Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Pabst Racing’s Jacob Douglas topped qualifying for the final round of the USF2000 season at Portland.
Douglas was fastest on the first laps with a 1m15.1213s, and Max Garcia kept the team on top on the second pass with a 1m13.4719s.
Douglas returned to the front when the third laps were set, as he became the first driver into the 1m12s. DEForce Racing’s Mac Clark shuffled Garcia down to third, and Velocity Racing Development’s Nikita Johnson went fourth fastest. Johnson is doubling up in USF Pro 2000 this weekend, so came into the session after doing USFP2000 practice and then had qualifying in the higher series to do after USF2000 qualifying finished.
Points leader Simon Sikes became the third Pabst driver to hit the front when he set a 1m12.9038s on his fifth lap, putting him just 0.0221s ahead of Douglas and 0.0486s clear of Clark.
Next time by he improved to 1m12.7229s, and Garcia went second fastest with a 1m12.8250s, then there was a period of quiet as drivers changed tyres but also failed to improve on their best efforts.
In the final six minutes there were improvements from each of the top three, with Sikes lowering the pace to 1m12.5800s as USF2000 returnee Thomas Schrage went sixth fastest for Exclusive Autosport.
Douglas moved into provisional pole position with a 1m12.2536s on his next lap, as Jay Howard Driver Development’s Evagoras Papasavvas improved in fourth and Schrage climbed another spot, then the lap after Schrage improved again to move into fourth place.
Garcia set personal bests two times in a row and edged ahead of team-mate Sikes, who also improved but was 0.0182s off reclaiming second place.
Douglas meanwhile was untroubled at the top, failing to improve on any of his last four laps but still taking pole by 0.2891s.
Clark ended up qualifying sixth, just ahead of Johnson and his team-mate Sam Corry.
As the chequered flag waved, there was an off for DEForce’s Maxwell Jamieson at turn 12 but he still set his personal best on his last timed lap. Albeit that was only good enough for 14th.
Lucas Fecury qualified one place ahead, for what will be his series debut, and JHDD’s USF2000 newcomer Ava Dobson was 4.134s off the pace in 18th.
Having missed pre-event testing and practice, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing’s Elliot Cox also was absent from qualifying.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob Douglas | Pabst Racing | 1m12.2536s | 15 | |
| 2 | Max Garcia | Pabst Racing | 1m12.5427s | +0.2891s | 15 |
| 3 | Simon Sikes | Pabst Racing | 1m12.5609s | +0.3073s | 15 |
| 4 | Thomas Schrage | Exclusive Autosport | 1m12.8502s | +0.5966s | 14 |
| 5 | Evagoras Papasavvas | JHDD | 1m12.8796s | +0.6260s | 13 |
| 6 | Mac Clark | DEForce Racing | 1m12.9524s | +0.6988s | 14 |
| 7 | Nikita Johnson | Velocity Racing Development | 1m12.9989s | +0.7453s | 13 |
| 8 | Sam Corry | Velocity Racing Development | 1m13.0080s | +0.7544s | 13 |
| 9 | Lochie Hughes | JHDD | 1m13.0634s | +0.8098s | 13 |
| 10 | Ethan Ho | DC Autosport | 1m13.0662s | +0.8126s | 13 |
| 11 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | 1m13.0914s | +0.8378s | 14 |
| 12 | Max Taylor | Velocity Racing Development | 1m13.2816s | +1.0280s | 13 |
| 13 | Lucas Fecury | DEForce Racing | 1m13.6091s | +1.3555s | 13 |
| 14 | Maxwell Jamieson | DEForce Racing | 1m13.7276s | +1.4740s | 12 |
| 15 | Al Morey | JHDD | 1m14.0410s | +1.7874s | 12 |
| 16 | Gordon Scully | Velocity Racing Development | 1m14.2414s | +1.9878s | 12 |
| 17 | Carson Etter | DC Autosport | 1m14.2889s | +2.0353s | 15 |
| 18 | Ava Dobson | JHDD | 1m16.3970s | +4.1434s | 15 |