LEXINGTON, Ohio – Turn 3 Motorsport showcased its strength and determination at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend with driver Danny Dyszelski securing his second podium finish of the season in Race 2 while Lochie Hughes maintained his lead in the USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tire, further solidifying his position as a championship contender.
RACE 1 RECAP:
Race 1 saw intense competition and strategic driving from the Turn 3 Motorsport team. After qualifying sixth for Race 1, Lochie Hughes found himself in a challenging three-wide battle for position on the first lap, eventually settling back into P6. His patience paid off, however, as he carefully picked his moments to advance the #44 car, taking back fifth at Turn 4 on Lap 3 and moving up to fourth position by Lap 4.
Hughes continued to push for a podium – at one point .3 seconds faster than the three cars in front of him – but by Lap 10, the field had stretched out across the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course, making it difficult to catch the leaders in the remaining laps and resulting in a fourth-place finish for the Australian.
After starting 12th and 16th, Danny Dyszelski and Ethan Ho settled into their track positions of 13th and 14th by Lap 2, engaging in competitive racing within the mid-field pack which was nose to tail for the majority of the race. On Lap 22, Dyszelski made a strategic pit stop for tires, aiming to improve his starting position for Qualifying 2 and doing just that. Ho eventually finished the race in P13, improving three positions during the 30-lap contest.
Tyke Durst started P15 for Race 1 and was running a solid race, but unfortunately, the young American encountered an engine failure halfway through, resulting in an early end to his efforts in Race 1.
RACE 2 RECAP:
Race 2 began with Lochie Hughes starting third, Dyszelski sixth, Ho 15th, and Durst 20th. Hughes had a strong start but found it challenging to hold his position amongst a relentless group of drivers all fighting for the win, dropping him back to fifth. While attempting to overtake on Lap 10, Hughes made contact with Simon Sikes and Christian Brooks, throwing all three cars off track in a dramatic twist.
Thankfully, Hughes was able to restart his car and head to the pits for a necessary nose change. Despite the setback, the Turn 3 Motorsport crew got Hughes back out on track quickly, and he was able to rejoin the back of the pack on the lead lap before the restart. From there, Hughes began his charge through the field in an impressive and determined drive that awarded him a seventh place finish and valuable championship points.
Dyszelski maintained his starting position of sixth at the beginning of Race 2, while Ho and Durst battled in the lower midfield. On the Lap 12 restart, Dyszelski drove the #3 car across the start/finish line in fifth and soon after pulled off an overtake for fourth. With 10 laps to go, the 16-year-old set himself up to execute a stunning pass to take over P3 from Logan Adams, scoring his second podium finish of the season following an excellent drive.
Ho and Durst also demonstrated resilience throughout a chaotic Race 2; after falling back to 16th, Ho was able to take the #68 car forward two positions to finish 14th at the end of Race 2 while Durst moved his #33 car up seven positions to finish in a well-deserved 13th.
#3 Danny Dyszelski // Vera Guitars / Formula Imports / Charlotte Mechanical
“It was a strong weekend at Mid-Ohio. I’m really happy to be back on the podium. I’ve been so close in the last few races, and it’s great to finally get it done again. I couldn’t have done this without the great car that Turn 3 Motorsport provided me this weekend. On to Toronto!”
#44 Lochie Hughes // Private Wealth Planning / The McGinley Group / Grip Auto Timepieces
“It was a bit of a tough weekend for us at Mid-Ohio. We started the weekend really fast but didn’t get the best result in qualifying which put us on the back foot for the rest of the weekend. We had a fourth-place finish in Race 1, and in Race 2, got caught up in an incident which dropped us back to last. Thankfully, we were able to recover a seventh-place finish and maintain our championship lead coming out of the weekend despite the challenges. I’m looking forward to the next round in Toronto.”
#33 Tyke Durst // FHI / Relay Payments / Drive Toward a Cure
“It felt like a character building weekend for the whole team. We were building up to a good weekend through practice and qualifying, however in Race 1, the engine timing belt failed and ended our race early. I’m very thankful to the team for putting the car back together in time for Race 2. Going from 20th to 13th in a chaotic race was a lot of fun. Now, we have two weeks to prepare as much as possible for Toronto. I’m looking forward to going all out on a street course once again!”
#68 Ethan Ho // USF Pro 2000 Fubon Bank / Triple S / KRC / Molecule / JiuZhou
“We kicked off the weekend at Mid-Ohio with good pace in practice. However, a few mistakes in qualifying left us starting 16th for Race 1. Despite the tough start, we secured a top 15 finish in both races. After the struggles we’ve faced so far, we really needed a solid weekend like this. Thank you to Turn 3 Motorsport for all of their hard work and for giving me a competitive car to race every weekend.”
Team Owner, Peter Dempsey
“It was a tricky weekend for us. We had great speed on the pre-event test day but missed it a little for qualifying with all of the cars. We made a big improvement for Race 1 though and had very good speed. Lochie (Hughes) drove a great Race 1 being patient and making his way from P6 to P4. Danny (Dyszelski) made a good call focusing on getting a quicker qualifying time for Race 2, and it paid off with a great podium finish in the second race. He also had very good speed which is the most important thing.”
“Tyke (Durst) was unlucky with a motor failure in Race 1,” continued Dempsey. “The Turn 3 Motorsport crew did a great job to get the engine change done without any issues. Tyke had a solid Race 2, giving us something to build on heading to Toronto. Ethan (Ho) again showed patches of speed but was unable to really build on that through the weekend. We wish him all the best moving forward with his career, as this was his last weekend with us; he will be heading off to Asia to race there for the rest of the year. Our full focus is now on Toronto, and we will put everything we have into this event.”
Turn 3 Motorsport now looks ahead to the upcoming rounds, determined to maintain their championship lead and continue delivering strong performances.
Turn 3 Motorsport will travel to Toronto, Canada next week for Rounds 15/16 of the USF Pro 2000 Championship.