Lochie Hughes takes USF2000 victory at Sebring
Lochie Hughes started third and took charge of the USF2000 field for victory at Sebring.
Lochie Hughes celebrates on the podium at Sebring.(Gavin Baker/Andersen Promotions)
The young Australian took the top step of the podium for his second win of the season for Jay Howard Driver Development.
“The race was pretty solid," said Hughes.
"I managed to get into the lead at the first corner."
"I just sent it in there and hoped for the best."
Hughes stormed to the lead off the start ahead of polesitter Simon Sikes before the race was red flagged to remove the stricken cars of teammates Zack Ping and Nikita Johnson.
Sikes was back up to second on the opening lap and on the hunt to regain the lead at the restart, briefly passing Hughes on lap nine before Hughes pulled back ahead.
The pair went side-by-side on final lap, but Hughes hung on to take victory and hold the lead of the standings, 11 points ahead of Sikes after three races.
"I was able to pull a gap and then the red flag came out, which was a bit annoying, and I tried to get the best restart possible."
"I managed to do that and pulled a little bit of a gap again but the slipstream here is so big that Simon was able to catch up."
"It was tricky out there because the track was so slippery compared to how it has been all weekend."
"It was good to just make no mistakes, which was hard because Simon was starting to catch me."
"He passed me and I was able to pass him back and then hold off on the last lap so it was good racing there in the end.”
Evagoras Papasavvas completed the podium, while Kiwi Jacob Douglas was thirteenth.
The Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Sebring resumes on Sunday local time, with the second race of the USF2000 weekend underway at 4.40am Monday (AEDT).
2023 USF2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires - Sebring Race 1 Result
- Lochie Hughes (AUS)
- Simon Sikes
- Evagoras Papasavvas
- Mac Clark
- Chase Gardner
- Max Garcia
- Elliot Cox
- Sam Corry
- Jorge Garciarce
- Danny Dyszelski
- Louka St-Jean
- Gordon Scully
- Jacob Douglas (NZ)
- Avery Towns
- Al Morey
- Nikita Johnson
- Maxwell Jamieson
- Than Ho
- Zack Ping - DNF
