Evagoras Papasavvas found the perfect way to rebound after a disappointing day on Saturday by leading virtually throughout this morning’s second leg of the USF2000 Continental Tire Grand Prix of Toronto.
Papasavvas grasped the lead on the opening lap from pole-winning Jay Howard Driver Development teammate Liam McNeilly, and led the remainder of the 20-lap contest for his second win of the season. McNeilly was content to finish second after an impressive debut as the USF Juniors Presented by Continental Tire championship contender sought to gain some valuable experience in advance of an anticipated graduation to USF2000 in 2025.
Sam Corry finished third for Pabst Racing after sneaking past teammate Max Garcia on lap 4. The pass enabled Saturday race winner Corry to make up three more points on Garcia as they chase a scholarship valued at $458,400 to make the step up to USF Pro 2000 next season.
McNeilly, in common with Papasavvas, made contact with the wall during the opening race of the doubleheader weekend, but was already assured of his first Continental Tire Pole Award after topping the timing charts during the dedicated qualifying session for Race Two earlier on Saturday.
Following a couple of laps behind the Honda Civic Type-R pace car due to some moisture on the race track for the early start at 8am, McNeilly led the field through Turn 1 ahead of fellow front row starter Papasavvas and the two Pabst cars of Garcia and Corry, who had started third and fourth.
Papasavvas’ incident on the opening lap in Saturday’s race severely dented his own title aspirations so he knew only a race win today would be good to enough to keep his flickering hopes alive. As did McNeilly. So when Papasavvas drafted alongside his teammate on the outside line on the long run down Lake Shore Boulevard, McNeilly didn’t press the issue which allowed Papasavvas to move into the lead.
Next time around, Corry grasped an opportunity to pass Garcia for third place at Turn 3, and for the remainder of the race he piled the pressure on McNeilly, who steadfastly maintained his position and made sure there was no room for Corry to attempt a pass.
Papasavvas never was able to extend the lead over his teammate to more than a few car lengths, but it was enough, especially when the caution flags waved with just two laps remaining after DEForce Racing’s Quinn Armstrong, crashed out of a strong fifth place in Turn 10.
The race duly finished under yellow with the top four positions unchanged and Max Taylor (VRD Racing) in fifth after also profiting from a mistake by Exclusive Autosport’s Evan Cooley, who made contact with the wall while running in fifth a few laps earlier. The result represented a good return for Taylor, who had slipped back to 10th on the opening lap, especially after picking up the bonus point for fastest race lap to keep his title aspirations alive.
“This is a big relief keeping the championship in mind, but when I was out there I wasn’t thinking about the championship,” said Papasavvas. “I was just executing and hitting my marks. The car felt great and I have to thank Jay and the team for putting together such a great car right out of the box in practice. We had good pace all weekend so I am happy to show all the hard work we put together with a win.”
A little farther back in the pack in 11th, Brady Golan picked up his second Tilton Hard Charger Award of the season after having started 18th.
Race winning team owner Jay Howard capped a perfect morning by taking home another PFC Award.
Today’s result was enough to clinch a third successive — and sixth out of the last eight — USF2000 Team Championship for Pabst Racing, although the drivers’ title chase remains very much alive heading into the critical tripleheader season finale at Portland International Raceway on Aug. 27-28, with Garcia, Corry and Taylor still very much in contention.
Provisional championship points after 15 of 18 races:
1. Max Garcia, 347
2. Sam Corry, 312
3. Max Taylor, 307
4. Evagoras Papasavvas, 288
5. Joey Brienza, 228
6. Elliot Cox, 221
7. Hudson Schwartz, 192
8. Nicolas Giaffone, 191
9. Michael Costello, 165
10. Ayrton Houk, 144