Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

DEForce Racing’s Sebastian Garzon was quickest in the first practice session of the USF2000 season on the streets of St. Petersburg.

He pipped Pabst Racing’s Eddie Beswick by a tiny 0.0592 seconds, with a second covering the top 14 in the 24-car field.

Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley was 0.1349s behind in third, and there was a 0.3018s gap to Jay Howard Driver Development’s Liam Loiacono in fourth. Just 0.0447s thenh split Loiacono, Joao Vergara (Velocity Racing Development) and Anthony Martella (Exclusive).

There was a surprise addition to DEForce’s line-up, as Brady Golan was at the wheel. The 18-year-old came fifth in Formula Regional Americas last year, and was 18th in his half-season in USF2000.

He has signed with Turn 3 Motorsport to step up to USF Pro 2000 for 2026, which will rule him out of making further USF2000 appearances due to the two series racing on the same dates on IndyCar’s support bill.

JHDD which has partnered with IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing, has a four-car line-up in USF2000 and three of its drivers were announced in the last week.

Swedish racer Erik Holm starts his single-seater career with JHDD, having spent last year in shifter karting. The 20-year-old came 13th in the WSK Super Master Series’ KZ2 kart class, and was 37th in the WSK Final Cup the year before. He has also tested a FRegional-based Eurocup-3 car.

Liacono graduates to USF2000 after being USF Juniors runner-up with JHDD. He won five races and claimed two other podiums, and that followed the YACademy Winter Series where he was ninth in the standings. The 18-year-old Australian spent three years in his home country’s Formula Ford scene prior to 2025.

The team’s line-up is completed by Naim Saleh, who takes two steps up the road to Indy after coming third in the Skip Barber Formula Race Series last year. That uses Formula 4 cars, which he also got experience of on home soil in Brazilian F4’s Formula 1-supporting non-championship round at Interlagos.

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

USF Juniors has attracted a big field for this week’s opening round on the Homestead-Miami Speedway roval.

The event will be officially called the ‘USF Juniors Grand Prix of Homestead’, although it has not been stated whether that will also be the title of one of the three races taking place.

There are three teams fielding four or more cars, including the huge seven-car line-up at Zanella Racing. Their signings include Maddie Colleran, who was 20th last season, Ligier Junior Formula Championship podium-finisher Max Mokarem, Victor Couto and Leonardo Serravalle. The latter two recently came third and seventh in the YACademy Winter Series, which uses USF Juniors cars.

A notable pre-season signing is Ivan Machado Perez at the joint Velocity Racing Development and Pole Position Motorsports operation. The 2025 Skip Barber Formula Race Series champion had previously tested with Olivia Racing.

Jay Howard Driver Development, which has now partnered with IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing, has four drivers in its garage. Its international talents are Max Cuthbert, who moves into single-seaters after coming third in Britain’s entry-level sportscar series Ginetta Junior as a sophomore last year, and Nordic 4 race-winner Casper Nissen from Denmark.

Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series runner-up Bex Cranston has joined Exclusive Autosport, YACademy Winter Series runner-up Karol Pasiewisz will drive for local team Olivia Racing (previously known as International Motorsport) and NACAM Formula 4 race-winner Elias Vignola is part of DEForce Racing’s line-up.

Pre-event testing at Homestead took place on Monday. Cuthbert set the pace in session one, a 1m23.8310s putting him 0.1564s ahead of Machado Perez and 0.1877s clear of Cranston.

Machado Perez posted a 1m23.9582s to top session two, with a gap of 0.176s to Cranston in second place. Cuthbert and Exclusive’s Brenden Cooley were also within 0.3s of the pace.

In session three all but four drivers improved, one of those being the absent Alex Berg (Berg Racing). Machado Perez lowered the pace to 1m23.687s, pipping Cranston by 0.058s, Cuthbert by 0.1183s and Pasiewicz by 0.1814s.

