Archives for Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires

Mid-Ohio – Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires – Race #2

Posted by  on Saturday, July 30th 2016     

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The “Nico Jamin Show” at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course rolled on in the second of two Royal Purple Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio races in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, the second rung of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires ladder.

Driving the Soul Red No. 2 Mazda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, the Frenchman captured his fifth win in a row at the 2.258-mile road course, albeit not in as straightforward a rout as his win was this morning.

The 40-minute race was the last track activity of the day and followed the Pirelli World Challenge race which had just proceeded it, and the track had the interesting mix of the Pirelli rubber coupled with then some spritzes of rain that popped up during the race.

The race for all intents and purposes, though, was decided on a chaotic and perhaps crazy first lap – although it was the first chapter in a fairly entertaining race filled with a number of passes and contact.

Aaron Telitz had the pole position by way of qualifying in the No. 82 Rice Lake Weighing Systems entry for Team Pelfrey, ahead of Jamin and Will Owen in the No. 23 AMR entry for Juncos Racing. The grid is below.

Note Pato O’Ward, in fifth, took his No. 80 Topo Chico Team Pelfrey entry for an installation lap following IndyCar qualifying after an electrical issue was diagnosed in the first race, which may have hampered O’Ward’s start to his day.

Rank Car Driver Time Session
1 82 Aaron Telitz 1:18.2545 Quals
2 2 Nico Jamin 1:18.3482 Quals
3 23 Will Owen 1:18.5858 Quals
4 00 Jake Parsons 1:18.5909 Quals
5 80 Pato O’Ward 1:18.8675 Quals
6 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:18.8737 Quals
7 81 TJ Fischer 1:19.3821 Race 1
8 57 Bob Kaminsky 1:20.6877 Quals
9 13 Bobby Eberle 1:20.9510 Quals

From the start, Telitz led Jamin but only just, with Jamin and Telitz side-by-side into the Keyhole (Turn 2) before Jamin briefly emerged ahead onto the backstraight.

That lead didn’t last long with the two of them side-by-side, with Owen close and O’Ward only just behind, having got around Owen’s teammate Jake Parsons.

Owen, who seemingly would not be denied, got what Telitz later called the “run of the century” to make it a side-by-side affair with Telitz through Turns 4 and 5.

However, with Telitz later saying he got “pinballed” in the four-way fight, he lost momentum to open the door for Jamin, who then slid by at Turn 7 for the lead, himself. Jamin made it around the outside of Owen at Turn 6 which positioned him for the inside of Turn 7.

At the end of the first lap the order was jumbled with Jamin leading Owen and O’Ward, with Telitz down to fourth and Parsons down to fifth. At the back of the field, National class driver Bob Kaminsky spun on his own exiting the final turn and stopped driver’s right, but resumed after finding reverse.

Reports of light rain followed on pit lane, and the rain would later intensify to bring out a full-course caution for moisture. Before the rain, Telitz had made it around O’Ward for third, which proved a pivotal move considering those two drivers’ respective status in the championship chase.

The restart came at Lap 15 with the order just before Jamin, Owen, Telitz, O’Ward and TJ Fischer.

A somewhat crazy restart followed, with Telitz getting a monster “run of the century” of his own out of the final corner and coming to Owen’s inside down the front straight to move into second place.

But the pass didn’t last for long, with Owen able to get back by for second a lap later, on Lap 16. And shortly thereafter Owen would begin his pursuit of Jamin, although a quick run wide at Turn 4 put pause to those hopes and he was focused on securing the runner-up position.

Roughly 1.7 to 1.9 seconds covered the two drivers, although both were more than one second behind Jamin up front.

Further back, Parsons later pitted out of fifth and Fischer limped around without a front wing.

The checkered flag flew with Jamin up front for his second win of the day, and the season, by 1.8594 seconds over Owen, with Telitz in third.

O’Ward and Fischer were fourth and fifth. Team Pelfrey now has its first race of the season – in 13 races – that isn’t a first or second with at least one of its drivers. The team won the first 11 races and Telitz was second in Round 12 this morning, but today marked the first Cape/Juncos top two team performance.

After the post-race press conference, all three podium finishers rewatched portions of the race with a mix of laughter, cheers and awe, as well as shock at wondering how they all made it through the race without major contact.

Jamin called his second consecutive Mid-Ohio Mazda Road to Indy weekend sweep an “amazing feeling” but noted the start was so crazy, and if he was to have any chance of winning from second on the grid, he’d “need to go for it” in a super aggressive manner.

Owen secured his third double podium weekend of the year for Juncos (second and third at Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend, and third in both Road America races) and was almost surprised at how he hung onto the car in that “run of the century.” He called Telitz’s restart “borderline” but was otherwise very happy with his day.

Telitz explained his take on the day’s proceedings, which didn’t mean to see him get aggressive before the start all but forced him into it.

“I never wanted to be super aggressive. It just happened that way,” Telitz said. “I got him on the backstraight. Then Will had the ‘run of the century’ on the outside.

“It was great… but the only thing I didn’t like about it was he ‘parked it’ in Turn 6, and that gave Nico the run.

“But I wasn’t as concerned about either of them because they’re not in the championship and have nothing to lose. Since I was P4, then I realized Pato’s ahead of me, I had to get aggressive. I did not want him to have any momentum at all going to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. But while I felt I got hit a lot, I knew it was important to not hit Pato – and I didn’t hit him! Quite a day.”

