In the first round of the 2024 USF Pro Championships Presented by Continental Tire in St. Petersburg, USF2000 and Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) driver Evagoras Papasavvas had an impressive weekend, earning a pair of podium results, including a P2 result in race one on Friday followed by a third-place finish in race two on Saturday, leaving the weekend second in the championship point standings.

A sweep of The Andersen Companies Grand Prix of St. Petersburg has catapulted 14-year-old Max Garcia, from Coconut Grove, Fla., into an early lead in the quest for this year’s USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire title chase and a scholarship valued at $458,400 to progress onto the next level of the USF Pro Championships ladder in 2025.

The record will show that 14-year-old Max Garcia started from the pole position for Pabst Racing and won today’s first of two races that will comprise The Andersen Companies Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the opening round of the new USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire season. But that doesn’t come close to telling the whole story.

Following the long off-season, Evagoras Papasavvas is returning to the USF2000 Presented by Continental Tire series with Jay Howard Driver Development (JHDD) and will commence a new campaign beginning this weekend at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Both USF Pro 2000 and USF2000 have attracted strong fields with over 40 rising stars of the sport seeking to begin their bids for scholarship prizes to catapult them toward a future in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, which also commences its 2024 season on the unforgiving streets.