Test results

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Turn 3 Motorsport has announced its four-driver line-up for the 2026 USF Pro 2000 season in full.

The Peter Dempsey-owned team will field Michael Costello, Tyke Durst, Brady Golan and Sebastian Manson.

Costello switches from Pabst Racing, who he came seventh in the standings with as a rookie last year. The 19-year-old made the podium twice, including on debut. Prior to that he raced for Jay Howard Driver Development, coming fifth in United States Formula 4 in 2023 then ninth in USF2000’s 2024 season, being a race-winner in both series.

Durst, 22, is embarking on a third USFP2000 campaign with Turn 3. He came 17th as a rookie then 13th last year. Two eighth places are his best results so far.

Golan is also not new to the team, having done a half-season in USFP2000 last year with them. In the Freedom 90, the sole oval race of the season, the 18-year-old started and finished fifth and he ended the year 18th in the points table. He was also a race-winning fifth in Formula Regional Americas, a USF2000 part-timer and a racer of LMP3 prototype sportscars in 2025.

Manson, who hails from New Zealand, has just finished his third season in FRegional Oceania but was a lowly 17th in the standings of his home series. In 2025 he had been sixth with two race victories.

The 17-year-old was NZ Formula FFord and FRegional Japanese Championship runner-up in 2024, and was12th in USFP2000 last year with TJ Speed.

Elsewhere in the USFP2000 paddock, Frankie Mossman has committed to a fourth year and JT Hoskins has joined the grid in a two-year deal.

The IndyCar-supporting third-tier championship has been where the 19-year-old Mossman has raced since August 2023, when he stepped up from US F4.

He did one USF2000 round in 2022, his half-season in US F4 featured two podiums and put him 11th in the standings, and he finished ninth on his USFP2000 debut.

In all three he raced for JHDD, and stayed with the team for the 2024 USFP2000 season. Mossman came eighth in the standings with two podiums, and repeated that in 2025 but after doing the first two rounds with JHDD he switched to Velocity Racing Development’s line-up. He remains with VRD for 2026 and “the mission is to fight for the title”.

Hoskins will race for JHDD by Ed Carpenter Racing, a new alliance between the junior single-seater outfit and the IndyCar team, when he makes two steps up the ladder to USFP2000 this year.

The 17-year-old joined the team for the second half of the 2024 USF Juniors season and came 26th in the standings with no top-10 finishes, then in his full 2025 campaign was 11th in the points table with a best finish of fourth place.

“After 18 months of training under Jay Howard and working with his team, being offered a two-year contract is truly the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Hoskins.

The post Turn 3 Motorsport announces four drivers for USF Pro 2000 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Series sophomore Sebastian Garzon leads the latest group of drivers who have joined the 2026 USF2000 grid.

The 16-year-old Colombian came eighth in USF2000 last year as a single-seater rookie, ending the season with his maiden podium finish. He drove for DEForce Racing, and remains with the team for his second campaign.

“2025 was the year I learned; every challenge made me stronger. Now, in 2026, I’m ready to give everything I have to fight for the championship,” he said.

Pabst Racing has signed Brad Majman and Lucas Nanji, with the former switching allegiances from Jay Howard Driver Development. After coming third in Formula 4 Western and fifth in the Ligier Junior Formula Championship, the 16-year-old Australian did just under three quarters of the 2025 USF2000 season and picked up a podium and four other top-five finishes. However due to missing rounds, he was only 12th in the standings.

“It’s a massive privilege to be able to drive for a team that’s won a championship in the last three years between USF2000 and USF Pro 2000,” Majman said of joining Pabst.

His 17-year-old team-mate hails from Canada and has previously raced for Prema in F4. He contested the 2025 E4 finale with the team, which marked his single-seater racing debut.

“Although the goal is always to win, I’m realistic about the challenge of stepping straight into USF2000 and skipping Juniors,” said Nanji.