Results are below:

P No Name Laps
1 2 Nico Jamin 24
2 23 Will Owen 24
3 82 Aaron Telitz 24
4 80 Pato O’Ward 24
5 81 TJ Fischer 24
6 13 Bobby Eberle 24
7 00 Jake Parsons 23
8 31 Nicolas Dapero 23
9 57 Bob Kaminsky 7

And so, that leaves the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires as the first of the three Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires series with only one weekend remaining – the aforementioned Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca weekend on Sept. 9-11, for a tripleheader weekend.

After this result, Telitz carries in an unofficial 14-point lead, 345 to 331, over O’Ward. O’Ward won six of the first seven races; he’s been off the podium in five of the last six. Telitz has been on the podium in all six, with four wins, a second, and a third.

Jamin is now a clear third in points in the role of spoiler heading into Mazda Raceway, a place where he swept both Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda races last year.

At 271 points scored, Jamin is too far back to mount a championship challenge even if he’s not technically mathematically eliminated. But, he does have a chance to end the year on a high note and pull off another weekend sweep at Mazda Raceway as he did this weekend at Mid-Ohio.

Owen has a lot to be proud of after his performance this weekend, and with 254 points, he’s got a good chance to usurp Jamin for third, be “best of the rest” behind the Pelfrey drivers and look to end a two-plus year winless drought dating to a USF2000 race in similar tricky half wet, half dry conditions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2014. Any win at Mazda Raceway would be his first in Pro Mazda.

This concludes the Pro Mazda portion of our TSO Ladder coverage this weekend from Mid-Ohio. We hope you enjoyed it, and we’ll have the weekend cappers for USF2000 and the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires tomorrow.

category: Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results
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Mid-Ohio – Saturday – Indy Lights Qualifying, Pro Mazda Race #1

Posted by  on Saturday, July 30th 2016     

Doing a double dip of quick hitters this morning after a pair of sessions to kick off the day here at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, on the Saturday for the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires.

Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires kicked off the day with a 30-minute qualifying session from 7:50 to 8:20 a.m. ET and local time, followed shortly by the first of two Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires 40-minute races – both of which will run on the same day.

Notes and tidbits to follow:

—

Indy Lights Logo

Prior to Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying for the Cooper Tire Indy Lights Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, TSO caught up with Zach Veach of Belardi Auto Racing, who languished in 12th in Friday’s lone practice session through no fault of his own.

As it turned out, Veach noted a significant horsepower loss caused by his turbo issue. The team diagnosed and fixed the issue and Veach would be higher up the grid in qualifying, albeit not quite in pole contention.

The thus far dominant driver of the weekend has been Uruguayan Santiago Urrutia, who led Friday’s lone official practice session and was also a Pro Mazda race winner here last year for Team Pelfrey.

The Pro Mazda champion, who now drives the Soul Red No. 55 Dallara IL-15 Mazda for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, improved more than a second from his practice time on Friday (1:11.9530) to a new best time of 1:10.9428 in qualifying.

To wit, he was also nearly seven tenths quicker on the field following his first pole position of the season for the first of two races this weekend.

Urrutia enters the race in second in points, 24 behind points leader Ed Jones of Carlin.

Another Carlin driver, third-placed in points Felix Serralles, will line up second on the grid.

Andre Negrao made it two SPM cars in the top five in third, ahead of Dean Stoneman and Jones. Shelby Blackstock is a respectable sixth ahead of Veach and Neil Alberico. Past Mid-Ohio Pro Mazda and USF2000 race winner Garett Grist slots into ninth, while Juncos Racing’s Kyle Kaiser had an off session and was 12th.

Times are below.

P No Name FTime Diff
1 55 Santiago Urrutia 1:10.943 0.000
2 4 Felix Serralles 1:11.622 0.6795
3 17 Andre Negrao 1:11.735 0.7925
4 27 Dean Stoneman 1:11.821 0.8784
5 11 Ed Jones 1:11.851 0.9084
6 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:11.944 1.0012
7 5 Zach Veach 1:12.082 1.1394
8 22 Neil Alberico 1:12.135 1.1919
9 3 Garett Grist 1:12.330 1.3870
10 13 Zachary Claman De Melo 1:12.407 1.4638
11 28 Dalton Kellett 1:12.434 1.4915
12 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:12.467 1.5244

The first Indy Lights race is scheduled for later this afternoon, slotted between 3:30 p.m. and 4:20 p.m. on the schedule.

—

Pro Mazda Logo

In the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, TSO caught up with Aaron Telitz, who entered this weekend’s Royal Purple Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, after he qualified second.

The Birchwood, Wis. native indicated he felt he did have an extra tenth available in the bank in qualifying, but ran to a plan for Team Pelfrey in terms of the number of laps completed. He pitted after completing that amount of scheduled laps, but at the same moment when Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s Nico Jamin pipped him for pole and the track record that went with it.

With the start – like yesterday’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda race – moved from the backstraight into Turn 4 to the frontstraight, passing was always going to be difficult and so whoever emerged ahead from Turn 1 was likely going to have the edge.

That driver on this occasion was Jamin, who took the lead from the green flag ahead of Telitz and Owen.

Jamin was running at a ridiculously quick clip throughout the race, with a new race lap record of 1:18.598 nearly a full 1.2 seconds quicker than the previous lap record of 1:19.773, set last year by Neil Alberico.

And that actually works as a perfect segue to note that Jamin dominated the race, winning by 5.0917 seconds over Telitz, for Cape’s first Pro Mazda win since Alberico pulled off a victory here last year. The 40-minute race lasted 23 laps, and ran without a full-course caution.

For Jamin, it also adds him to the list of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda champions who’ve now won a race in Pro Mazda as well. It’s his fourth straight victory at Mid-Ohio, having also won all three USF2000 races here last year.

