Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
USF Pro 2000 title rivals Lochie Hughes and Nikita Johnson were split by just 0.1114 seconds in the fight for race two pole in Toronto.
The second qualifying session of the weekend went the way of Hughes late on, setting his best time on his penultimate lap for his fourth pole of 2024.
Johnson was already in the pits at the end of the session, and he will likely need to win and have Hughes finish lower than 17th to reclaim the points lead in race one.
Pabst Racing’s Jace Denmark was third fastest in Q2, 0.1881s off pole, and TJ Speed’s Cooper Becklin impressed to qualify fourth.
BN Racing’s Alessandro de Tullio was fifth after improving on his last lap, with Becklin’s team-mate Liam Sceats in sixth and Pabst’s Simon Sikes in seventh.
Turn 3’s race one poleman Danny Dyszelski was only eighth fastest, 0.6129s off pole, and Ricardo Escotto (BN Racing) and Mac Clark (DEForce Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Pabst’s debuting driver Glenn van Berlo – who is returning to single-seaters this weekend after several years racing GT sportscars – was unable to follow up his impressive fifth place from Q1 as he propped up the timesheet with a personal best laptime that was 2.2474s off the pace.
Race one takes place later today, while race two is on Sunday.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lochie Hughes | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m09.1337s | 15 | |
| 2 | Nikita Johnson | Velocity Racing Development | 1m09.2451s | +0.1114s | 13 |
| 3 | Jace Denmark | Pabst Racing | 1m09.3218s | +0.1881s | 15 |
| 4 | Cooper Becklin | TJ Speed | 1m09.4919s | +0.3582s | 14 |
| 5 | Alessandro de Tullio | BN Racing | 1m09.5345s | +0.4008s | 16 |
| 6 | Liam Sceats | TJ Speed | 1m09.6834s | +0.5497s | 14 |
| 7 | Simon Sikes | Pabst Racing | 1m09.6904s | +0.5567s | 15 |
| 8 | Danny Dyszelski | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m09.7466s | +0.6129s | 14 |
| 9 | Ricardo Escotto | BN Racing | 1m09.8347s | +0.7010s | 16 |
| 10 | Mac Clark | DEForce Racing | 1m09.9363s | +0.8026s | 13 |
| 11 | Frankie Mossman | JHDD | 1m10.0229s | +0.8892s | 13 |
| 12 | Nicholas Monteiro | DEForce Racing | 1m10.0850s | +0.9513s | 13 |
| 13 | Jorge Garciarce | DEForce Racing | 1m10.0863s | +0.9526s | 14 |
| 14 | Tyke Durst | Turn 3 Motorsport | 1m10.1437s | +1.0100s | 15 |
| 15 | Logan Adams | Comet/NCMP Racing | 1m10.4514s | +1.3177s | 14 |
| 16 | Shawn Rashid | Velocity Racing Development | 1m11.0911s | +1.9574s | 14 |
| 17 | Glenn van Berlo | Pabst Racing | 1m11.3811s | +2.2474s | 11 |