Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires points leader Ed Jones has taken the pole position for Friday’s Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires with a new track record in the No. 11 Carlin entry, following an eventful and fun 45-minute qualifying session. He’d also nabbed the pole position in qualifying for the previous round at Barber Motorsports Park.
With a long qualifying session at their disposal, the field of 16 Indy Lights competitors had time and several sets of new sticker Cooper Tires to utilize in an important qualifying sessions.
Early laps in the 1:16 range for the field quickly went into the 1:15s, within range of Jack Harvey’s 2015 track record, a 1:15.0639 lap of the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
RC Enerson was first into the 1:15s at 1:15.9464 in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Curb Records backed entry for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Teammate Santiago Urrutia took the time to 1:15.9260, then Andretti Autosport’s Dean Stoneman made it down to 1:15.8194.
Both of the two Felixes – Rosenqvist (Belardi Auto Racing) and Serralles (Carlin) – dipped into the 1:15.4 bracket before it got crazy in the final 10 minutes once a number of others shifted onto new sets of sticker tires.
Urrutia ran a 1:15.0914 before Serralles laid down a 1:15.0480, which supplanted Harvey’s previous track record.
But it was the other Felix who was first into the 1:14s – fittingly it was Rosenqvist, the driver of the No. 14 car, who clocked a 1:14.9846 to move to the provisional pole position.
It didn’t last long. With just over two minutes to go, Jones laid down a new track record mark of 1:14.6473 in the No. 11 Carlin entry.
Jones starts ahead of Rosenqvist, Urrutia, Serralles and Enerson. The top four drivers on the grid have all won at least once this year; Enerson has been close but is yet to win and the fifth winner this season, Kyle Kaiser, qualified sixth.
The top 12 of 16 runners were covered within a second, at 0.8945 of a second.
Qualifying times from the session are below, before the first race at 4:30 p.m.
Qualifying sessions for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires are in the books early Friday morning at the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying occurs from 12 to 12:45 p.m.
Before we get to those session recaps, a quick note of thanks to some of the rock stars of the Mazda Road to Indy paddock.
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Mazda Road to Indy Gives Thanks to Holmatro Safety Team
Following Thursday’s track activity and despite heavy storms which blew through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, most of the Mazda Road to Indy field – plus a number of other Verizon IndyCar Series luminaries and Mazda Road to Indy graduates – all gathered for an informal, casual but deserved honoring of the Holmatro Safety Team at the Andersen Promotions hospitality.
The Holmatro Safety Team not only serves IndyCar but the entire Mazda Road to Indy at all its events, and the presence of the team led by Mike Yates is invaluable.
“They are the people that have your back,” Dan Andersen said during the event.
Andersen noted how stressful and difficult this work can be on the crew, most who have regular day jobs and add this work to their plate.
The site here is particularly poignant since the Holmatro crew’s work was the first step to saving James Hinchcliffe’s life after his devastating accident in practice last year, before Hinchcliffe was transported to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Although Hinchcliffe was unable to attend Thursday night, he has paid tribute to the crew in numerous ways already this season.
Among the IndyCar notables besides the Mazda Road to Indy drivers in attendance were past Indy Lights champions Bryan Herta and Townsend Bell, Indy Lights and USF2000 graduate Charlie Kimball and a host of others. More than 100 people were estimated in attendance.
—
USF2000 Qualifying
The morning’s USF2000 qualifying ahead of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis Powered by Mazda was hectic, fast and chaotic and the drama didn’t end until after the checkered flag.
Early runs on the green track, since it rained heavily since the series was last on track, forecast that Nico Jamin’s 1:26.1799 track record would be broken. Additionally, temperatures were pretty cool at just 55 degrees ambient.
Victor Franzoni of ArmsUp Motorsports was first up on cold tires to post the provisional pole time, with a 1:26.4516 in the No. 9 car.
But times would drop throughout the remainder of the 30-minute session. Australian Luke Gabin continued his weekend pace with a 1:26.3965 in the No. 91 JAY Motorsports entry to supplant Franzoni, and then Gabin’s countryman Jordan Lloyd topped Gabin’s time with a 1:26.2219 in the No. 21 Pabst Racing car to ascend into the provisional pole.
It was Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s Parker Thompson though, the series points leader in Cape’s No. 2 entry, who was first to break Jamin’s track record time with a new record of 1:26.1738.
That stood for maybe a minute at best before another of the trio of talented Australians, Thompson’s Cape teammate Anthony Martin in the No. 8 car, clocked a 1:26.1053 lap.
Gabin then came through to post an even quicker lap, the first 1:25 lap, at a 1:25.9602 time.
But the time proved too good to be true for Gabin and JAY Motorsports, with word from Race Control after the end of the session that Gabin had blown the checkered flag, and would thus lose his times.
Gabin was one of three drivers, along with Team Pelfrey’s TJ Fischer and ArmsUp Motorsports’ Max Hanratty, who had all their lap times invalidated in the session per Race Director Scot Elkins.
That promoted Martin back to his second straight pole position, having also started on pole in Round 4 at Barber Motorsports Park.
However it marks the first time the native of Kalgoorlie qualified on pole in a qualifying session, rather than having his second best time from a session set the grid for race two of the weekend.
Thompson was second ahead of Lloyd, Franzoni and Yufeng Luo, who led Thursday’s combined practice times with his best lap in first practice.
The first 30-minute race of the weekend takes place at 1 p.m. this afternoon, and with Gabin’s penalty, he’ll be hungry to advance through the field.
Qualifying times are below:
P
No
Name
FTime
Diff
Laps
1
8
Anthony Martin
1:26.105
0.000
14
2
2
Parker Thompson
1:26.174
0.0685
14
3
21
Jordan Lloyd
1:26.222
0.1166
17
4
9
Victor Franzoni
1:26.372
0.2670
16
5
23
Yufeng Luo
1:26.506
0.4008
14
6
22
Garth Rickards
1:26.543
0.4375
18
7
3
Nikita Lastochkin
1:26.768
0.6629
14
8
92
Cameron Das
1:26.833
0.7278
11
9
34
Lucas Kohl
1:26.947
0.8415
18
10
33
Ayla Agren
1:26.977
0.8717
18
11
5
Austin McCusker
1:26.988
0.8823
14
12
81
Jordan Cane
1:27.014
0.9084
18
13
18
Dakota Dickerson
1:27.041
0.9362
16
14
80
Robert Megennis
1:27.295
1.1896
17
15
72
Tazio Ottis
1:27.518
1.4123
17
16
77
Sam Chastain
1:28.012
1.9067
12
17
20
Clint McMahan
1:28.447
2.3417
16
18
19
Michai Stephens
1:28.805
2.6998
14
19
12
Eric Filgueiras
1:29.037
2.9318
7
20
11
Robert Armington
1:29.702
3.5968
16
21
7
Dale VandenBush
1:30.119
4.0133
12
22
44
Charles Finelli
1:30.469
4.3642
16
23
15
Brenden Puderbach
1:31.418
5.3127
14
24
6
Max Hanratty
No Time
—
17
25
82
TJ Fischer
No Time
—
16
26
91
Luke Gabin
No Time
—
13
—
Pro Mazda Qualifying
While the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda qualifying was nuts, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying later Friday morning under sunny but cool skies (59 degrees ambient) was all but decided early.
Series points leader Pato O’Ward, in the No. 80 Gap Guard entry for Team Pelfrey, secured his third pole position in five rounds.
O’Ward’s early flier of 1:22.8800 was more than four tenths clear of teammate Aaron Telitz in the No. 82 Rice Lake Weighing Systems entry.
It was also a new track record by more than a tenth, ahead of Spencer Pigot’s best time of 1:22.9623, set in 2014.
O’Ward ran his laps in the opening 15 minutes of the 30-minute session and could afford to sit on his time for the remainder of the session.
Juncos Racing completed the top six with all four of its cars, with Will Owen, Jake Parsons, Garett Grist and Nicolas Dapero all six tenths or more behind.
The Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammates, Nico Jamin and Jake Eidson, were a further ways back in seventh and eighth.
The first race for Pro Mazda takes place at 1:55 p.m., following the first USF2000 race of the weekend.
Second practice reports and notes from the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend, which features all three rungs of the Mazda Road to Indy, are below. The second Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires session was truncated due to heavy rain at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
—
The second Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda 30-minute practice session witnessed slightly warmer and more overcast temperatures, and slower times.