Telitz, thinking more of the championship than the race win, was fully content with second place with Owen leading Juncos Racing’s efforts in third.

Jake Parsons (Juncos) ran an untroubled race to fourth while the battle on the day was for fifth.

With Nico Dapero and TJ Fischer both getting around Pato O’Ward – Fischer being the more notable driver to do so considering he’s the third member of Team Pelfrey and not in the championship fight – the Mexican driver finished seventh, and has thus lost the points lead for the first time this season.

Although O’Ward won six of the first seven races, he’s now finished off the podium in four of the last five races. And that’s swung the title lead to Telitz for the first time.

After the race TSO caught up with all top three drivers.

Jamin said quite simply, “I just love this track!” He added that with the medium speed corners and challenge in passing, if you get on the pole, chances are very good that you’ll win the race.

That might put Telitz in the catbird’s seat for this evening’s second race of the day, set from 6 to 6:50 p.m. If it rains, Telitz said being on the pole will allow for clear vision without any spray.

Telitz focused on defending from Will Owen at the start, rather than attacking Jamin. He said he’s more or less racing O’Ward only in terms of the title, so finishing ahead of him first is most important.

Owen noted that the impressive pace throughout the field speaks to how well the Cooper Tires are coming in and gelling with the track. He’s focused on beating his teammates.

Race results for this race are below, followed by the grid for the second race.

P No Name Laps
1 2 Nico Jamin 23
2 82 Aaron Telitz 23
3 23 Will Owen 23
4 00 Jake Parsons 23
5 31 Nicolas Dapero 23
6 81 TJ Fischer 23
7 80 Pato O’Ward 23
8 13 Bobby Eberle 23
9 57 Bob Kaminsky 23

Qualifying for second race:

Rank Car Driver Time Session
1 82 Aaron Telitz 1:18.2545 Quals
2 2 Nico Jamin 1:18.3482 Quals
3 23 Will Owen 1:18.5858 Quals
4 00 Jake Parsons 1:18.5909 Quals
5 80 Pato O’Ward 1:18.8675 Quals
6 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:18.8737 Quals
7 81 TJ Fischer 1:19.3821 Race 1
8 57 Bob Kaminsky 1:20.6877 Quals
9 13 Bobby Eberle 1:20.9510 Quals

There’s three other Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires events today. The second of three USF2000 races is slotted from 1 to 1:45 p.m. ET.

Then the first Indy Lights race is at 3:30, and the second Pro Mazda race is at 6.

And there might be rain later today, which could make things even more interesting.

category: Indy Lights News/Results, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results
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Mid-Ohio – Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires – Day #1 Recap

Posted by  on Friday, July 29th 2016     

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The battle between Team Pelfrey teammates Pato O’Ward and Aaron Telitz continues to take center stage as the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires heads to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Entering the weekend, they’re both tied with 297 points. O’Ward has six victories to Telitz’s five in the first 11 races, with five races remaining.

But both have embarked on a series of streaks. O’Ward, the 17-year-old Mexican in the No. 80 Topo Chico/Gap Guard car, won six of the first seven, including five in a row from Barber through Lucas Oil Raceway. Telitz has now won four in a row though at Road America and Toronto in his No. 82 Rice Lake Weighing Systems car.

There’s also a tie for third in points with the surging Nico Jamin, who’s scored three straight podiums in the Soul Red No. 2 Mazda, now level with Juncos Racing’s Will Owen in his No. 23 AMR entry. Jamin swept the three USF2000 races at Mid-Ohio last year.

Elsewhere the field of 10 features Owen’s Juncos Racing teammates, the rookie pair of Nicolas Dapero and Jake Parsons, TJ Fischer in the third Pelfrey car and a trio of National class entries, Bobby Eberle, Bob Kaminsky and Kevin Davis, although Davis has been a no-show in sessions thus far. Jorge Cevallos, who was entered in a second Cape car at Toronto, is not here this weekend.

Testing took place on Thursday before official sessions took place on Friday.

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Practice Recap:

Not a ton to report from the 30-minute first and only official practice before qualifying on Friday, run in warm, clear conditions.

Telitz topped the timesheets with a best time of 1:19.062, ahead of the three Juncos Racing entries, led by Dapero in second at a 1:19.152.

O’Ward and Fischer were fifth and sixth, with Jamin only able to clock two laps in the session.

Times are below:

P No Name FTime Diff Laps
1 82 Aaron Telitz 1:19.062 0.000 19
2 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:19.152 0.0893 20
3 23 Will Owen 1:19.823 0.7602 20
4 00 Jake Parsons 1:19.882 0.8195 19
5 80 Pato O’Ward 1:20.571 1.5087 11
6 81 TJ Fischer 1:20.673 1.6108 18
7 57 Bob Kaminsky 1:21.804 2.7419 19
8 13 Bobby Eberle 1:21.875 2.8129 18
9 2 Nico Jamin 1:24.466 5.4032 2
10 44 Kevin Davis No Time — —

Qualifying Recap:

Something weird happened in Pro Mazda qualifying at Mid-Ohio.

A track record fell for the first time in 10 years, and it wasn’t a member of Team Pelfrey on the pole position.

Indeed Nico Jamin, who won all three USF2000 races last year at Mid-Ohio, delivered a 1:18.1385 in the No. 2 Soul Red Mazda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, which eclipsed a 10-year-old mark by Ryan Justice in May 2006, at 1:18.300.

Aaron Telitz was actually first to eclipse the track record mark at 1:18.207 before Jamin got ahead by that half a tenth.

The pole position for Jamin is his first in Pro Mazda and ends a run of pole positions for the Team Pelfrey team that’s lasted the entire year. Team Pelfrey has won each of the first 11 races, while Jamin has come closest to ending that run with the three podiums in a row entering Mid-Ohio.

In the Team Pelfrey internal battle, Telitz still emerged ahead in second while Pato O’Ward was only fifth, and TJ Fischer seventh.

Jake Parsons led Juncos Racing’s trio of drivers with a solid third; the Australian seeks a clean weekend after a couple incidents in Toronto.

Qualifying times are below.

P No Name FTime Diff Laps
1 2 Nico Jamin 1:18.138 0.000 16
2 82 Aaron Telitz 1:18.207 0.0686 15
3 00 Jake Parsons 1:18.580 0.4412 20
4 23 Will Owen 1:18.586 0.4473 18
5 80 Pato O’Ward 1:18.748 0.6098 12
6 31 Nicolas Dapero 1:18.752 0.6136 20
7 81 TJ Fischer 1:19.119 0.9803 15
8 57 Bob Kaminsky 1:20.661 2.5223 18
9 13 Bobby Eberle 1:20.708 2.5695 19

—

Pro Mazda is next on track for Round 12 of its season and its first race of the weekend. It runs from the 8:35 to 9:25 a.m. ET and local time window, with a 40-minute race scheduled.

category: Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results
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Pro Mazda Expands Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Schedule

Posted by  on Friday, July 1st 2016     
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Pro Mazda Expands Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Schedule
Iowa Speedway Round Moves to Mazda Road to Indy Season Finale Weekend
PALMETTO, Fla. – The season finale for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will become a tripleheader event as Round 10 originally scheduled for Iowa Speedway moves to the northern California venue. A decision to alter the schedule was made between Andersen Promotions and Iowa Speedway after a lower than anticipated field was set to contest the 40-minute race slated for July 10.
“I want to thank [Iowa Speedway President] Jimmy Small for giving us the option to move our race off of next weekend’s schedule,” said Dan Andersen, Owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions. “Iowa Speedway produces some great oval racing and it is unfortunate that we didn’t have what we felt was a viable car count to meet not only the track’s expectations but the fans as well. At this stage we will look forward to what is a pivotal round in the Indy Lights championship on July 10 and a return for Pro Mazda in 2017.”
Pro Mazda will next head to the streets of Toronto for a doubleheader event on July 15-17.
The Indy Lights Iowa Challenge Presented by Cooper Tires will take place at 2:15 pm CDT on July 10 leading up to the Verizon IndyCar Series feature race – the Iowa Corn 300 – at 4:35 pm.
category: Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires
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Telitz Doubles Up for Team Pelfrey in Home-State Pro Mazda Romp

Posted by  on Saturday, June 25th 2016     

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Aaron Telitz, from Birchwood, Wis., bounced back into contention for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires – and the chase for a Mazda Scholarship to graduate to Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the next level of the Mazda Road to Indy, in 2017 – following an impressive double…

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Lucas Oil Raceway – USF2000, Pro Mazda Races

Posted by  on Saturday, May 28th 2016     

USF2000 logo

Who says you need a huge field to make a competitive race?

Despite a sizable drop from 27 cars at the most recent Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda race at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend to just 12 cars for Friday night’s Mazda Freedom 75 at Lucas Oil Raceway, traffic and drama still were present during the seventh round of the season to kick off the Mazda Road to Indy doubleheader race.

Australia’s Anthony Martin out of Kalgoorlie in the No. 8 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entry was cagier and more decisive in traffic, using slower traffic to his advantage to pass and beat teammate and polesitter Parker Thompson, in the No. 2 car, out of Red Deer, Alberta.

The decisive moment of the race came on Lap 62. Thompson was leading over Martin before the two drivers encountered Austin McCusker of Chastain Motorsports, the rookie who was running several laps down.

Thompson tried to surpass McCusker exiting Turn 2 but lost momentum on corner exit, which allowed a hole for Martin to pass him for the lead and ultimately, the win.

It was a breakthrough pass for Martin, who had come close on the low side a couple laps earlier through the corners but was unable to pass.

From pole, Thompson led Martin, Victor Franzoni, Jordan Lloyd, Robert Megennis, Yufeng Luo, Ayla Agren, Luke Gabin, McCusker, Lucas Kohl, Dakota Dickerson and Garth Rickards at the end of the first lap.

Minor movement occurred further down the order with Rickards getting Dickerson and later McCusker, with Dickerson also around McCusker by Lap 15. By Lap 20, the overall leaders had caught the Chastain driver.

For a couple laps from Laps 21 and 22, Thompson and Martin ran side-by-side with Thompson able to defend the lead. Gabin, Kohl and Dickerson also had a good battle further down the order.

At halfway on Lap 38, it was still Thompson clear of Martin by 0.6 of a second with Franzoni and Lloyd running unopposed in third and fourth and Megennis seeking to defend fifth from Luo.

While Thompson stretched the lead to north of a second he wasn’t able to fully sustain it when cycling through traffic and by Lap 50, he only had a 0.5 of a second gap to Martin.

It closed to just 0.2196 of a second on Lap 60 with Martin continuing to surge, also having saved his Cooper Tires over the course of the stint, and then came the dramatic moment.

Martin made it past on Lap 62 and led the remaining laps to the finish to secure his second win of the year by 1.3037 seconds.

It’s also Cape’s fifth consecutive win this season and first for the team at Lucas Oil Raceway since Neil Alberico in 2013. A year earlier in 2012, Spencer Pigot beat teammate Matthew Brabham, following a similar, thrilling battle for the lead.

Franzoni ended third for his third podium in a row and fourth this season, with Lloyd fourth and Luo having gotten around Megennis for sixth. Those were the only six drivers to finish on the lead lap.

After the race, Martin admitted the rarity his car was actually more comfortable on the low side of the track and that helped him when it came to making the pass for the win. He was ebullient with a smile as wide as the 0.686-mile oval.

Thompson looked more downcast having lost a sure win, but that being said, noted that a mechanical failure on an already reduced test day on Thursday limited his running and his practice. Although he and Martin are teammates and both ran for single-car teams here last year (JDC Motorsports and John Cummiskey Racing, respectively), the data points aren’t similar because both have such different driving styles. Thompson called the opportunity to lead the Freedom 100 in his Cape car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the pace laps one of his racing career highlights.

With Franzoni having run alone most of the race, he was pleased to bag another podium. He said the team really needs to make up points at Road America if he is to have any shot of catching the Cape twins for the title.

The 75-lap race ran caution free, complete in just under half an hour.

Results are below.

P No Name Laps
1 8 Anthony Martin 75
2 2 Parker Thompson 75
3 9 Victor Franzoni 75
4 21 Jordan Lloyd 75
5 23 Yufeng Luo 75
6 80 Robert Megennis 75
7 22 Garth Rickards 74
8 33 Ayla Agren 74
9 18 Dakota Dickerson 74
10 34 Lucas Kohl 73
11 91 Luke Gabin 72
12 5 Austin McCusker 70
13 72 Tazio Ottis —

—

Pro Mazda Logo

The Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires seventh round of the season, the Cooper Tires Freedom 90, was not the world’s most entertaining race but it still had a fair bit of intrigue to see whether Pato O’Ward’s incredible run of form to start the year would roll on.

Spoiler alert: It did.

The talented 17-year-old out of Monterrey, Mexico took his sixth win in seven races in the No. 80 Gap Guard/Topo Chico car for Team Pelfrey, in a flag-to-flag triumph and first win on an oval in his Pro Mazda career.

Throughout the race, O’Ward defended from Garett Grist, who advanced to second off the start of the race around Juncos Racing teammate Nicolas Dapero. With O’Ward having taken the high line on the start, he had the edge and Grist was able to power past his teammate on the opening lap.

As it turned out, Grist’s pass of Dapero for second was the only pass for position in the entire field, in the entire race. The drivers who started first, then fourth through eighth, all finished directly where they started with the short field.

Grist stayed within a few tenths of a second of O’Ward throughout the race and by Lap 75, he was only 0.2 of a second behind and closing.

But O’Ward controlled the gap and won by 0.4117 of a second.

Grist, in the No. 5 Lander Property Management/Mac Tools/Blacklist Lifestyle car and teammate Dapero, the Argentine rookie in the No. 31 Federal Seguros/American Brocker/S.O.S car, completed the podium and both had their best finishes of the season.

For Dapero, it is his first podium of his Pro Mazda career. It’s also his first top-five finish; the 18-year-old’s best prior result was seventh, twice, at both Barber races.

Jake Parsons and Aaron Telitz finished where they started in fourth and fifth. Telitz, who had been O’Ward’s closest title rival, should hold second in the championship albeit a ways back.

With Will Owen in sixth, Grist will move ahead of him for third in points. Grist entered the race two points behind him and two points ahead of Nico Jamin.

The Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing twins of Jamin and Jake Eidson were non-factors and also ended where they started at the tail end of the field.

The 90-lap race took barely more than 32 minutes to complete and like the USF2000 race earlier, without a caution.

For O’Ward, he was incredibly satisfied to have – along with the Team Pelfrey team – made huge strides with its oval setup compared to last year. Having controlled the race from the start, O’Ward noted how hard it was to save tires over the 90 laps, but his added experience paid dividends. As has been the case with every weekend thus far, he’s hoping for further support to continue his outstanding start to the season. But he called his leading the field in his Pro Mazda car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ahead of the Freedom 100 an amazing moment in his career.

Grist, admittedly, was disappointed with second. The talented Canadian has a good record here – second, first, fourth and second in four starts – but has had to struggle with finishing further behind O’Ward in most race this year. That being said, he knew how to make a move on the start and that was enough to get him into second place.

Dapero blamed his loss of position on the start to a lack of experience. But considering this was his first oval race ever and all he had as a reference point was private testing, he was overjoyed to grace his first podium in the Mazda Road to Indy. It means that all four Juncos Racing drivers have now scored at least one podium finish this season.

Pro Mazda runs next a doubleheader at Road America at the end of June.

Results are below.

P No Name Laps
1 80 Pato O’Ward 90
2 5 Garett Grist 90
3 31 Nicolas Dapero 90
4 00 Jake Parsons 90
5 82 Aaron Telitz 90
6 23 Will Owen 90
7 2 Nico Jamin 90
8 3 Jake Eidson 89
category: Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda - TSO, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO
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Lucas Oil Raceway – Pro Mazda, USF2000 Qualifying

Posted by  on Friday, May 27th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

The Pato O’Ward show rolled on in Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying, with the No. 80 Gap Guard/Topo Chico entry taking the pole position for tonight’s Cooper Tires Freedom 90 at the 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Ind.

O’Ward, 17, headed into the weekend with a pre-race engine change but still not slowing down on the heels of his five wins in six races to open the campaign.

He’ll look for his first oval win tonight after wins at St. Petersburg (street course), Barber Motorsports Park (road course) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (infield road course).

Compared to the usual Team Pelfrey domination in Pro Mazda, it’s actually two Juncos Racing cars behind him. Nicolas Dapero has a career-best second place on the grid, ahead of Garett Grist.

