Photo: Gavin Baker Photography/Road to Indy
Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark took the top spot in the final USF2000 practice of the season, held at Mid-Ohio.
The 30-minute session featured laptimes improving consistently throughout. It was the first piece of track action of a busy day in which Kiko Porto could be crowned champion.
It took a few minutes before each driver set a laptime, and not until halfway before Turn 3 Motorsport’s Josh Green got down into the representative 1m21s bracket.
From there, Denmark, Green and Cape Motorsports’ Michael d’Orlando – who has a narrow title chance – were trading the top spot.
But it was Denmark’s 15th lap of 21 set which ended up as the best, just ahead of Green’s effort not long after. Neither driver has won a race yet this season, with both taking one podium finish.
Pabst Racing’s Yuven Sundaramoorthy was one of a handful of drivers to improve with his final effort, going third quickest ahead of d’Orlando, who was less than a tenth off the top spot.
Pabst’s Josh Pierson was fifth, ahead of DEForce Racing’s Porto and Nolan Siegel. Cape with Ignite Autosport’s Spike Kohlbecker, Force Indy’s Miles Rowe and DEForce’s Prescott Campbell rounded out the top 10.
While the session largely went without incident, there was a spin late in the session for Exclusive Autosport’s Billy Frazer, who ended up 18th fastest.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jace Denmark | Pabst Racing | 1m21.1154s | 21 | |
| 2 | Josh Green | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m21.1486s | +0.0332s | 18 |
| 3 | Yuven Sundaramoorthy | Pabst Racing | 1m21.1777s | +0.0623s | 21 |
| 4 | Michael d’Orlando | Cape Motorsports | 1m21.2097s | +0.0943s | 20 |
| 5 | Josh Pierson | Pabst Racing | 1m21.2774s | +0.1620s | 21 |
| 6 | Kiko Porto | DEForce Racing | 1m21.2882s | +0.1728s | 19 |
| 7 | Nolan Siegel | DEForce Racing | 1m21.3020s | +0.1866s | 20 |
| 8 | Spike Kohlbecker | Cape w/ Ignite Autosports | 1m21.3827s | +0.2673s | 20 |
| 9 | Myles Rowe | Force Indy | 1m21.4919s | +0.3765s | 18 |
| 10 | Prescott Campbell | DEForce Racing | 1m21.7491s | +0.6337s | 18 |
| 11 | Christian Weir | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m21.7759s | +0.6605s | 19 |
| 12 | Thomas Nepveu | Cape Motorsports | 1m21.8257s | +0.7103s | 20 |
| 13 | Bijoy Garg | JHDD | 1m21.8754s | +0.7600s | 21 |
| 14 | Ely Navarro | DEForce Racing | 1m21.9336s | +0.8182s | 20 |
| 15 | Evan Stamer | Cape w/ Ignite Autosports | 1m21.9444s | +0.8290s | 20 |
| 16 | Dylan Christie | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m22.0824s | +0.9670s | 18 |
| 17 | Jackson Lee | JHDD | 1m22.2404s | +1.1250s | 20 |
| 18 | Billy Frazer | Exclusive Autosport | 1m22.4032s | +1.2878s | 14 |
| 19 | Trey Burke | Joe Dooling Autosports | 1m22.6353s | +1.5199s | 18 |
| 20 | Andre Castro | Legacy Autosport | 1m22.6463s | +1.5309s | 18 |
| 21 | Michael Myers | Michael Myers Racing | 1m23.2987s | +2.1833s | 17 |
| 22 | Kent Vaccaro | Miller Vinatieri Motorsports | 1m23.6572s | +2.5418s | 17 |