ArmsUp Motorsports’ Victor Franzoni topped the timesheets in the No. 9 entry with a best time of 1:27.6366 around the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The best time was more than eight tenths of a second off Yufeng Luo’s Thursday morning leading time, with a 1:26.8246 in his No. 23 Pabst Racing entry standing as the best time of the day in the series.
Within practice two, Franzoni edged Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s Parker Thompson by just 0.0547 of a second.
With Luke Gabin, Luo and Jordan Lloyd completing the top five, the same top five occurred in the afternoon session as they clocked in in the morning session. Additionally, Cape’s Anthony Martin was sixth for the second straight session.
The top 16 drivers were separated by just 0.9995 of a second.
All but two of the 26 drivers entered completed 10 laps or more in the session, with ArmsUp’s Max Hanratty setting the highest number with 20 laps.
USF2000 kicks off Friday’s track activity with its next session, qualifying from 9:30 to 10 a.m., before its first race from 1 to 1:40 p.m.
P
No
Name
FTime
Diff
Laps
1
9
Victor Franzoni
1:27.637
0.000
15
2
2
Parker Thompson
1:27.691
0.0547
16
3
91
Luke Gabin
1:27.757
0.1200
16
4
23
Yufeng Luo
1:27.841
0.2048
15
5
21
Jordan Lloyd
1:27.970
0.3338
16
6
8
Anthony Martin
1:28.002
0.3658
14
7
5
Austin McCusker
1:28.213
0.5764
16
8
22
Garth Rickards
1:28.224
0.5874
17
9
81
Jordan Cane
1:28.248
0.6111
17
10
33
Ayla Agren
1:28.438
0.8015
14
11
18
Dakota Dickerson
1:28.440
0.8034
14
12
3
Nikita Lastochkin
1:28.459
0.8226
16
13
80
Robert Megennis
1:28.461
0.8243
13
14
34
Lucas Kohl
1:28.486
0.8490
15
15
6
Max Hanratty
1:28.501
0.8645
20
16
82
TJ Fischer
1:28.636
0.9995
16
17
77
Sam Chastain
1:28.784
1.1475
10
18
92
Cameron Das
1:28.852
1.2157
13
19
72
Tazio Ottis
1:29.013
1.3760
18
20
19
Michai Stephens
1:29.485
1.8483
17
21
20
Clint McMahan
1:30.309
2.6721
13
22
7
Dale VandenBush
1:30.594
2.9569
19
23
11
Robert Armington
1:30.913
3.2765
14
24
44
Charles Finelli
1:31.701
4.0649
9
25
15
Brenden Puderbach
1:31.835
4.1983
15
26
12
Eric Filgueiras
1:32.942
5.3052
7
—
Aaron Telitz paced his second straight Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires practice session, albeit with times slower in the afternoon 30-minute second practice than they were compared to the morning times.
The Rice Lake, Wis. native posted a best time of 1:24.4319 in the No. 82 Team Pelfrey entry, which is supported by Rice Lake Weighing Systems.
Will Owen was second for Juncos Racing in the No. 23 AMR entry at 1:24.5280, with teammate Garett Grist in third. Points leader Pato O’Ward and another Juncos entry, Nicolas Dapero, completed the top five.
As in the morning session, the 30-minute session ran incident-free without any red flag interruption.
The next Pro Mazda session is 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. on Friday, with qualifying. Its first race of the weekend is scheduled from 1:55 to 2:45 p.m.
P
No
Name
FTime
Diff
Laps
1
82
Aaron Telitz
1:24.432
0.000
21
2
23
Will Owen
1:24.528
0.0961
17
3
5
Garett Grist
1:24.656
0.2241
14
4
80
Pato O’Ward
1:24.740
0.3077
21
5
31
Nicolas Dapero
1:24.962
0.5299
17
6
00
Jake Parsons
1:25.088
0.6556
15
7
2
Nico Jamin
1:25.253
0.8212
16
8
3
Jake Eidson
1:25.449
1.0174
16
9
13
Bobby Eberle
1:25.862
1.4303
18
10
44
Kevin Davis
1:27.204
2.7718
17
11
57
Bob Kaminsky
1:27.586
3.1543
17
12
37
Jay Horak
1:27.963
3.5306
17
—
There wasn’t much running time in the second Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires series practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, ahead of this weekend’s Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires.