Nico Jamin slotted into fourth in the first of the two Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing cars ahead of Jake Parsons (Juncos), Aaron Telitz (Pelfrey), Will Owen (Juncos) and Jake Eidson.

The 90-lap race is scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. ET. Qualifying speeds are below.

P No Name FTime
1 80 Pato O’Ward 119.860
2 31 Nicolas Dapero 118.634
3 5 Garett Grist 118.668
4 2 Nico Jamin 118.344
5 00 Jake Parsons 118.333
6 82 Aaron Telitz 117.791
7 23 Will Owen 117.830
8 3 Jake Eidson 116.227

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USF2000 logo

Qualifying for tonight’s Mazda Freedom 75 for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda is in the books from Lucas Oil Raceway, with Parker Thompson scoring the pole in his No. 2 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entry.

The young Canadian lapped the 0.686-mile oval at a two-lap average speed of 109.599 mph, which slotted him ahead of teammate Anthony Martin in the No. 8 car.

The Cape team has not won at Lucas Oil Raceway since 2013 when Neil Alberico scored the victory. ArmsUp Motorsports won in 2014 with Aaron Telitz, while Pabst Racing’s Jake Eidson beat the Cape twins of Nico Jamin and Telitz last year.

Jordan Lloyd rolls off third for Pabst ahead of Victor Franzoni of ArmsUp. Robert Megennis, in the lone standing Team Pelfrey entry, completes the top five. Seems hard to believe, but tonight marks Lloyd’s first oval start.

The already reduced field of 14 cars dropped to one with Nikita Lastochkin, the third Cape car, pulling out of the weekend after testing and had another car had an accident in qualifying. Tazio Ottis spun through Turn 2 and hit the outside retaining wall. The JDC Motorsports crew will now need to work to repair the No. 72 car before the race.

The 75-lap race goes green at 6:10 p.m. Meanwhile, qualifying results are below.

P No Name Speed
1 2 Parker Thompson 109.599
2 8 Anthony Martin 109.512
3 21 Jordan Lloyd 108.764
4 9 Victor Franzoni 108.702
5 80 Robert Megennis 108.625
6 33 Ayla Agren 107.453
7 23 Yufeng Luo 106.992
8 5 Austin McCusker 106.329
9 91 Luke Gabin 106.270
10 34 Lucas Kohl 106.421
11 22 Garth Rickards 104.498
12 18 Dakota Dickerson 63.014

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category: Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results
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Indy/Lucas Oil Raceway – Tatuus USF-17 Reveal, Pro Mazda and USF2000 Practice Notes

Posted by  on Friday, May 27th 2016     

IMG_0086 (1)

The new Tatuus USF-17 chassis was revealed Friday morning on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pagoda Plaza, and she’s a beauty.

The car is the second new car on the Mazda Road to Indy to be revealed at IMS, following the launch of the Dallara IL-15 Mazda in May, 2014.

The new USF-17 chassis debuts in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda series next year.

A number of speakers were present at the announcement, including Dan Andersen, Mazda’s John Doonan, project manager Scot Elkins, INDYCAR’s Mark Miles, Gianfranco De Bellis of Tatuus and others. Chris Pantani of Cooper Tires and a host of other key stakeholders were there during the announcement.

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Here’s a bit more info following the car’s launch:

Dan Andersen told TSO that the testing of the prototype begins almost immediately with trips to the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park, Barber Motorsports Park, Road America (day after Verizon IndyCar Series weekend) and at the Lucas Oil Raceway Oval.

Doing the test driving will be Joel Miller and Spencer Pigot.

Miller is currently the Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda’s driver coach/steward and also a Mazda Motorsports factory driver, where he is one of four regular drivers of the Mazda Prototype in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

A mechanical engineering degree from the University of California Riverside combines perfectly with the 28 year-olds recent experience helping with the development of the Mazda prototype program.

Pigot, the reigning Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire champion, will be taking part in his first Indianapolis 500 this weekend.

Tatuus constructs an F4 and F3 car, and while the new USF2000 and Pro Mazda cars will share some similarities with those cars, they could not come “straight off the shelf.”

The USF-17 will have a superior PFC F3 brakes, a better data system and increased safety enhancements. Jeff Horton, INDYCAR’s director of engineering, has been working with USF-17 project manager on all of the safety upgrades. Those upgrades include a double bulkhead, side intrusion panels and an approved INDYCAR head surround.

Orders for the new car are very strong, with the first delivery of 15 that will be arriving in December, being long sold out, and the second container arriving in December well on the way to being sold out. TSO has also learned that a significant number of the orders are from teams not already competing in the Mazda Road To Indy.

TSO also had a change to ask Tatuus principal Gianfranco De Bellis a couple of questions about this new American adventure.

1) I know that you have produced 1,700+ junior formula chassis over the last 15 years. Do you attribute your success to concentrating on building the best junior open wheel car that you can, instead of trying to move up categories?

“We always had a great success in the entry level category, I believe that we have always approached the project to try to make quality cars upper to requests. We believe that this can now also be brought to higher Championship, we are confident that we now have a a great technical office ready and prepared to make successful cars in higher categories.”

2) What has it been like working with an American based sanctioning body? Are the expectations similar to what you’ve found in Europe and Asia?

“For us the opportunity to these two new American projects is very important, we have set up immediately a good contact and technical exchange with Scot, from the very beginning our goal was to repay the trust of Dan and making a great car, we wish that the Americans teams and drivers will be happy about this change.”

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Before today’s Cooper Tires Freedom 90 and Mazda Freedom 75, both the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda held test and practice sessions Thursday at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Rain interrupted proceedings at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it was no surprise that just west of the mecca that is IMS, rain stopped play at the short track that has a lovely high school-size feel to it in Clermont.