“It’s a big jump, and I know that. Still, it’s a challenge I’m ready for. My focus is simple: work as hard as I can to deliver the best performance possible, both in and out of the car. I don’t take this opportunity lightly, and I’ll give my absolute best every single day.”

JHDD has announced karting graduate Cal Peter will be in its USF2000 line-up for 2026. He tested with the team through last year.

“I am beyond excited to compete in the 2026 USF2000 season,” the 17-year-old said. “This has been my dream and my goal for as long as I can remember. I could not be more grateful to my parents, Jay and the entire JHDD team, and Ed Carpenter Racing for believing in me.”

After debuting in the 2025 season finale, Enve Motorsports will be on the grid full-time this year. It is based at The Thermal Club circuit, and owned by the bicycle manufacturer Enve which is best known for its racing wheels.

Wesley Gundler is its first confirmed driver, after testing for the team at its home track, and the American steps up into slicks-and-wings after coming third in the 2025 F1600 Championship Series.

The team was co-founded by Matteo Nannini, who was an F4 champion and made it up to Formula 2 and Indy Nxt. His seven-race campaign in the latter three years ago marked the end of his racing career, despite taking a lights-to-flag victory on his third start. Nannini is still only 22 years old, and aims to get his team up to IndyCar.

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Photo: IndyCar / Joe Skibinski

Ed Carpenter Racing has become the latest IndyCar team to join the trend of expanding into junior single-seaters.

Andretti Global and Juncos Hollinger Racing has been long-time Indy Nxt entrants, and in 2022 Dale Coyne Racing joined the grid in association with HMD Motorsports. Chip Ganassi Racing arrived this year, and for 2026 there will be the return of AJ Foyt Racing and arrival of Cusick Morgan Motorsports with HMD’s support, and now ECR.

Its venture into Indy Nxt, which began with yesterday’s post-season test, is in partnership with Indiana-based Cape Motorsports which has already signed Nikita Johnson for 2026.

Cape first appeared in Indy Lights by managing RLR Andersen Racing, an alliance between Dan Andersen and IndyCar team Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, through 2007 and ’08. In 2010 it returned in partnership with Wayne Taylor Racing, and across those three campaigns it contributed to one win and three other podiums.

A permanent Indy Nxt return was made in 2023, which has resulted in two more collaborations with IndyCar teams. A technical partnership meant Cape’s two cars were entered as ‘Andretti Cape’ for the last two seasons, and now it takes on its new partner’s IndyCar colours as it uses the ‘Cape Motorsports powered by ECR’ name.

Over the last three years, Cape has claimed three podiums, and put a car in the top five on the grid three times. With ECR it will “collaborate to provide technical support, testing opportunities for emerging drivers and career development for engineers and mechanics”.

As a driver, ECR owner Ed Carpenter came third in Indy Nxt in 2002 and ’03. Now he will get a taste of the series below it on IndyCar’s support bill — USF Pro 2000, USF2000 and the entry-level USF Juniors — as ECR also partners with Jay Howard Driver Development.

“I’m very excited to bring these highly successful programmes together to create a complete development path through the entire open-wheel ladder system,” said Carpenter.

“As ECR continues to grow and work toward becoming a championship-calibre team, this is an important step forward. This partnership should not only strengthen ECR but also Cape Motorsports and JHDD.”

JHDD ran Christian Rasmussen — now an IndyCar race-winner with ECR — to the 2020 USF2000 title and 2021 USFP2000 crown.

Liam McNeilly narrowly missed out on becoming 2024 USF Juniors champion with JHDD, and they were dominating in USF2000 this year before unexpected visa problems ruled McNeilly out of action.

“Partnering with ECR and JHDD is an incredibly exciting step for Cape Motorsports,” said team co-owners Dominic and Nicholas Cape.

