It was the annual trip to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin to battle it out on the 4.048-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course. Competing at the facility in 2022, Evagoras Papasavvas was hoping track knowledge would play into his hand when the USF2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires wheel-to-wheel action began.
Taking part in Thursday’s Promoters Test Days, Evagoras found a lot of pace as he and his Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) program were able to try new items on the newly repaved surface. Showing speed that the young Ohio resident aimed to transfer to qualifying on Friday, excitement was building for the weekend.
Friday morning saw Evagoras take part in the one and only practice session before back-to-back qualifying sessions set the grid for race one and two on Saturday. With the long front and back straight, getting set up with the proper slipstream would be the key to qualifying at the front of the strong field of drivers. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Evagoras.
“I will start P9 for race one tomorrow morning and tenth for race two,” explained Papasavvas. “It is not ideal based on the pace we showed yesterday, but I have the opportunity to drive forward and that will be the goal once the green flag flies.”
Returning to the track Saturday, back-to-back races would happen with one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Looking to make up positions from the less-than-average qualifying session, Evagoras moved into sixth during race one as he battled to get by the fifth-place driver. Late race contact pushed Evagoras down the running order, but he proved once again that pace was not an issue.
The second of two races on the day rolled off the grid following NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying. Starting from the outside of row five, Evagoras moved to fifth in just a few short laps and looked poised to add to his 2023 podium total. Passing a fellow competitor around the outside, Evagoras was driven into causing too much damage to continue as he was forced to retire from the race.
Evagoras continued, “Very frustrating weekend as we know we had the pace and could get our first race win but that didn’t happen. Onto the next round at Mid-Ohio in two weeks.”
Next up for Evagoras Papasavvas will be a trip to his home track, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in less than two weeks’ time.
Evagoras Papasavvas would like to thank several new and returning partners for the 2023 season including Maison Mavrommatis, Attikouris Enterprises, BodyWise, Tiger Natural Gas, Ares Elite, D1 Cincinnati North, HLB Investments, and GutsWear.
For more information on Evagoras Papasavvas, please contact Nektarios Papasavvas via email to evagoras71p@gmail.com or visit him online at www.EvagorasRacing.com. Be sure to follow Evagoras Papasavvas on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for news, results, information, and photos from the event. Find us by searching “Evagoras Papasavvas”.
Photo: RTD Media