Darkening skies and impending rain closed on the IMS road course, before hitting hard just before 5 p.m. local time.
Most of the field got some dry laps in before the rain hit, with Juncos Racing’s Kyle Kaiser posting a best time of 1:16.7026 around the 2.439-mile road course in the InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks backed No. 18 car.
Scott Anderson had his best practice session of the year ending second in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry, with support from Anderson Podiatry Centers/Laser Therapy, Surgery and Neuropathy/Curb Records.
Felix Rosenqvist, Dean Stoneman and Scott Hargrove completed the top five.
Once the rain hit, Rosenqvist, Belardi Auto Racing teammate Zach Veach and RC Enerson all took to the track for a handful of laps on Cooper Tires wet weather rubber. Times were anywhere from in the 1:45 to 1:55 range in the miserable and worsening conditions.
With just over 14 minutes to go the session received an early checkered flag, owing to the rain.
Indy Lights’ next session is qualifying on Friday, from 12 to 12:45 p.m. Its first race of the weekend is scheduled from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., following Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying.
The Mazda Road to Indy has its full complement of series here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championships have all had their first practice sessions, which grew in importance with impending weather likely to hit the track this afternoon.
Quick session reports are below.
—
The first USF2000 session of the weekend before the Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis Powered by Mazda was clean, green and dry for 30 minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the 2.439-mile road course.
Yufeng Luo, who won Round 2 of the season at St. Petersburg, took his No. 23 Pabst Racing entry to the top of the timesheets at 1:26.8246.
Luke Gabin was second in the No. 91 JAY Motorsports entry at 1:26.8872, with Parker Thompson of Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing and Luo’s teammate at Pabst, Jordan Lloyd, also dipping into the 1:26 bracket.
Victor Franzoni of ArmsUp Motorsports completed the top five runners; the Brazilian makes his USF2000 return to the IMS road course after making his Pro Mazda series debut here last year.
The top 14 drivers were covered by 0.8744 of a second. Nico Jamin holds the track record with a qualifying lap of 1:26.1799 for Cape, set last year.
Of note, the field is reduced to 26 cars this weekend with the absence of James Munro, the fourth driver at Team Pelfrey. Team Pelfrey team principal Nigel Tuckey said there were contractual issues that arose with Munro, and his return status for further rounds is doubtful.
Additionally, ArmsUp is back to three cars with Blake Mount, who drove a fourth ArmsUp entry during Wednesday’s test sessions, not competing in the first practice.
The next USF2000 practice session is another 30-minute session, from 1:30 to 2 p.m.
P
No
Name
FTime
Diff
Laps
1
23
Yufeng Luo
1:26.825
0.000
8
2
91
Luke Gabin
1:26.887
0.0626
14
3
2
Parker Thompson
1:26.891
0.0668
18
4
21
Jordan Lloyd
1:26.972
0.1476
16
5
9
Victor Franzoni
1:27.009
0.1841
13
6
8
Anthony Martin
1:27.093
0.2686
17
7
3
Nikita Lastochkin
1:27.189
0.3643
13
8
22
Garth Rickards
1:27.307
0.4822
16
9
80
Robert Megennis
1:27.471
0.6468
14
10
33
Ayla Agren
1:27.519
0.6949
17
11
82
TJ Fischer
1:27.636
0.8113
17
12
81
Jordan Cane
1:27.654
0.8293
16
13
5
Austin McCusker
1:27.664
0.8393
17
14
34
Lucas Kohl
1:27.699
0.8744
18
15
6
Max Hanratty
1:27.998
1.1735
10
16
18
Dakota Dickerson
1:28.165
1.3402
11
17
92
Cameron Das
1:28.181
1.3562
14
18
77
Sam Chastain
1:28.295
1.4701
6
19
72
Tazio Ottis
1:28.838
2.0133
16
20
19
Michai Stephens
1:29.282
2.4570
16
21
20
Clint McMahan
1:29.408
2.5838
14
22
7
Dale VandenBush
1:29.978
3.1534
19
23
11
Robert Armington
1:30.432
3.6072
13
24
12
Eric Filgueiras
1:31.634
4.8098
13
25
44
Charles Finelli
1:31.915
5.0900
13
26
15
Brenden Puderbach
1:33.140
6.3155
16
—
In first practice for the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires, the now routine Team Pelfrey timesheet topping continued with Aaron Telitz ahead of teammate Pato O’Ward.