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Pro Mazda Logo

In the Pro Mazda evening practice session, Pato O’Ward topped the times once more. The young Mexican edged Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s Nico Jamin, in easily the USF2000 champion’s best session of the season. O’Ward’s teammate, Aaron Telitz, clocked in only sixth.

Telitz ran only 40 laps, the fewest, while O’Ward banked 87 laps. The eight cars entered still turned more than 500 laps.

In a humorous Pro Mazda note, we’re not sure if the man whose Andersen Promotions organization runs and operates the Mazda Road to Indy – Dan Andersen – has ever considered running for political office. But judging by this hat he rocked on Thursday in a tweet posted by Anders Krohn, we wouldn’t put it past him.

Speeds from Thursday are below:

P No Name FSpeed Laps
1 80 Pato O’Ward 120.263 87
2 2 Nico Jamin 120.222 53
3 5 Garett Grist 119.385 56
4 00 Jake Parsons 118.965 64
5 31 Nicolas Dapero 118.902 63
6 82 Aaron Telitz 118.225 40
7 3 Jake Eidson 118.072 65
8 23 Will Owen 117.824 74

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USF2000 logo

In the USF2000 session, Parker Thompson went out early, set the eventual session flier, and enjoyed watching as everyone else shot and missed it.

The 18-year-old Canadian ran a best lap of 111.198 mph and only competed seven laps in the session. Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Anthony Martin was second, with his Australian countryman Jordan Lloyd of Pabst Racing in third.

Only 13 of the 14 cars entered took times in the official practice, with the third Cape car, Nikita Lastochkin, not running in that session. Lastochkin did run 50 laps in a morning test session.

There were 890 laps completed in the USF2000 practice. Beyond Thompson’s seven laps only, the remaining drivers completed between 57 and 96 laps in the session – Victor Franzoni of ArmsUp Motorsports posted the 96 laps.

Speeds are below:

P No Name FSpeed Laps
1 2 Parker Thompson 111.198 7
2 8 Anthony Martin 110.819 72
3 21 Jordan Lloyd 110.556 57
4 9 Victor Franzoni 110.556 96
5 23 Yufeng Luo 109.512 59
6 18 Dakota Dickerson 109.318 75
7 22 Garth Rickards 109.158 58
8 33 Ayla Agren 108.870 80
9 5 Austin McCusker 108.827 69
10 34 Lucas Kohl 108.439 91
11 72 Tazio Ottis 107.744 81
12 91 Luke Gabin 106.969 57
13 80 Robert Megennis 106.734 88

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Next up for both series is qualifying. USF2000 is out from 4 to 4:25 p.m, and Pro Mazda is out from 4:30 to 4:55 p.m.

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Meanwhile first up today is the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Freedom 100 from IMS. Coverage is at noon ET on NBCSN with estimated green flag time of 12:30 p.m. ET.

Don’t miss any of the action

category: Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results
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Lucas Oil Raceway – Pro Mazda, USF2000 Previews

Posted by  on Thursday, May 26th 2016     

If there’s one constant about the recent years of Mazda Road to Indy action for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda at Lucas Oil Raceway, it’s that there hasn’t been a single constant.

Change has been the norm at the series’ smallest track, the 0.686-mile Lucas Oil Raceway in Clermont, Ind., just outside Indianapolis.

The race was first off traditionally part of the “Night Before the 500,” which as its name would suggest, ran the night before the Indianapolis 500. And it ran late into the night, worse if there was any rain to sabotage or delay proceedings.

Last year, the powers-that-be decided that the “Night Before the 500” would become the “Day Before the Night Before the 500.” The Pro Mazda and USF2000 races were moved up to Saturday afternoon, thus ensuring an early night out for anyone affiliated in the Mazda Road to Indy to make it to IMS early Sunday morning if need be.

For a third straight year, however, the event has changed. It’s now back to the night – but Friday night rather than Saturday – along with the USAC Silver Crown series. The event is now called the “Carb Night Classic.”

Testing and practice runs all day Thursday, before qualifying and the races on Friday. Passing is traditionally difficult at the track that primarily sees high groove running, and will thus make qualifying that much more important.

The Pro Mazda and USF2000 races are the second and third of the day for the Mazda Road to Indy, at two different tracks. The Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires’ Freedom 100 is scheduled for earlier Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Additionally, the USF2000 series’ new car, the Tatuus USF-17, will be unveiled on the IMS Pagoda Plaza at 9 a.m. ET and local time on Friday.

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Pro Mazda Logo

The Pro Mazda field is down to just eight cars and the story going into the Cooper Tires Freedom 90 weekend to go along with the reduced car count is whether Aaron Telitz can eat into teammate Pato O’Ward’s points lead, which currently stands at 39 points (188-149).

O’Ward, the 17-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico has opened the year on a tear, having won five of the first six races in the No. 80 Gap Guard/Topo Chico car. He should be able to improve upon a seventh place that he achieved last year.

Telitz may well be the early favorite here though. The Wisconsinite, in the No. 82 Rice Lake Weighing Systems car, is a past Lucas Oil Raceway winner. He dominated the 2014 USF2000 race here driving for ArmsUp Motorsports. A win with O’Ward finishing second might not be a huge cut into the points lead, but it will be enough to give him momentum heading into his home race next month at Elkhart Lake’s Road America.

The remaining six drivers in the field will likely be vying over the final podium position. Garett Grist, who won this race for Andretti Autosport in 2014, remains the driver with the best odds to break up the Team Pelfrey parade at the front of the field. The diminutive but talented Canadian drives the No. 5 Lander Property Management/Mac Tools/Blacklist Lifestyle car for Juncos Racing and is no doubt keen to get his first win of the season. Teammate Will Owen finished second here last year in his No. 23 AMR entry and looks to go one better this time around.

