Ayrton Houk lands Freedom 75 pole in tense USF2000 qualifying

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Benchmark Autosport’s Ayrton Houk stormed to pole for the Freedom 75 in USF2000 qualifying at Lucas Oil Raceway.

The 25-year-old track record could not be beaten, but there was still a very high level pace set in the sole oval qualifying session of the season.

Series returnee Elliot Cox laid down the first two-lap benchmark, a 42.3029s which could not be beaten by the next group of drivers who headed out one-by-one for their qualifying efforts.

Eventually Anthony Martella beat him, and was absolutely rapid on both laps. He set a 21.0449s on his first tour, then improved to 20.9338s on his second. Somehow, that superb pace did not earn him pole.

There were some changed to fourth and fifth place as the next drivers came out, then Houk was unable to match Martella yet won in the consistency stakes.

A 21.0051s opening lap looked encouraging, then lap two was a 20.9423s. Combined, that made him 0.0313s faster than Martella overall and with an average speed of 117.747mph.

Despite a big snap of oversteer and not lapping sub-21s, Caleb Gafrarar was able to go third fastest and then G3 Argyros held the position. His two laps were very similar to each other, but then he did a third and it has not been communicated if he will be punished for not returning to the pits when he was required to.

Teddy Musella was unable to challenge the top two, but fellow title contender Thomas Schrage was and he set a 21.1306s then a 21.0217s to qualify third.

The final driver was Jack Jeffers, and he struggled for pace down in ninth place.

Absent from the action was former points leader Liam McNeilly, who is still unable to return to the USA from the UK due to visa issues.

Earlier in the day before qualifying were two tsest sessions. Houk topped the first, setting a 21.0762s to narrowly beat Gafrarar and Brad Majman by less than 0.09 seconds, then Wian Boshoff was 0.1108s back in fourth as little over 0.4s split first and 16th place.

Martella, Majman, Garzon and Gafrarar lowered the pace in session two and were close at the top. A 20.8637s lap set mid-session earned Martella top spot by a tiny 0.0039s over Majman and 0.0843s over Garzon.

Qualifying results