Telitz, in the No. 82 entry, clocked a best time of 1:23.6710 with O’Ward, in the No. 80 car, a little more than a tenth in arrears at 1:23.7781.
Juncos Racing, which had a strong 2015 setup at the IMS road course and won one race with Timothe Buret, placed three of its four drivers in the next three spots. Garett Grist was third ahead of rookie Jake Parsons and past IMS road course winner in USF2000, Will Owen, in fifth.
Nico Jamin, who swept the weekend in USF2000 here last year, was only sixth best and the lead of two Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entries.
Of note, Weiron Tan in the third Team Pelfrey entry, is withdrawn for the remainder of the weekend per a contractual issue.
Tan won the Thursday at IMS last year in what was the NOLA Motorsports Park rain-delayed makeup round, then driving for Andretti Autosport.
The next Pro Mazda practice session is another 30-minute session, from 2:15 to 2:45 p.m.
P
No
Name
FTime
Diff
Laps
1
82
Aaron Telitz
1:23.671
0.000
8
2
80
Pato O’Ward
1:23.778
0.1071
9
3
5
Garett Grist
1:23.877
0.2065
16
4
00
Jake Parsons
1:24.020
0.3493
16
5
23
Will Owen
1:24.105
0.4335
18
6
2
Nico Jamin
1:24.210
0.5391
16
7
3
Jake Eidson
1:24.302
0.6315
17
8
31
Nicolas Dapero
1:24.521
0.8498
16
9
13
Bobby Eberle
1:25.553
1.8818
17
10
44
Kevin Davis
1:26.538
2.8675
17
11
37
Jay Horak
1:26.972
3.3012
13
12
57
Bob Kaminsky
1:27.437
3.7657
14
13
81
Weiron Tan
No Time
—
—
—
Ahead of the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader, three track veterans led the opening 45-minute practice Thursday at the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Santiago Urrutia, who won the most recent round of the season at Barber Motorsports Park, was the only driver to clock into the 1:15 bracket with a 1:15.9770 lap time. Urrutia drives the Soul Red Mazda No. 55 entry for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian.
The Uruguayan won his first Pro Mazda race last year at the IMS road course, which helped kickstart his title charge. He told TSO before the session he was confident in the car’s pace before even putting on new tires during the test day on Wednesday and it showed on Thursday.
Meanwhile series sophomores Ed Jones of Carlin and RC Enerson, also of SPM, were second and third. Jones was just 0.1256 off Urrutia’s best time with Enerson third, 0.1767.
Felix Rosenqvist of Belardi Auto Racing and Kyle Kaiser of Juncos Racing completed the top five, with Dean Stoneman in sixth (Andretti Autosport), Felix Serralles (Carlin) and Scott Hargrove (Team Pelfrey) the top half of the 16-car field.
SPM didn’t run a ton of laps in the session with Urrutia running only six laps and Scott Anderson seven.
As in the Pro Mazda and USF2000 sessions earlier Thursday, there were no red flags or incidents during the sessions.
Second practice for Indy Lights runs from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m., which is the last session of the day’s activity.
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Kyle Kaiser didn’t turn the fastest lap during this afternoon’s qualifying session on the 1.022-mile Phoenix International Raceway oval – that honor fell to Brazilian Andre Negrao – but a blend of impressive pace and admirable consistency over his two-lap run was enough for the Californian teenager to claim the pole position for tomorrow’s Indy Lights Grand Prix of Phoenix.
The pole was Kaiser’s second in three races for Juncos Racing, coming on the heels of his first career Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires pole on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.
Kaiser was the fourth driver to make his attempt during the traditional single-car qualifying session. His first lap, at 21.9182 seconds (167.860 mph), wasn’t quite as fast as Negrao’s best of 21.891 seconds (168.067 mph), set a few minutes earlier, but Kaiser went slightly quicker on his second lap, 21.9152, to ensure a two-lap cumulative time of 43.8334 seconds and an average speed of 167.872 mph. Kaiser’s marks comfortably eclipsed the old Indy Lights qualifying track record, set on a slightly different one-mile configuration by Canadian Claude Bourbonnais at 160.755 mph in 1995.
