First half The 2024 USF Pro 2000 Championship kicked off around the
Streets of St. Petersburg with Turn 3’s
Lochie Hughes taking pole position. He held his lead after an initially aborted start. Seven drivers fell victim to the narrow course across the race, but Hughes managed multiple restarts to secure the win on his series debut, with
Pabst’s
Christian Brooks and TJ Speed’s
Liam Sceats right behind him. Hughes also started the second race from pole, with the opening of the race much the same as the day before. VRD’s
Nikita Johnson was able to climb from fourth to second in the opening phase and began pressuring Hughes. The Australian initially held on, but on lap 20 Johnson took the lead on a restart and led Hughes and his teammate
Danny Dyszelski home. Still, Hughes left Florida as the championship leader. The second weekend of the season was held at
NOLA, and Pabst’s
Jace Denmark and TJ Speed’s
Hunter Yeany shared pole positions. Race one began with Yeany taking the lead, never to look back. Through multiple incidents, Johnson used the ensuing restarts to climb from seventh to third, before a three-car crash caused a red flag. That set up a dash to the finish, where Johnson also moved past Denmark. The second race saw Johnson continue right where he left off: starting fifth, he quickly moved into second after an early caution. Polesitter Yeany initially built a gap as
BN Racing’s
Nicolás Baptiste held off Johnson, before the American was able to move past He took the lead on lap 11 and continued to win the race. Baptiste fell to fifth, allowing Pabst’s
Simon Sikes onto the podium. Race three had Johnson starting from pole position, so he did not have to make up any positions to take the lead. He controlled Denmark and Yeany behind him in a largely processional race where the top five all finished where they started. Championship leader Hughes had a horrible weekend, retiring from the first two races and dropping to sixth. Johnson’s two wins handed him a 40-point standings lead over Yeany. Another triple-header followed at
Indianapolis, and this time Johnson was unbeatable in qualifying. Sceats overtook him at the start of the first race, but Johnson retook the lead straight away a lap later. Sceats then dropped behind Hughes shortly before a caution was called. Hughes also found no way to deny Johnson his third win in a row, before then falling back to third when Sceats repassed him. The second race played out much the same - Johnson started on pole position, lost the lead to Sceats, retook it on lap four and led every lap thereafter.Hughes, in third again, made no attempt to move into second past Sceats this time, instead opting to settle for third. Race three, again started on pole position by Johnson, saw Hughes take the lead into the first turn. Johnson moved back into first place, with Hughes also losing out to Sikes the lap after. This time, Johnson was unable to gap the field: Sikes held on to him through the race, and on lap 20 made his move to take the win. Three days later, Johnson was disqualified from race two and docked 20 points for a technical infringement after rival teams raised concerns about his car having a power advantage. This decreased Johnson’s points lead over Yeany to 24. Up next was the season’s only oval race at
IRP. Exclusive Autosport’s
Braden Eves was the man to beat all weekend, fastest in all test sessions and also in qualifying. Heavy rain saw the race postponed by a day, but when the green flag was waved, Eves immediately took off and led every lap until he won the race. Denmark came home second and Hughes in third. That catapulted him straight into second in the standings, just a single point behind Johnson, who did not finish after crashing his car into turn three.
Second half Teams and drivers then traveled to
Road America, where Hughes, Sikes and Brooks claimed pole positions. The opening race saw Hughes initially lose his pole position to Sikes before reclaiming it two laps later. Hughes then had to fend off
JHDD’s
Frankie Mossmann, who had moved past Sikes. On the final lap Sikes tried retaking second, but went off track and beached his car, handing BN Racing’s
Ricardo Escotto a podium. Race two started with a caution, before Brooks and Sikes started battling for the lead. Hughes, starting in third, picked off Brooks to claim second before another caution. He attacked Sikes at the restart, pressuring him until lap 11 when he took the lead. Sikes dropped down the order afterwards, allowing Sceats onto the podium. The weekend’s final race saw Brooks hold on to the lead, while Hughes quickly got past Sikes into second. After initially fending off the Australian, Brooks had to give up first place on a restart on lap six. The top two remained unchanged from then on, while Sikes gradually dropped down the field. Hughes triple win saw him amass a 50-point lead over Denmark, while Johnson dropped to third after a mediocre weekend without a top-five finish.
Mid-Ohio hosted rounds 13 and 14, and Johnson and Sikes shared pole positions for the races. Race one was a straightforward affair for poleman Johnson, with the only hiccup of his flag-to-flag victory coming before the green when the start had to be aborted. Denmark and Brooks completed the podium behind him after a similarly trouble-free race. The second race saw Johnson on top once again: He started fourth, took third from Brooks on lap four and then made two quick moves on a restart to overtake Denmark and Sikes. A multi-car incident then took out Brooks and sent Sikes and Hughes down the order. This allowed Dyszelski onto the podium. Johnson’s double win allowed him to close his gap to Hughes to 26 points, with the latter able to salvage a seventh place in the second race despite his earlier crash. The penultimate weekend of the season, around
Exhibition Place in Toronto, had Dyszelski and Hughes share pole positions. The first race started disastrous for both title contenders: Dsyzelski and Hughes collided, with Hughes forced to pit and Sikes getting past both into the lead, while Johnson drove into the back of Sceats and ended his race in the barriers. Sikes led Denmark and Escotto home, while Hughes had a remarkable climb back up the order that ended in fifth. Race two was much more straightforward for Hughes, as he drove a faultless flag-to-flag race ahead of Sceats and Denmark. Multiple caution periods interrupted proceedings, with only eleven cars finishing the race. Johnson was among the retirees after a spin, completing his awful weekend that saw him fall to third in the standings. Hughes now led by 35 points ahead of Denmark. The final two rounds of 2024 at
Portland both began with Johnson on pole position. The first race was held in slippery conditions, with multiple drivers retiring before even reaching the first turn. Hughes dropped down the order on the subsequent restart while Mossman swept into second. He set off to catch Johnson, but was unable to pass him before being overtaken by Sikes. Hughes, under pressure late in the race, held on to sixth place by 0.2 seconds to win the championship. Johnson had to fend off Hughes at the beginning of race two, but was unchallenged afterwards to end the season with a flag-to-flag victory. The top four ran largely processional, with the only change in that group being Sikes taking third from Denmark on lap 26. In the final standings, Johnson’s two wins lifted him back to second place ahead of Denmark, with Hughes’ gap at 40 points. The final points table meant that without his disqualification and subsequent points deduction, Johnson would have won the 2024 championship. This penalty being the deciding factor in the championship showed how close Johnson and Hughes were throughout the season. Both had difficult phases, Johnson after his disqualification and Hughes at NOLA, but both also dominated their fair share of races. Johnson won the same amount of races before and after his disqualification, so the performance advantage he was accused of was not all that apparent, but his car clearly violated the technical regulations, so the disqualification was never in question. == Championship standings ==