Welcome to Barber Motorsports Park where the 16 entered Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire driver have begun their final testing session before taking to the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida for the Indy Lights Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Lucas School of Racing in only six days.
With 20 minutes gone in the first session, Belardi Auto Racing’s Zach Veach currently tops the time-sheet with a top lap of 1:14.516. However, with the chilly start here in Birmingham, Alabama, only four drivers have turned laps in “anger.”
The entry list (see below) for the one day test features the same 16 cars that took to the 1-mile Phoenix International Raceway oval one week ago. There is one driver change for today’s testing. Heamin Choi, who tested the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian machine in the desert, has been replaced by veteran Scott Anderson. TSO expects a number of drivers (Choi, Anderson and James French) to cycle through the fourth Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian entry in 2016.
The schedule for today features six and a half hours of on-track activity on the 2.3 mile 17-Turn Barber Motorsports Park Road Course.
9am – noon —> Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire testing
noon – 1:30pm —> Lunch
1:30pm – 5pm —> Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire testing
The Indy Lights track record at Barber Motorsports Park was set by Spencer Pigot (Juncos Racing) at the 2015 race event with the Mazda/Dallara/Cooper IL-15 package turing a lap of 1:12.3865 in qualifying. With the very green track this weekend, TSO would be surprised to see the record bested during testing today. However, with another year of development under the engineer’s belts, it would not be surprising to see the track record lowered when the series comes back for the race in April.
On-track testing is certainly the focus this weekend, but the drivers are also involved with many pre-season tasks. From meetings with race officials, to interviews with the NBC Sports Network staff, to official photographs, to meet-and-greets, the drivers are certainly kept very busy preparing for the season ahead.
If you are a social media user, the hashtag that is being used for the Mazda Road To Indy testing this weekend is #WarmUpWeekend.
As always, thanks for following reading. We’ll be back with a recap after the morning session is complete.
Entry List
| CAR NO. | DRIVER | AGE | HOMETOWN | RESIDENCE | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Juan Piedrahita | 23 | Bogota, Colombia | Indianapolis, IN | Team Pelfrey |
| 3 | Scott Hargrove | 21 | Vancouver, British Colombia | Surrey, British Colombia | Team Pelfrey |
| 4 | Felix Serralles | 23 | Ponce, Puerto Rico | Atlanta, GA | Belardi Auto Racing |
| 5 | Zach Veach | 21 | Stockdale, Ohio | Zionsville, IN | Belardi Auto Racing |
| 7 | RC Enerson | 18 | New Port Richey, FL | New Port Richey, FL | SPM with Curb-Agajanian |
| 11 | Ed Jones | 21 | Dubai, UAE | Dubai, UAE | Carlin |
| 13 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | 17 | Montreal, Quebec | Montreal Quebec | Juncos Racing |
| 14 | Felix Rosenqvist | 24 | Värnamo, Sweden | Värnamo, Sweden | Belardi Auto Racing |
| 17 | André Negrão | 23 | Campinas, Brazil | São Paulo, Brazi | SPM with Curb-Agajanian |
| 18 | Kyle Kaiser | 19 | Santa Clara, CA | Santa Clara, CA | Juncos Racing |
| 22 | Neil Alberico | 23 | Los Gatos, CA | San Clemente, CA | Carlin |
| 27 | Dean Stoneman | 25 | Croydon, England | Southhampton, England | Andretti Autosport |
| 28 | Dalton Kellett | 22 | Toronto, Ontario | Indianapolis, IN | Andretti Autosport |
| 51 | Shelby Blackstock | 26 | Nashville, TN | Cornelius, NC | Andretti Autosport |
| 55 | Santiago Urrutia | 19 | Montevideo, Uruguay | Miguelete, Uruguay | SPM with Curb-Agajanian |
| 77 | Scott Anderson | 32 | Fort Collins, CO | Fort Collins, CO | SPM with Curb-Agajanian |
Timing and scoring is available at: