LOVELAND, Ohio – USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire traveled to Ohio this weekend for Rounds 11, 12 and 13 of the championship. Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) driver and Ohio native Evagoras Papasavvas showed impressive speed at his Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course home track, winning at home for the second year in a row, his first win of the 2024 season.
Papasavvas was quick immediately, leading the field in the official practice session of the weekend that took place Friday following a weather-plagued test day on Thursday. He showed speed again in qualifying, setting the quickest time and earning the pole position for race one.
In a rainy, caution-filled race one and a slippery track, Papasavvas had a spin followed by a collision, causing damage to the nose of the car, causing him to lose positions early on. While he was able to move back forward, the damaged car and the lack of green flag racing prevented him from returning to the front, and he ultimately finished in eighth place.
Papasavvas claimed the pole position once again and bounced back in race two. He took a commanding lead from the green flag to the checkered, with a comfortable lead from the rest of the field. Taking his first win and sixth podium result of the season, Papasavvas firmly placed himself in the championship battle.
“It’s great to get my first win of the season, and it’s even more special to do it at my home track, matching last year’s Fourth of July finish,” Papasavvas expressed after race two. “We’ve been quick all weekend so far, and I’m happy we now have the result to show for it. Looking forward to trying to do it all over again tomorrow.”
Race three on Sunday morning took place before the start of the INDY NXT and INDYCAR races and it saw Papasavvas run up front before a three-wide battle for the lead led to a punctured tire. Having to come to pit lane put Papasavvas a lap down, and he crossed the finish line in 14th place.
“This was not the end of the weekend we wanted, and it’s unfortunate that we ended up a lap down with how quick the car was,” Papasavvas said. “We had great speed all weekend long, but we just got unlucky. Still, I’m glad we came away from the weekend with a win, and a huge thank you to everyone at JHDD for all their work this weekend and for helping me get a win at home.”
Papasavvas will be back on track July 19-21 for Rounds 14 and 15 of the season on the Streets of Toronto before closing the 2024 season at the Portland Grand Prix at the end of August.