Brownsburg, Ind. There’s no doubt that the Toronto stop on the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda two weeks ago was a challenging one for John Cummiskey Racing.
With Ayla Agren, driver of the No. 33 Energima car, on the sidelines due to funding issues, the fate of the team was left in the hands of Lucas Kohl and the No. 34 Bellko Trading machine. The team faced one hurdle or another in each of the sessions the USF2000 cars were out on the streets of Toronto.
After managing a 10th place finish in Saturday’s race, Kohl was spun out after contact with another car in the opening corner of Race 2. The contact cut the right rear tire, and while Kohl was able to continue he ultimately came home in 12th place.
No doubt the team is looking forward to this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as past results point to the possibility of a great rebound weekend for JCR.
This will be Agren’s second time racing in the USF2000 cars at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural road course located near Lexington, OH, just north of Columbus. Last year she was consistently in the Top 10 during testing, and qualified (and finished) P6 in the first of three races here last year.
When the USF2000 cars tested at Mid-Ohio back on June 9, Agren finished third quickest in two of the sessions, and also has a win at Mid-Ohio under her belt, what that coming during her F1600 championship season in 2014.
Thursday, the 23-year-old Agren was near the top of the speed chart during the three promoter day test sessions, then turned in the fastest lap (1 minute, 22.1304 seconds) in the practice session leading up to Friday morning’s qualifying, which starts at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).
“I’m very excited to be back in the car with JCR this weekend,” Agren said. “I have great memories of Mid- Ohio so to be able to compete again there is something I really look forward to. We had a great day Thursday and JCR has given me a really fast car, so I’m optimistic that we have everything in place for a great weekend.”
This will be Lucas Kohl’s first race weekend at Mid-Ohio, but unlike the other tracks the 18-year-old rookie has raced this season, many of which he is seeing for the first time, he has plenty of laps under his belt here between the June test session and Thursday’s action.
Like his teammate, the driver of the No. 34 Bellko car found some speed in the final practice, turning in a best lap of 1:22.3068, which was fourth-quick in the session.
“We had a good test in June, and I like the track, so I knew we were going to get off to a good start this weekend,” Kohl said. “If we can get a good qualifying position for the first race and we don’t have any mechanical problems, we can get a lot of points this weekend.”
This weekend is a busy one for the USF2000 series. After hitting the track four times on Thursday, the teams qualify at 8:30 a.m. (EDT) Friday, then run the first of three, 30-minute timed races at 1 p.m. Saturday’s race also rolls off at 1 p.m., followed by Sunday’s finale at 9:45 a.m.
