Hughes emerges as championship leader after dominating weekend
Elkhart Lake, Wis. – Lochie Hughes delivered a remarkable performance at the Elite Engines Grand Prix of Road America this weekend, scoring a pole position and securing victories in all three races of the triple header round. The clean sweep not only marks a historic first for Turn 3 Motorsport but also propels Hughes to a commanding 50-point lead in the USF Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tire.
Starting from the pole position for Race 1, Hughes momentarily lost the lead to the #18 car of Simon Sikes but swiftly reclaimed it on Lap 2 and began to pull away from the rest of the field. On Lap 11, the #6 car of Frankie Mossman got a run on Hughes and briefly took over the lead, but the Australian rookie regained control just a couple of turns later to secure his first win of the weekend in the #44 car.
Hughes started third for Race 2, and after a clean start for everyone, found himself settled into fourth at the end of Lap 1. Following a safety car that came out on the opening lap, the Lap 5 restart opened the door for Hughes to take over the third place spot, then the second place spot on the next lap. By Lap 10, Hughes was ready to challenge Sikes once again for the lead and pulled off the move on Lap 11 with a solid pass for first. Out front once again, Hughes formed a comfortable lead of over one second to take his second win of the weekend at the end of 15 laps.
Starting second for the third and final race, Hughes strategically waited for his moment to ascend to the front once again. On the Lap 6 restart he did just that, seizing the lead in a daring move around the outside of the #19 car of Christian Brooks in Turn 1. From there, Hughes maintained his position to complete his hat-trick of victories, also marking his seventh consecutive podium finish after a dominating weekend on the 4.014-mile, 14-turn road course of Road America.
#44 Lochie Hughes // USF Pro 2000
Private Wealth Planning / The McGinley Group / Grip Auto Timepieces
“What a great weekend we had here at Road America,” said Hughes. “I knew going into the weekend we were going to be fast, but I didn’t expect to be that fast. A pole position and three wins in three races was almost the perfect weekend! It was also a great weekend for our championship as we are now leading the points. The Turn 3 Motorsport crew gave me an amazing car, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do the rest of the season.”
Danny Dyszelski started Race 1 from fourth after a strong qualifying run the day before but fell back to seventh after emerging from an aggressive scramble for positions on the opening lap. By Lap 5, Dyszelski was sandwiched between the #92 car of Braden Eves and the #26 car of Liam Sceats, but soon found a way around Eves to take a sixth place finish in the first of three races.
Race 2 saw Dyszelski starting from sixth and hungry to claim a podium finish. After moving up to fifth, Dyszelski made a push to get ahead of a competitive pack but struggled to make it stick at the exit of Turn 8, dropping back to ninth. The 16-year-old soon climbed back up to sixth and then found himself running in a competitive pack of five in the final laps who were all scrapping for fourth. After two of those cars make a mistake on the final lap, fifth place went to the #3 car of Dyszelski for Race 2.
In the third and final race, Dyszelski started sixth once again but was able to take over fifth on the Lap 6 restart, and on Lap 7, the young American overtook the #7 car of Mac Clark for P4. From there, it was smooth sailing in the second half of the race, and Dyszelski earned a fourth place finish to round out the weekend.
#3 Danny Dyszelski // USF Pro 2000
Vera Guitars / Formula Imports / Charlotte Mechanical
“I’m very grateful for the amazing car that Turn 3 Motorsport brought to Road America,” said Dyszelski. “We earned some really good points this weekend and moved up to sixth in the championship, so I’m happy with our efforts. I learned a lot at this round, and I hope to use what I learned for even better results at Mid-Ohio in a few weeks.”
Tyke Durst emerged from Road America having one of his best performances of the season thus far. The 20-year-old kicked the weekend off with a solid 14th place finish in Race 1 but really shone in the following race. Durst impressed with a smart drive in Race 2, racing cleanly and staying out of trouble to finish 10th – his first top-ten finish in the USF Pro 2000 series.
Going into Race 3 on Sunday, Durst drove with some extra wind in his sails from his best result the day before. The American rookie made his way up to 11th from 17th on Lap 1, improving six positions in just one lap and setting himself up for a second consecutive top-ten. Unfortunately on Lap 8, the #92 car of Braden Eves made contact with Durst going into Turn 5 which damaged Durst’s car and forced him to retire early after an excellent run.
