LOVELAND, Ohio – It was the one and only oval race of the season for USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire this past weekend at the .686-mile Lucas Oil Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana. Ohio native and Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) entry Evagoras Papasavvas was looking to improve on his 2023 result, in which he stood on the second step of the podium in his oval debut.

With a test day on Wednesday and two more on-track sessions on Thursday, qualifying later that evening set the grid for Friday evening’s Carb Night Classic Freedom 75. After a second-place result last year, Papasavvas was set to roll off the grid Friday night from the outside of row three in the sixth position, but the skies opened delaying the on track activities until Saturday.

With a night to sleep on it and plan his attack, Evagoras drove like a veteran when it counted. Cautiously aggressive on the start, the youngster picked up spots when he could and took advantages of others when opportunities allowed. Moving into a podium position late in the race, Papasavvas was able to complete his goal of a podium result, crossing under the checkered flag in third to put a pair of JHDD drivers on the podium.

“What a weekend,” said Papasavvas following the race. “We started on Wednesday with some laps and then qualified on Thursday after a few more test session. We were able to get our warmup in on Friday before being postponed to Saturday, so we had a lot of time to plan how we would go about the race. In the end, it worked out and I could not thank JHDD, my partners and my family for their continued support. On to Road America!”

With a third-place finish on the oval, Papasavvas has earned six podium results to date in 2024 as he sets his sights on the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire Championship.

Next up for Papasavvas will be a trip to Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin over the June 6-9 weekend.