Toronto, Ont. (July 16, 2016) — Saturday’s Race 1 of the Team Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda wasn’t an easy one for John Cummiskey Racing driver Lukas Kohl, but he made the best of the situation.
A difficult qualifying session left the No. 34 Bellko car near the back of the field in 15th position at the start of the race, but the 18-year-old Brazilian was able to work his way up as the race progressed and finished the day in the 10th place.
“We had a tough qualifying session, but we worked through it,” Kohl said. “We got a good start and had some good restarts, so it was a good result and we got some good points.”
Kohl, completed 22 laps and posted a fast race lap of 1 minute, 14.5408 seconds (Lap 13), which was faster than his best qualifying time of 1:14.7508 seconds. That gave Kohl is fourth Top 10 in his last six races, and he will start Sunday’s Race 2 in the 15th position again.
In the opening laps of the race, Kohl was able to get past two cars and move up to the 13th position, then on Lap 14 moved up two more spots when Anthony Martin and Nikita Lastochkin tangled in Turn 8. He later passed Austin McCusker to move up to his ultimate finishing position.
Kohl’s five-spot improvement left him tied with Yufeng Lao for the second-best improvement over starting position in the field Saturday.
“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Kohl said. “Qualifying was my first full session on this track, so I’m just trying to improve all the way through the end of (Sunday’s) race. I’m learning and the car is coming to me, so I’m feeling really comfortable for Race 2.”
Race 2 will start at 8:25 a.m. Sunday, and will be a 30-minute, timed race.
Lucas Kohl, No. 34 Bellko
* Qualified 15th with a time of 1:14.7508
* Finished 10th, and his improvement of five spots from his starting position was tied for second-best in the field.
* Posted his fourth Top 10 finish in his last six races.
