PORTLAND, ORE. – The 2023 USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires season officially came to a close this past weekend for the Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) program at the fast Portland International Raceway. With drivers competing in both USF2000 and USF Pro 2000, JHDD earned one podium result, six top-10 finishes, and finished in the top-five of the season-long point standings with two drivers.
“The season is over, and we had our highs and are lows throughout 2023,” said Team Owner Jay Howard. “We have proven that we can compete with the best teams in USF and USF Pro and will focus on ensuring that we are back on top again in 2024. While the final checkered flag was only a few days ago, a new race season has already started for us.”
Leading the way on the results sheets this past weekend was Evagoras Papasavvas as the young-gun converted a fifth-place qualifying result into a podium finish in the first of three USF2000 races, standing on the second step of the box. Papasavvas added a pair of top-five results in races two and three Saturday and Sunday, despite being down a cylinder in the second wheel-to-wheel action, and closed the season with a P4 result in the championship standings.
Just ahead of him in the season-long point battle was multi-time winner Lochie Hughes. The Australian qualified ninth and had a spirited drive forward to finish fifth in the first race before crossing the line 13th and tenth in races two and three to finish third in the championship.
Al Morey was the third JHDD USF2000 combatant and improved from his 15th-place qualifying in all three races. Morey gained eight positions in race one to finish in an impressive P7 and put all JHDD drivers inside the top-seven, and went on to add another top-10 result to his resume in race two before closing his season with a P13 result in race three to finish 11th in the end of the year point standings.
The USF Pro 2000 side of the JHDD program had a trying final event of the 2023 season as Frankie Mossman and Ricardo Escotto had the speed to compete but contact ruined any chances of good results. Gaining knowledge, experience, and gathering data, both drivers were involved in contact once racing began derailing a potentially solid weekend for the growing program.
With the USF Pro Championships season now complete, Jay Howard Driver Development will look to dive into their 2024 test program with several driver announcements on the horizon.