Kiwi teenager Jacob Douglas has continued his impressive run of pace in the USF Pro 2000 Championship, qualifying third for the opening race of a triple-header weekend at NOLA Motorsport Park.
Douglas was just one of three drivers to lap the 2.74-mile (4.41km), 13-turn circuit in under 1 minute 30 seconds, earning third on the grid as the second top rookie.
Fellow Kiwi Sebastian Manson would finish the session in 12th place in the TJSpeed Motorsport car, setting a 1:31.0653 to be just over a second off the pace.
Starting directly ahead of the Douglas will be his championship-leading teammate Max Garcia, while Michael Costello makes for three Pabst Racing cars in the top four.
Douglas has already shown great pace at NOLA Motorsport Park this season, featuring strongly in pre-season testing and finishing in the top five in both of Thursday’s tests. He was seventh in Friday’s sole practice before qualifying third.
His best effort, a 1:29.9900 flyer out of nine laps, was two-tenths of a second off Garcia’s pole-setting time and one-tenth off a front-row start.
“NOLA is a track we’ve showed great pace at so far this year,” said Douglas.
“Being a triple-header, it’s an excellent opportunity to put my head down and earn some good points towards the championship battle.
“We’ve already got one podium to our name this season, and it definitely motivates me to get more.
“The pace is really promising, so, all going to plan, we’re in for a big weekend.”
Douglas enters the round in Louisiana ninth in the standings, having bounced back from a Race 1 DNF in the season-opener in St. Petersburg to finish on the podium in Race 2.
The USF Pro 2000 Championship returns with Qualifying 2 at 3:50 AM on Sunday NZST, ahead of the opening race at 8:40 AM later that morning.
Two races follow on Monday morning, at 5:35 am and 9.30 am.
Coverage can be viewed live and free on the USF Pro Championships YouTube page.
Header Image: Supplied