#33 Tyke Durst // USF Pro 2000
FHI / Relay Payments / Drive Toward a Cure
“I can’t thank the Turn 3 Motorsport team enough for the support they have given me this weekend,” said Durst. “It’s been a very rough start of the year, but I know this weekend is just the start of the fight back. We had our ups and downs this weekend at Road America. We had our best result in Race 2 and could’ve had more in Race 3. I leave this weekend with lots of motivation and good momentum heading into Mid-Ohio.”
Ethan Ho experienced another weekend of headaches and heartaches after coming into Rounds 10/11/12 with determination to turn his bad luck around. The 18-year-old qualified 12th for Race 1 and was focused on unlocking his potential and moving the #68 car forward throughout the 15-lap race. Ho was able to do that initially, taking advantage of another driver’s mistake to take over P11 but then losing that momentum a few laps later and dropping back to 18th. Ho was able to scrap forward to a P15 finish and look ahead to Race 2 later that afternoon.
Race 2 looked promising at the start, but when the group in front of Ho broke earlier than expected going into Turn 5, the Taiwanese-American hit the car in front of him, broke off his front wing, and launched back across the track straight into the #7 car of Mac Clark in a massive shunt that took both cars clean off the course. Fortunately the pair only walked away with minor injuries, but the wreck forced Ho to sit out the third and final race of the weekend and reset once again with eyes forward on Mid-Ohio in a few weeks’ time.
#68 Ethan Ho // USF Pro 2000
Fubon Bank / Triple S / KRC / Molecule / JiuZhou
“Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to the AMR safety crew for ensuring the safety of both myself and Mac (Clark),” said Ho. “We wouldn’t be able to compete in this sport without them. I deeply regret the incident with Mac, and it was an unfortunate racing accident in which we both thankfully emerged unharmed. I was glad to see Mac was able to start Race 3 where the Turn 3 Motorsport team and I decided to step down from participating in. Now we need to reset for the next round at Mid-Ohio where we consistently performed in the top-ten during the official series test.”
Team Owner, Peter Dempsey
“I’m super proud of everyone on the team for all the effort they put into the weekend,” said Team Owner Peter Dempsey. “Lochie (Hughes) drove phenomenally all weekend and controlled the races from start to finish. He did very well to not get caught up in any mess and capitalize on the pace we had as a team. I’m so proud of him and how he has bounced back this season. He fully deserved the success he had this weekend.”
“Danny (Dyszelski) had another strong weekend,” continued Dempsey. “Again, he kept himself clean and out of the mess and has really shown himself as one of the strongest rookies this season on pace. Tyke (Durst) made huge gains this weekend after a rough few events. I really feel that he is getting stronger every weekend even though he has had some challenges along the way. He earned his first top-10 of the season, but then he was unfortunate not to back that up with another top-10 in race two due to an incident that wasn’t his fault.”
“Ethan (Ho) struggled a bit this weekend compared to where he was at the series test at Road America,” continued Dempsey. “A bad qualifying session left him at the back for the races this weekend, and then after the incident he had in Race 2, we agreed it was the right thing to sit him out for Race 3. I have full faith he can rebound at Mid-Ohio after a disappointing weekend here at Road America.”
“A huge thanks to everyone who has been part of our team this season,” concluded Dempsey. “Results like these come because of the hard work and effort we have all put in from the start of the season to this point. Now it’s important we stay focused and keep pushing as hard as we can for the next three events.”
A special thank you goes out to everyone on the Turn 3 Motorsport team who were an integral part of the victory this weekend (in alphabetical order): Nicolas Belli, David Budres, Nicci Daly, Mandy Dempsey, Peter Dempsey, Danny Dolch, August Jones, Danny King, Carter Kundinger, Matthew McComish, Nicky Myer, Neil O'Donovan, Jack Potter, James Raven and Calvin Swift.
With another strong weekend in the books, Turn 3 Motorsport now sits just 15 points behind in the team championship, a testament to the combined efforts of the drivers and team over the last few rounds.
Up next for Turn 3 Motorsport and the USF Pro 2000 Championship are Rounds 13/14 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course from July 4-7.
To stay up to date on Turn 3 Motorsport, follow the team on social media using the handle @turn3motorsport.