Lucas Kohl Stands 13th After First USF2000 Practice at Toronto

As a first-year driver in the Team Cooper Tire USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, every track the series goes to is a new one for John Cummiskey Racing driver Lucas Kohl.

The 18-year-old driver of the No. 34 Bellko Trading car is learning every time he is in a car, especially on street circuits, and this weekend on the streets of Toronto are no exception. Though Kohl felt comfortable on the streets of St. Pete back in March, the 11-turn, 1.755-mile course is a whole new experience in itself, with tighter spaces and different bumpy surfaces beaten down by tough Canadian winters.

Still, Kohl is a racer, and he is up to the challenge.

“It’s really hard being on street courses because we don’t have much track time, so it’s always a challenge to drive them and that’s why I like it,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to race in Toronto, the track looks awesome and I’m very confident that we can do well there.”

Kohl took to the track for the first time Friday morning for the USF2000 Practice Session 1, and the run was more of a fact-finding mission than a search for speed. Two red flags for incidents with other cars shortened the session considerably, leaving Kohl with just three laps at speed.

His best lap of 1 minute, 19.9738 seconds was good for 13th on the speed chart.

“The track is really bumpy and there was dust and dirt everywhere,” said Kohl while noting the USF2000 cars were the first cars on the track for the weekend. “The surface changes between concrete and asphalt really affect the handling of the car, but we watched some video and got some good data and I think we will be faster in the next session this afternoon.”

Practice 2 will go from 1:45-2:15 p.m. (EDT)