Even though Negrao’s single best lap remained fastest of the day, the Brazilian’s first lap for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian was significantly slower at 22.1402 seconds. His two-lap average of 167.117 mph was good enough for only sixth on the closely matched grid.
Ed Jones (Carlin) qualified second fastest at an average speed of 167.507 mph, followed by Uruguayan Santiago Urrutia (167.365 mph), who carried the distinctive Mazda Soul Red livery for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian as a result of winning last year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
Teammate RC Enerson was fractionally slower at 167.306 mph to complete Row Two of the grid. Felix Serralles (Carlin), who recorded the fastest lap in practice this morning at 22.0617 seconds (166.769 mph), and Negrao will make up Row Three. Canadian rookie Zachary Claman de Melo also impressed aboard the second Juncos Racing entry with a two-lap average of 167.037 mph to earn seventh on the grid.
The top seven qualifiers were within a fraction over two tenths of a second of each other.
The green flag for tomorrow’s race will fly at 1.30 p.m. local time. Live commentary and streaming video will be available at indylights.com, indycar.com and on the Road To Indy TV App.
Kyle Kaiser (#18 InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks-Juncos Racing): “We were quickest in the session before qualifying so we really contemplated how much we wanted to change for qualifying. We stayed aggressive because we did think the track would get better. We made good changes to the setup. I was confident in our decision so I kept it flat the whole way and just hoped for the best. The car felt perfect; I was surprised how good the track was. We did a lot of long runs in previous tests here, so we know what the tires will do. But ovals are scary, I’ll be completely honest. They’re intimidating, especially in a car like this where you’re going so fast. You have to have confidence that the car is behind you and that you have the experience. That translates to your feedback as well, so you get a better car.”
Posted by Steve Wittich on Friday, February 26th 2016
RC Enerson Fastest as Indy Lights Teams Return to Phoenix Oval Drivers on the Top Rung of the Mazda Road to Indy Turn Almost 2,600 Laps in Test
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian reaped the benefit of an additional private test earlier in the week as RC Enerson headed a team sweep of the top three positions today at Phoenix International Raceway. The teenager led a 16-car Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires field following a one-day pre-season test on the challenging 1.022-mile oval.
Enerson, 18, from New Port Richey, Fla., turned the best lap of the day this morning at 21.8721 seconds, an average speed of 168.214 mph, comfortably faster than the incomparable Greg Moore’s Indy Lights track record of 22.887 (160.755 mph) which dates all the way back to 1995.
“We learned the track on Monday and were able to go flat out,” said Enerson, who returns to Indy Lights for a second season after finishing fourth in his rookie campaign in 2015. “Today we worked on qualifying setups and spent most of our time running together as a group, trying to figure out what to do in traffic during the race. To be able to come in this morning and be the quickest was very encouraging.”
Uruguayan teammate Santiago Urrutia, who won last year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, along with a Mazda scholarship to progress into Indy Lights for 2016, was fastest this afternoon at 21.9862 (167.341 mph), followed by yet another Schmidt Peterson entry driven by GP2 Series veteran Andre Negrao, from Brazil, at 22.0128.
“We concentrated on setups this afternoon, doing qualifying and race simulations,” said Urrutia. “It’s a very physical track, quite hard, but the setup of the car was good. Running with my teammates, it seemed as though it was very hard to pass. That will mean qualifying for the race will be very important.”
“The team tested here on Monday, so today was my second time on an oval,” added Negrao. “It’s so quick here all the time. Coming from Europe, I have to learn the ovals. It’s all new but the team is perfect. They helped me so much. It’s so tricky and fast, but I was pretty calm and confident. After a while, the speed just becomes normal.”
Felix Serralles, from Ponce, Puerto Rico, split up the Schmidt Peterson domination for the Carlin team by posting the third fastest time this afternoon at 22.0733.
Also impressive was Formula Renault 3.5 Series convert Dean Stoneman, from England, who was fifth fastest overall for Andretti Autosport at 22.1039.