“This collaboration brings together three organizations that share the same passion for discovering and shaping young talent. From karting to IndyCar, we’re building a pathway that gives drivers every opportunity to grow, learn and ultimately succeed at the highest level. For us, it’s about more than just racing, it’s about building the next generation of champions.”

ECR has a driver development programme which Indy Nxt racer Josh Pierson is a member of.

The post IndyCar team Ed Carpenter Racing expands into junior single-seaters appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Andres Cardenas was quickest for Jay Howard Driver Development in USF Pro 2000 post-season testing on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course last weekend.

There were three 35-minute sessions on Saturday and three on Sunday, and Exclusive Autosport’s USF2000 champion Jack Jeffers was fastest in the first. He set a 1m21.4442s on his penultimate to lead Pabst Racing’s even later improver G3 Argyros by 0.0272 seconds.

His team-mate Ivan Domingues was third, 0.1016s off, with Mac Clark (Exclusive) and Jacob Douglas (Pabst) also within 0.2s of the pace as a second covered the top 14.

Velocity Racing Development’s Frankie Mossman lowered the pace to 1m21.3462s in session two, leading Jeffers by 0.1168s, Cardenas by 0.1383s and Clark by 0.1519s. This time the top 17 was split by a second, and at JHDD there was a change as JT Hoskins sat out the session and Joao Balesteiro drove.

Day one ended with more improvements, as Eurocup-3 podium-finisher Cardenas moved to the top with a 1m21.1331s. His final lap put him 0.0334s and 0.0422s ahead of Argyros and Douglas, and Turn 3 Motorsport’s Michael Costello trailed by 0.1271s in fourth. Hoskins and Balesteiro swapped again.

The fastest laps of testing came on Sunday morning, with 13 of the 22 drivers present setting their personal bests in session four.

Cardenas posted a 1m20.7744s that would not be be beaten, with a 0.1322s gap at the top to Clark. Mossman was 0.1904s back in third, and Argyros pipped Costello to fourth by 0.0284s. There was only 0.0918s between eighth and 13th place, and at the top of that was group was Euroformula champion Tymek Kucharczyk who had replaced Tyke Durst in one of Turn 3’s cars. A second covered the top 15.

A 1m21.2463s was enough to put Jeffers in first place during session five, and eighth overall in the test, but it took a long time to beat the 1m21.3085s benchmark that Clark had set on just his third lap.

Comet/NCMP Racing’s Logan Adams, Cardenas and Mossman were within 0.2s of Jeffers, and JHDD was running all three of its drivers with Balesteiro the only driver more than a second off the pace.

Three drivers were able to find more pace in the final session, and the quickest of those was Domingues who went fourth fastest and ninth overall. Cardenas set another session-topping time, a 1m21.1009s, edging Douglas by 0.0748s. Argyros was third, 0.1942s off Cardenas and 0.0035s ahead of Domingues.

Test results

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Liam Loiacono ensured the USF Juniors title fight goes to the final round by winning races two and three of the penultimate round at Road America.

The Jay Howard Driver Development driver had pole for both, and in race two spent most of his time looking at the pace car.

Exclusive Autosport’s Brenden Cooley started second, and had the slipstream on Loiacono for turn four on lap one but tucked back in. As he did, Zanella Racing’s Ty Fisher broke his front wing on the rear of his car. Fisher then had contact with Pole Position Motorsports’ Connor Aspley at turn six, went off and dropped down the order before a caution period was called for as Exclusive’s Kaylee Countryman and DEForce Racing’s Thomas Nordquist had crashed out.

Zanella’s Leonardo Escorpioni and DEForce’s fast-starting Rodrigo Gonzalez were third and fourth, until Gonzalez pitted for a nose change on lap three.

Racing resumed on lap five, and Cooley and Velocity Racing Development’s Joao Vergara immediately went to Loiacono’s outside. Cooley breaked first and tucked in behind, but his front-left wheel brushed Vergara and caused them to connect and go off. Several drivers also went off in avoidance, including two whose races ended near turn three and caused another caution period.

