Sikes earns his second USF Pro 2000 win on streets of Toronto

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Simon Sikes earned his second USF Pro 2000 victory on the streets of Toronto in a race that did not go to plan for the top two in the championship.

Turn 3 Motorsport duo Danny Dyszelski and Lochie Hughes started at the front, with Pabst Racing’s Simon Sikes and Jace Denmark behind. The field was massively spread out for the rolling start, and Velocity Racing Development’s title contender Nikita Johnson drove into the back of TJ Speed’s Liam Sceats at turn one.

It pitched the front of Johnson’s car into the air and his front wing went flying before landing on top of the tyre barriers, which Johnson and Sceats ended up driving into the side of. Dyszelski had also almost sent Hughes into the barriers there, allowing Sikes to go inside of both and into the lead.

Denmark and his debuting team-mate Glenn van Berlo fought over second before a caution period was called, and at the end of lap one Hughes pitted. Van Berlo did the same on lap two, and for the restart on lap five Sikes had DEForce Racing’s Mac Clark and Denmark behind him.

Clark attempted a move at turn one but fell to third later in the lap, with team-mate Nicholas Monteiro holding fourth before dropping to eighth on lap seven.

Sikes had a quiet race thereon, only coming under pressure from Denmark at the very end, and BN Racing duo Ricardo Escotto and Alessandro de Tullio were third and fourth. Escotto attacked Clark on lap 13 then cleared him at turn two next time by, while de Tullio moved past on lap 18 of 25.

Clark lost fifth to Hughes on the penultimate lap, with the latter having gone on a charge from 14th place. He was eighth by lap nine, then had a harder job hunting down and passing Monteiro and Clark.

The result helped keep Hughes at the top of the championship standings, while Denmark is now his main title rival after Johnson retired on lap one.

Race results (25 laps)