Photo credit: Gavin Baker Photography

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Reigning USF2000 Champion Max Garcia picked up right where he left off in his first fall combine in a USF Pro 2000 car, setting the fastest overall lap and topping four of the five sessions he ran across Saturday and Sunday for Pabst Racing on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Garcia’s 1:21.822 in the first session of the day on Sunday was not just the fastest overall time for USF Pro 2000 at this year’s combine, it also was the only sub-1:22 lap ran during the entire test period.

Garcia did not run during the final session on Sunday. The fastest time in that session went to Joseph Loake, the 2023 winner of the Autosport BDRC Award, a prestigious honor given to top young racing drivers from the United Kingdom. Loake also was the fastest car on track in the second of three sessions ran on Saturday in his American debut with reigning driver’s champions Turn 3 Motorsport. His Saturday-best time of 1:22.163 was the fastest time other than Garcia’s ran during the weekend.

Beyond those two, Garcia’s Pabst teammates also both ran near the front. Jacob Douglas, who returns to the USF Pro Championships after racing in 2023, was in the top five in each of the five sessions he ran.

Sam Corry, also at Pabst for this test after driving for them in 2024 in USF2000, constantly finished near the front himself at a track where he picked up his first-career USF2000 win in one of the most wild races in the series’ recent history.

As far as Loake’s team, Alessandro de Tullio was among the very best and finished second in the final session for Turn 3 Motorsport. Throughout his career, de Tullio has had a fantastic karting resume nationally in the United States but financially has not been able to put together full seasons. Even as time has progressed, he has remained a driver who has above-average USF Pro 2000-level pace and managed to land top-10s in half of the six races he ran last year. If he can put together a full season financially at this level, de Tullio will be one to watch out for.

The 2024 USF Juniors champion Max Taylor came within a tenth of stealing the second Saturday session from Loake when he laid down a 1:22.615. Taylor finished near the top of the timesheets in every session, consistently hanging around a half-second off the lead as he gets used to the USF Pro 2000 cars. His teammate Noah Ping, who is returning to America after racing in Europe in the GB3 Championship, managed to start and finish strong with a third and fifth place finish in the first and last sessions of the weekend.

For full results, check out usfpro2000.com/results