Aspley tried going around Escorpioni’s outside at turn five, but instead lost out to Patricio Gonzalez at turn six before racing was neutralised.

The next restart was on the penultimate lap, and Escorpioni went down Loiaconi’s inside at turn one for the lead. Gonzalez made it three-wide for the lead approaching turn five, then braked early while Escorpioni went deep and forced himself and Loiacono off. Gonzalez snuck past both before turn six, but Escorpioni reclaimed the lead on the inside of the last corner.

The slipstream effect meant 0.1128 seconds split the top three starting the final lap, and Escorpioni braked early at turn one. Loiacono swept around the outside to reclaim top spot, and team-mate JT Hoskins passed Aspley later on for fourth.

Loiaconi led throughout in race three, but did not have it easier. Aspley got into third on lap one, before a diving move by Fisher sent him off and behind DEForce’s Vilho Aatola.

Cooley attempted a turn five dive on Loiacono on lap two but lost to Fisher at turn six. and trailed Loiacono by two seconds once he returned to second. Vergara crashed on the pit straight, then International Motorsport’s Michael Suco flew off at the last corner, and a caution period was called on lap five as Fisher and Aatola squabbled over third.

The top five all ran off at turn one on the lap eight restart, and Fisher’s next turn five dive instead cost him third to VRD’s Oliver Wheldon. Fisher got back past at turn four a lap later then dived down Cooley’s inside again and this time made contact. Wheldon tried profiting once more, but was sent spinning at turn six.

Fisher and Escorpioni passed Cooley, and second went to Escorpioni as the last lap began. Aatola overtook Cooley through the Kettle Bottoms, but both were edged to the chequered flag by Patricio Gonzalez in a three-wide finish as Aspley took sixth by 0.0174s just 0.1872s behind them.

Results round-up
Race 2 (10 laps)
1 Liam Loiacono JHDD 31m15.7850s
2 Leonardo Escorpioni Zanella Racing +0.3956s
3 Patricio Gonzalez DEForce Racing +1.4563s
4 JT Hoskins JHDD +1.6315s
5 Connor Aspley Pole Position Motorsports +2.1721s
6 Vilho Aatola DEForce Racing +2.2464s
7 Oliver Wheldon Velocity Racing Development +2.4664s
8 Ty Fisher Zanella Racing +2.7669s
9 Diego Guiot Zanella Racing +5.4776s
10 Michael Suco International Motorsport +6.6546s
Pole: Loiacono, 2m16.4780s
Fastest lap: Loiacono, 2m17.2222s

Race 3 (10 laps)
1 Loiacono 26m14.3773s
2 Escorpioni +2.2250s
3 P Gonzalez +4.7119s
4 Aatola +4.7209s
5 Brenden Cooley Exclusive Autosport +4.7377s
6 Aspley +4.9249s
7 Guiot +4.9423s
8 Rahim Alibhai Zanella Racing +5.4568s
9 Fisher +7.7644s
10 Thomas Nordquist DEForce Racing +8.0098s
FL: Aatola, 2m17.4742s

Championship standings
1 Escorpioni 310   2 Loiacono 296   3 Joao Vergara 237   4 Wheldon 224   5 Fisher 221   6 Aatola 200   7 Rodrigo Gonzalez 179   8 P Gonzalez 162   9 Guiot 157   10 Cooley 129

The post Loiacono completes triple win at Road America in USF Juniors appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Jay Howard Driver Development’s Liam Loiacono was the driver to beat through the first half of the penultimate round of the USF Juniors season at Road America.

He began by topping pre-event testing on Thursday, setting a 2m15.8581s to lead Zanella Racing’s Leonardo Escorpioni by 0.4619 seconds. Velocity Racing Development’s Joao Vergarara was 0.5s behind, and four other drivers were within a second of the pace.

