6 Sam Corry Pabst Racing +0.6203s
7 Elliot Cox Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development +0.6906s
8 Nicolas Giaffone DEForce Racing +0.8596s
9 Evagoras Papasavvas JHDD +0.8776s
10 Hudson Schwatz Pabst Racing +1.0821s
Race 2 grid
1 Taylor 2m10.0591s
2 Garcia +0.079s
3 Brienza +0.238s
4 Costello +0.341s
5 Corry +0.342s
6 Giaffone +0.529s
7 Papasavvas +0.554s
8 Argyros +0.698s
9 Schwartz +0.835s
10 Cox +0.844s