Nico Jamin and Jake Eidson, along with Telitz, were part of the USF2000 win battle here last year – Eidson ultimately prevailed – but neither has yet been able to showcase their ability as well in their respective steps up to Pro Mazda this year with Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing.

Rookies Nicolas Dapero and Jake Parsons of Juncos will look to get comfortable for Juncos in their maiden oval bows.

Winning at Lucas Oil Raceway hasn’t been a great harbinger of championship success. The last five winners here are Weiron Tan, Grist, Matthew Brabham and Connor De Phillippi, who won two in a row from 2011 to 2012. Brabham is the only one to have gone on to win the Pro Mazda title.

Tan’s tenure with Team Pelfrey was halted after testing during the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis weekend and it remains to be seen if the Malaysian, or that No. 81 car, will reappear at a later point this season. The four National class drivers that ran there have also opted to pass up the oval race.

Cooper Tires Freedom 90 schedule

Thursday, May 26, 2016

  • 10:15am-10:45 am – Rookie Testing
  • 10:45-11:15am – Testing
  • 1:30pm-2:30pm – Testing
  • 3:30pm-4:30pm – Testing
  • 6:15-6:45pm – Practice

Friday, May 27, 2016

  • 4:30pm-4:55pm – Qualifying
  • 7:10pm-7:45pm – Cooper Tires Freedom 90 (90 laps)

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USF2000 logo

Forgetting its nightmarish first weekend at St. Petersburg, the USF2000 season has now begun to follow a familiar script: domination by Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing as the team seeks its sixth straight championship, with four straight wins heading into Round 7, the Mazda Freedom 75.

On the heels of three wins and a second place in his last four starts, talented 18-year-old Parker Thompson out of Red Deer, Alberta has ascended to a 28-point lead over teammate Anthony Martin, out of Kalgoorlie, Australia. Martin nabbed a win during the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course weekend as well, so now both of the top-returning drivers from 2015 are on the victory scoreboard in 2016.

A driver who could well add his name to that list this weekend is Brazilian Victor Franzoni of ArmsUp Motorsports, driving the team’s No. 9 car. Franzoni drives for a team that won here in 2014 with Aaron Telitz driving, and is renowned for its oval preparation and setup from engineer John Walko. Franzoni isn’t new to the podium at Lucas Oil Raceway, either – he finished third here in 2014 driving for Afterburner Autosport.

Franzoni enters the weekend fourth in points as part of a four-way logjam and battle for third behind the Cape twins. He sits six points behind Round 1 winner Jordan Lloyd of Pabst Racing, but three ahead of Lloyd’s Pabst teammate Yufeng Luo and five clear of JAY Motorsports’ Luke Gabin.

Franzoni raced here in Pro Mazda last year while Lloyd will be making his short oval debut. Luo finished fifth, Gabin eighth last year in USF2000.

Others making an encore appearance in USF2000 after racing here last year included Pabst’s Garth Rickards (finished ninth), Cape’s Nikita Lastochkin (12th) and John Cummiskey Racing’s Ayla Agren (11th).

Rookies set to debut at the track include Mazda Scholarship recipient Dakota Dickerson of Afterburner, Lucas Kohl of Cummiskey, Robert Megennis of Team Pelfrey, Austin McCusker of Chastain Motorsports and Tazio Ottis of JDC Motorsports.

A couple notes from that last batch: Kohl, the young Brazilian, enjoyed his best run of the year on the Indy road course with finishes of sixth and eighth, continuing to grow with driver coach and mentor Roberto Moreno.

Meanwhile, you’ll note Megennis is the only car entered for Team Pelfrey, after the team started the year with four.

TSO understands that both James Munro and, more recently, 15-year-old rising star Jordan Cane are no longer with the team. The status of T.J. Fischer remains a question mark since he’s not entered. The potential exists Cane, who only just turned 15 on May 21, could reappear later this year with another team in the USF2000 paddock.

Other notable absences include RJB Motorsports with its two cars, Sam Chastain (Chastain Motorsports), and the respective second ArmsUp and JAY entrants.

Pabst’s Jake Eidson won this race last year, with Aaron Telitz having taken it for ArmsUp in 2014. Cape won three in a row before that with Neil Alberico in 2013, Spencer Pigot in 2012 and Petri Suvanto in 2011, although Suvanto was the only one of those three to go on to win the title.

Pigot prevailed in a memorable side-by-side duel with Matthew Brabham in 2012 and now the pair of two-time Mazda Road to Indy champions are making their Indianapolis 500 debuts on Sunday.

Mazda Freedom 75 schedule

Thursday, May 26, 2016

  • 9am-9:30am – Rookie Testing
  • 9:30am-10am – Testing
  • 11:30am-12:30pm – Testing
  • 2:45pm-3:15pm – Testing
  • 5:30pm-6pm – Practice

Friday, May 27, 2016

  • 4pm-4:25pm – Qualifying
  • 6:10pm-6:45pm – Mazda Freedom 75 (75 laps)

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category: Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, Pro Mazda News/Results
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Team Pelfrey and O’Ward Secure Pro Mazda Clean Sweep at Indianapolis

Posted by  on Sunday, May 15th 2016     

Five Wins out of Six Ensure Commanding Points Lead for Mexican Teenager INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The weather turned distinctively cooler today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Patricio “Pato” O’Ward continued his hot streak by dominating this morning’s Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires. O’Ward, 17, from Monterrey, Mexico, repeated his…

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