Loiacono remained on top in practice, but only just. A 2m16.2919s earned him first place by 0.0395s over Vergara, with VRD’s Oliver Wheldon 0.1118s back in third and Zanella’s Ty Fisher trailing by 0.3498s in fourth.

Rahim Alibhai was fifth fastest, the karting graduate joining Zanella for the last two rounds before a full 2026 season.

The day concluded with qualifying, and Loiacono was again fastest. His gap grew, as he set the pace by 0.6061s. Exclusive Autosport’s Brenden Cooley was second fastest, 0.0686s ahead of DEForce Racing’s Vilho Aatola. He in turn had a 0.0617s gap to Pole Position Motorsports’ Connor Aspley in fourth, with DEForce’s brothers Rodrigo and Patricio Gonzalez next up.

Fisher was the last driver within a second of pole, and title rivals Wheldon and Vergara were eighth and 10th. Points leader Escorpioni was 1.6849s off pole in 17th.

Drivers’ second-best qualifying laptimes were primarily used for race two’s grid. Loiacono set a 2m16.4780s to earn pole by 0.1783s over Cooley, with Aspley 0.3389s behind in third. Fisher qualified fourth, and Escorpioni’s best race one lap put him fifth on the grid ahead of Patricio Gonzalez, Wheldon, Rodrigo Gonzalez, Aatola and Vergara.

The same laptimes were used for race three’s grid, except for Escorpioni whose best lap from race two earned up 14th on the grid.

Race one ran on Friday morning, and drivers went three-wide immediately on the rolling start. Aatola got into second and tried to go around the outside of Loiacono at turn five, before being shuffled back to third by Rodrigo Gonzalez.

Cooley and Aspley got ahead of Aatola on lap two, and Gonzalez kept with Loiacono while three-wide fights continued behind. Aspley spun around in one on lap three, then a caution period came on lap four as Michael Suco and International Motorsport team-mate Emma Scarborough clashed at turn one. Suco, who started 21st, had been 11th.

Exclusive’s Kaylee Countryman pitted for front wing repairs on that lap, and for the lap seven restart the top two were followed by Patricio Gonzalez, Wheldon, Cooley, Aatola, a charging Escorpioni, Fisher and Vergara.

Wheldon went off at turn one, and the top two broke away again. Cooley took third, then got defensive and several drivers behind went off. Among them was Wheldon, while Fisher lost his nose and DEForce’s Thomas Nordquist crashed at turn three which prompted another caution period.

Escorpioni and Vergara were now fifth and sixth, and Aspley and Countryman had recovered to ninth and 11th.

Racing resumed on the last lap, and there was no change in the top three. Loiacono handled an attack from Rodrigo Gonzalez for a win that lifted him from fifth to second in the points, and Cooley defended against Escorpioni.

A front wing-free Patricio Gonzalez dropped to fifth, Aspley climbed to sixth, VRD’s debutant Colin Aitken was seventh and lap one pitter Diego Guiot finished ninth. Vergara and Wheldon finished 12th and 13th.

Race results (10 laps)

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Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Liam McNeilly will return to action with Jay Howard Driver Development this weekend by making his USF Pro 2000 debut in Toronto.

The 19-year-old Englishman was USF Juniors runner-up with the team last year, and began 2025 in stunning style with five consecutive victories after stepping up to USF2000.

But visa issues after a trip home then prevented him from returning to the USA and continuing his title charge, and he has only been able to make it back into the cockpit this week due to the USF Pro championships visiting Canada.

“It feels brilliant to know I’ll be back behind the wheel on the streets of Toronto,” said McNeilly, who is still seventh in the USF2000 standings despite missing four of the six rounds held so far.

“My triple win at NOLA in April feels like ages ago and I can’t wait to be back on track in Canada. While I’m familiar with the circuit from last year, the USFP2000 car is a big step-up from the USF2000 in terms of performance with more power and more grip, so learning how to drive it quickly in the time I have won’t be easy.