“I think we made great progress today,” said Stoneman. “The morning session was all about setup, getting the car to my liking and working to a qualifying-type format. It worked well and we were really on the pace. In the afternoon we were running in race trim which gave us a good idea where we would be. I’m starting to build a great relationship with my engineer and the Andretti team who have helped make my first oval experience extremely positive.”
The 16 drivers turned a total of 2,598 laps with only one relatively minor incident when Canadian Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport) ran high on the exit of Turn Two and glanced the wall. The top 14 cars were covered by less than half a second, which bodes well for when the series returns to PIR for Round Three of the championship on Saturday, April 2.
The teams will now head for Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., where they will join the Pro Mazda and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda contestants for the Mazda Road to Indy Spring Training open test on March 5 (Indy Lights) and 6/7 (USF2000/Pro Mazda). The 18-race 2016 season will kick off less than one week later with a double header on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 11-13 in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Posted by Steve Wittich on Thursday, February 25th 2016
Entry List Blossoms as Indy Lights Teams Prepare for Phoenix Oval Test Drivers From 10 Nations and Four Continents Gather For Mazda Road to Indy Test
PALMETTO, Fla. – Interest in the revitalized Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires continues to gather pace in advance of the new season which commences next month in St. Petersburg, Fla. A high-quality field of 16 drivers representing 10 nations and no fewer than four different continents are set to convene tomorrow, Thursday, February 25, at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., for a one-day test session as part of the Verizon IndyCar Series “Test in the West”. All are anxious to gain some experience on the tricky one-mile oval which will host its first Indy Lights race since 2005 on April 2.
Indy Lights represents the third and final rung on the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel development ladder, which provides Mazda scholarships for drivers to graduate from karting via the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires to Indy Lights and the Verizon IndyCar Series.
This year’s competitors will be seeking to follow in the footsteps of Spencer Pigot. The American rising star has won a total of four Mazda scholarships, including a scholarship valued at $1 million for winning last year’s Indy Lights title. Pigot is scheduled to make his IndyCar debut in the opening race of the season at St. Petersburg on March 13, and will contest at least two more events, including the historic 100th Indianapolis 500.
The Indy Lights field contains an impressive mix of veterans and rookies. Among those with prior experience are Zach Veach, from Stockdale, Ohio, who will make his return to the series with Belardi Auto Racing after finishing third in the 2014 title-chase; Dubai-based Englishman Ed Jones (Carlin), who finished third in his rookie campaign in 2015; Carlin teammate Felix Serralles, from Ponce, Puerto Rico, the winner last year on the flat Milwaukee Mile oval; Florida teenager RC Enerson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb Agajanian), who won last year at Mid-Ohio; and 2015 podium finishers Shelby Blackstock (Andretti Autosport), from Nashville, Tenn., Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing), from Santa Clara, Calif., and Juan Piedrahita (Team Pelfrey) from Bogota, Colombia.
A talented crop of rookies will include Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist (Belardi Auto Racing), the reigning FIA European Formula 3 Champion and two-time winner of the prestigious Macau Grand Prix; Englishman Dean Stoneman (Andretti Autosport), formerly a champion in FIA Formula 2 and runner-up in the 2014 GP3 Series; GP2 Series veteran Andre Negrao (Schmidt Peterson), from Sao Paulo, Brazil; 2015 Pro Mazda champion Santiago Urrutia, from Miguelete, Uruguay, who will take his Mazda Scholarship to Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian; Californian Neil Alberico (Carlin), who finished second in last year’s Pro Mazda championship with four victories; fellow Pro Mazda graduate Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport), from Toronto, Ont., Canada; 2013 USF2000 champion and 2014 Pro Mazda runner-up Scott Hargrove, from Vancouver, B.C., Canada, who joins Team Pelfrey after tasting the waters with a couple of outings in 2015; Korean Heamin Choi (Schmidt Peterson), who made two starts in the 2015 season finale; and Formula Renault 2.0 graduate Zachary Claman De Melo (Juncos Racing) of Montreal, Canada.
Following tomorrow’s test at PIR, the Indy Lights teams will join the remainder of the Mazda Road to Indy competitors for a Spring Training open test at Barber Motorsports Park on March 5 (Indy Lights) and 6/7 (USF2000/Pro Mazda). The 18-race 2016 season will kick off less than one week later with a double-header on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on March 11-13 in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series.
