Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Exclusive Autosport’s Jack Jeffers closed in on the USF2000 title last weekend by winning both races on the streets of Toronto.
He was narrowly beaten in practice, with Pabst Racing’s Caleb Gafrarar setting a 1m13.1502s to deny him top spot by 0.0094 seconds. DEForce Racing’s Sebastian Garzon was 0.2284s behind in third, and Jeffers’ main title rival Thomas Schrage was 0.8713s back in 10th.
The Velocity Racing Development driver came to the fore in qualifying for race one, posting an unbeatable 1m12.083s mid-session. Exclusive’s Evan Cooley got within 0.2085s of him on his final lap, with VRD’s Teddy Musella trailing by 0.2986s and Gafrarar by 0.3816s. They also improved on their last laps.
Jeffers reached his peak pace halfway through his run plan, and was 0.4233s off pole in fifth.
In Q2, Jeffers posted a 1m12.4218s to claim race two pole by 0.1047s over Jay Howard Driver Development’s Brad Majman, while Schrage was 1.0206s off pole in 10th place.
Cooley stopped exiting turn three on race one’s opening lap behind the pace car, with Schrage leading Musella once the field were set free.
There were two spinners on lap three which led to a caution period, with Jeffers in third ahead of G3 Argyros and Gafrarar.
Racing resumed on lap five and Jeffers attacked Musella immediately but made no progress. Gafrarar cleared Argyros on lap six, and on lap 10 the top four were bunched together. Jeffers went around the outside of Musella at turn two following an instruction from race control, and Gafrarar scraped the wall at turn seven then headed to the pits.
Schrage was pounced on by Jeffers late in lap 11, and the erstwhile leader then made his own wall contact and was gapped by his rival.
As Musella and Argyros came up behind Schrage, Majman and team-mate Anthony Martella put on a show sliding past each other as they disputed sixth.
They were ahead of Schrage by lap 19, after he lost out in a four-wide move the previous lap which resulted in Synergy Motorsport’s Eddie Beswick grabbing a maiden podium in second ahead of Musella.
Majman and Martella kept on squabbling and were right on Argyros’s tail at the finish, and Schrage was classified 13th after pitting.
The track was damp for race two, which also began under yellow flag conditions.
Beswick, Cooley and Schrage were among a group of drivers who brushed the turn seven wall on lap two and then aimed for the pits, and Gafrarar charged up the order to pressure Jeffers but then was back in fourth behind Argyros and Majman before a caution period was called.
Argyros dropped two spots on the restart lap, then another caution period was required due to debris on the pit straight. Gafrarar took second from Majman at turn one on the next restart, but Majman dived back past at turn five.
That allowed Jeffers to build a 1.8s lead, and on the next lap Majman and Argros almost clashed at turn three. Majman dropped to fifth, and team-mate Timothy Carel behind slipped from sixth to 10th.
Gafrarar pulled away from Argyros to secure second, and in the race’s second half Lucas Fecury fought past DEForce Racing team-mate Jeshua Alianell for sixth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Jack Jeffers Exclusive Autosport 25m51.2007s
2 Eddie Beswick Synergy Motorsport +8.4924s
3 Teddy Musella Velocity Racing Development +8.6835s
4 G3 Argyros Pabst Racing +17.0814s
5 Brad Majman JHDD +17.5752s
6 Anthony Martella JHDD +17.8993s
7 Lucas Fecury Exclusive Autosport +21.2946s
8 Timothy Carel JHDD +24.8062s
9 Rodrigo Gonzalez DEForce Racing +25.3105s
10 Wian Boshoff SFHRD +26.0766s
Pole: Thomas Schrage, 1m12.0830s
Fastest lap: Jeffers, 1m11.7356s
Race 2 (20 laps)
1 Jeffers 27m13.1453s
2 Caleb Gafrarar Pabst Racing +3.6798s
3 Argyros +7.2675s
4 Musella +8.4932s
5 Majman +10.5699s
6 Fecury +14.8780s
7 Jeshua Alianell DEForce Racing +16.1713s
8 R Gonzalez +24.8419s
9 Carel +20.5632s
10 Patricio Gonzalez DEForce Racing +24.8419s
P: Jeffers, 1m12.4218s
FL: Jeffers, 1m12.1296s
Championship standings
1 Jeffers 353 2 Schrage 302 3 Musella 297 4 Argyros 260 5 Gafrarar 243 6 Evan Cooley 199 7 Fecury 177 8 Martella 176 9 Liam McNeilly 163 10 Sebastian Garzon 159