“The aim of this weekend is to gain experience and to use it as a starting point to plan our 2026 season [in USFP2000], but if we can come away with a couple of strong results, I’ll be very happy.”

McNeilly had a similar strategy last year when he joined the USF2000 grid in Toronto and took a pole position and a second place finish.

“I’ll start by saying I am super excited to see Liam back with the team and that I speak for everyone when I say we’ve missed him,” said JHDD team principal Jay Howard.

“Moving to USFP2000 makes the most sense considering the circumstances as at this point it’s all about preparation for 2026. It has been a devastating year for him and I’m still in disbelief. However, we can’t dwell on the past so it will be eyes forward from here.”

The post Liam McNeilly returns to action in Canada for USF Pro 2000 debut appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

Pabst Racing’s Max Garcia claimed a double pole position for the USF Pro 2000 races at Mid-Ohio.

The championship leader was comfortably clear of Ariel Elkin and Alessandro de Tullio.

Garcia started the Mid-Ohio weekend by topping the times in the first Thursday test. He was the only driver to go quicker than 1m18s in the session, but there was plenty of time to be found.

USFP2000’s latest winner Max Taylor proved that to be the case by topping the second practice session. It was a much closer session, with just 0.0109s separating Taylor and de Tullio, while Garcia was almost 0.9s back in fourth.

Pabst Racing driver Garcia bounced back to top Friday practice. He set the pace early in the session and, despite being briefly supplanted by Mac Clark, ended the session on top too. He had now lowered the benchmark to 1m16.9113s, becoming the only driver to enter the 1m16s range. 

His strong performance continued into qualifying. After the first set of laps, Garcia was quickest ahead of de Tullio and Clark.

He continued to improve on his best lap throughout qualifying. It wouldn’t be until the closing stages of the session that he improved on his practice time, however. A lap of 1m16.8023s put him 0.4255s clear of the next fastest driver. His second quickest lap time was also faster than anything anybody else managed during the session.

A last lap improvement from TJ Speed Motorsports’ Ariel Elkin knocked de Tullio off the front row of the grid, and bumped Clark back to fourth. Clark’s second fastest lap time was second quickest.

It was a relatively clean session, although George Garciarce ran into problems after just two laps. The DEForce Racing-run driver came to a stop on a strip of tarmac in the middle of the track, having pulled off somewhere between turns three and four. The car was clear of the track and the session resumed without any stoppage.

Cooper Becklin managed fifth quickest over all ahead of Jacob Douglas, who was running at the sharp end of the field early in the session. Taylor took seventh as Nicholas Monteiro, Joey Brienza and Frankie Mossman completed the top 10.

Jay Howard Driver Development’s line-up featured the debuting Nick Gilkes, who will also drive for the team in Toronto. The 20-year-old Canadian came 14th in GB3 with one win in 2022, then spent the last two years racing in Eurocup-3 with a best finish of fifth.

Qualifying round-up
Race 1 grid
1 Max Garcia Pabst Racing 1m16.8023s
2 Ariel Elkin TJ Speed +0.476s
3 Alessandro de Tullio Turn 3 Motorsport +0.507s
4 Mac Clark Exclusive Autosport +0.529s
5 Cooper Becklin Turn 3 Motorsport +0.565s
6 Jacob Douglas Pabst Racing +0.618s
7 Max Taylor VRD Racing +0.656s
8 Nicholas Monteiro Turn 3 Motorsport +0.678s
9 Joey Brienza Exclusive Autosport +0.815s
10 Frankie Mossman VRD Racing +0.823s

Race 2 grid
1 Garcia 1m17.0150s
2 Clark +0.399s
3 Becklin +0.471s
4 Elkin +0.488s
5 de Tullio +0.503s
6 Mossman +0.637s
7 Brienza +0.685s
8 Douglas +0.692s
9 Monteiro +0.702s
10 Taylor +0.726s

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