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TORONTO, Ont., Canada – There was no stopping Max Garcia in today’s first of two USF Pro 2000 races that will make up this weekend’s Continental Tire Grand Prix of Toronto. At the tender age of 16, the youngest driver in the field raced to his seventh win of the season. It was comfortably enough to put the USF Pro 2000 Presented by Continental Tire championship beyond the reach of his rivals with three races still to be run.

Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., joined current NTT INDYCAR SERIES standouts Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Rasmussen in claiming consecutive championship titles in USF2000 and USF Pro 2000. He also secured a scholarship valued at almost $600,000 to advance to INDY NXT in 2026.

Pabst Racing teammate Jacob Douglas, from Christchurch, New Zealand, finished second for the second race in a row to ensure that Pabst Racing will win this year’s coveted Team Championship. A disqualification for last year’s USF Juniors champion Max Taylor, from Hoboken, N.J., whose VRD Racing entry failed post-race technical inspection, elevated local driver Mac Clark, from Milton, Ont., Canada to the final podium position for Exclusive Autosport.

Results

For the third race weekend in a row, Garcia displayed his intentions in qualifying on Friday by snagging yet another Continental Tire Pole Award – his eighth of the season in just 15 races.

Alessandro de Tullio, from Miami, Fla., qualified a strong second for Turn 3 Motorsport – and will start from the pole in tomorrow’s second race of the weekend. Unfortunately, he ran into trouble right away due to a broken spark plug. De Tullio was immediately engulfed by the pack in Turn One, although he was doing his best to hold onto seventh place until contact with Israel’s Ariel Elkin (TJ Speed Motorsports) at Turn Five on the third lap saw him exit the race with a broken suspension.

A couple of laps later, Elkin’s teammate Sebastian Manson, from Auckland, New Zealand, crashed heavily in Turn 11 to bring out the first of two full-course cautions.

Garcia was already firmly ensconced in the lead, and he immediately reasserted his superiority at the restart, jumping clear of Taylor, who had profited initially from de Tullio’s misfortune to run second. Douglas ran third through the middle stages of the 25-lap race, but couldn’t match Taylor’s pace.

Then came a second interruption following an incident in Turn One between Logan Adams (Comet/NCMP Racing), from Greenfield, Ind., and Pabst Racing’s Michael Costello, from Naples, Fla. Adams, after qualifying a fine sixth, had earlier lost a position to Canadian Mac Clark, who had lined up a disappointing eighth on the grid. Costello then made his own move on Adams under braking, but tracked out wide on the exit which left Adams with nowhere to go. Both cars were eliminated, with Costello later being assessed a positional penalty for incident responsibility.

The caution was of little consequence to Garcia, who once again made himself scarce at the restart. His eventual winning margin was just over three seconds.

In Garcia’s mirrors, Douglas made a fine maneuver into Turn One at the restart on Lap 21 to move past Taylor into second, which he held to the finish.

Clark was next in line, well clear of Elkin, who was later assessed with a 30-second penalty for incident responsibility which dropped him to the tail end of the lead lap in 10th.

Frankie Mossman (VRD Racing), from Newport Beach, Calif., inherited fourth ahead of Liam McNeilly, who impressed massively on his USF Pro 2000 debut for Jay Howard Driver Development. The Englishman ran as high as fourth – despite zero previous experience in the car – before clipping one of the omnipresent concrete walls and bending his car’s suspension.

Turn 3 Motorsport’s Tyke Durst, from Charlotte, N.C., took home the Tilton Hard Charger Award after rising from 19th on the grid to a career best eighth at the finish, while Pabst Racing’s Augie Pabst earned another PFC Award as the winning car owner.

The USF Pro 2000 weekend will conclude with a green flag tomorrow at 10:20 a.m. EDT, directly before the NTT INDYCAR SERIES headline event.

Provisional championship points after 15 of 18 rounds:

1. Max Garcia, 417

2. Mac Clark, 301

3. Ariel Elkin, 298

4. Alessandro de Tullio, 271

5. Jacob Douglas, 268

6. Max Taylor, 237

7. Michael Costello, 175

8. Nicholas Monteiro, 171

9. Cooper Becklin, 166

10. Joey Brienza, 155

Max Garcia (#18 Advance Auto Parts/USF Pro Championships/Bell/OMP-Pabst Racing Tatuus IP-22): “The race was awesome for sure. I just got out to the lead and didn't really look back after that. I'm just so excited that I was able to win the championship with a win. It's just fantastic, and I can't wait for Portland.”

Jacob Douglas (#19 DouglasFay Group/Fleet Cost & Care-Pabst Racing Tatuus IP-22): “I started P4 and had a good start up to P3 and then had some good restarts and managed to hold our position during the race. On the last restart with five to go, I made a move for P2 and managed to finish the race there. I didn't quite have the pace to challenge for the win, but nonetheless a great race.”

Mac Clark (#90 Corpay Cross-Border Solutions/Clubine Motorsports-Exclusive Autosport Tatuus IP-22): “It was a really solid Race One here on the streets of Toronto. Starting in eighth place, we knew we had our work cut out for us, but the #90 Exclusive Autosport Corpay machine was on rails today. We had really good pace and I think we finished with the second fastest race lap. I made some good moves out there. We are going to be starting deep in the field again tomorrow, but looking forward to hopefully charging through again. It is nice to end up on the box.”