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Road To Indy on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – Indy Pro 2000 preview

Posted by  on Thursday, May 9th 2019     

By Steve Wittich

The Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires series visit the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the sixth straight year for the middle-rung of ladder’s 12th and 13th races.

The PM-18 made it’s “Month of May” debut last year and put on an outstanding show. The pole sitter won seven times in the first nine races that saw a total of three lead changes.

In 2018, the pair of races had five lead changes between them, and the race winners started in third and sixth place.

Juncos Racing and Team Pelfrey are currently tied with three Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course wins each. The other two active teams with wins in this event are Exclusive Autosport and RP Motorsport.

Previous Indy Pro 2000 winners on the the IMS road course

Year

Driver

Team

Start

2018 Race #2

Parker Thompson

Exclusive Autosport

6

2018 Race #1

Harrison Scott

RP Motorsport

3

2017 Race #2

Victor Franzoni

Juncos Racing

1

2017 Race #1

Victor Franzoni

Juncos Racing

1

2016 Race #2

Pato O’Ward

Team Pelfrey

1

2016 Race #1

Pato O’Ward

Team Pelfrey

1

2015 Race #3

Santiago Urrutia

Team Pelfrey

1

2015 Race #2

Timothe Buret

Juncos Racing

1

2015 Race #1

Weiron Tan

Andretti Autosport

1

2014 – Race #2

Scott Hargrove

Cape Motorsports with /WTR

2

2014 – Race #1

Scott Hargrove

Cape Motorsports with /WTR

2

The advancemnt scholarship chase

Parker Thompson, winner of the first two races of the year, who started the 2019 season on a two-race deal with Abel Motorsports, will return for at least two more races with Louisville, Ky. based team.

The points leader headed into the “Month of May” has had some previous success on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. The 21-year-old has two wins (including last year in Indy Pro 2000), three podiums, five top five and one pole in eight previous starts.

“I’ve had success there last year,” explained the Red Deer, Alberta, Canada driver. “I won and finished fifth, due to a mechanical issue, in the two Indy Pro 2000 events a year ago. As strong as Abel Motorsports is right now, there’s nowhere to go but up. I’m going to hold us to a pretty high standard. I don’t see any reason why we can’t be on the top step of the podium both days this weekend.”

Behind Thompson and his healthy 19-point lead are seven drivers covered by only 19 points.

Juncos Racing rookie Rasmus Lindh starts the “Month of May” as the driver closest to the veteran on top of the standing. The first of Lindh’s five podiums in the USF2000 championship last year came in the second race at this same event.

An aggressive move to start the second race in St. Petersburg propelled Exclusive Autosport rookie Danial Frost to a second place finish, his first Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires podium. The 17-year-old from Singapore, who begins the weekend only four points behind Lindh, will be making his first race start on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Frost did complete a successful Chris Griffis Memorial Test so that the circuit won’t be entirely new for him.

Only two points behind Frost is veteran Sting Ray Robb. The third-year driver has made four previous starts on the IMS Road Course, grabbing a podium in the second race last year.

Defending USF2000 champion Kyle Kirkwood rebounded from a DNF in the first race of the season to grab his 14th career Road To Indy podium in the second. Combine the fact that RP Motorsport is a proven winner on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course with Kirkwood’s two USF2000 victories last year, and you shouldn’t be surprised when the Jupiter, Fla. native is at the pointy end of the grid.

Veterans Nikita Lastochkin (Exclusive Autosport), Moisés de la Vara (DEForce Racing) and Phillippe Denes (Fatboy Racing!) are all within seven points of Kirkwood and can move into the top five in points with a solid weekend.

Indy Lights points headed into the “Month of May”

RANK

DRIVER

POINTS

BACK

1

Parker Thompson

64

2

Rasmus Lindh – R

45

-19

3

Danial Frost – R

41

-23

4

Sting Ray Robb

39

-25

5

Kyle Kirkwood – R

33

-31

6

Nikia Lastochkin

31

-33

7

Moisés de la Vara

30

-34

8

Phillippe Denes – R

26

-38

9T

Antonio Serravalle – R

22

-42

9T

Jacob Abel – R

22

-42

9T

Damiano Fioravanti – R

22

-42

12

Parker Locke – R

20

-44

13

Kory Enders – R

19

-45

14

Charles Finelli

13

-51

Newcomer

Ian Rodriguez will be making his Indy Pro 2000 and Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires debut with RP Motorsport.

The Guatemalan is not new to formula car racing, spending the past three seasons in Europe. The 18-year-old who was part of a one-car team had four podiums in three seasons of the hotly contested Italian F4 Championship.

“I’m really happy to make my debut in this championship with RP Motorsport,” said Rodriguez. “It is a great opportunity for my career, which will take place in a such a prestigious place as Indianapolis: a circuit where all drivers dream of racing at least once in their life, though of course my goal will be to stay focused on driving and learn as much as possible. I’m sure the team will give me great help in this regard, and I can’t wait to start!”

Road To Indy Returnee

Jacob Loomis, who made two Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship starts on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 2017 returns with Texas-based open-wheel development team JDL Racing. The team includes principal Jim Loomis and former Indy Pro 2000 standout Moses Smith.

Loomis, a 19-year-old college student studying Aviation Technology stood on the podium four times over two seasons of F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda competition.

Jacob Loomis heads out on track during his Road To Indy debut in a USF2000 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2017 (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

“This represents a major step forward in my career and toward my dream of winning an Indy 500,” said Loomis. “We are eager to put our small-town team’s effort to the test and are ready to show that a lofty budget and a lavish team aren’t always necessary to take that next step in climbing the Road to Indy ladder. I love racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, enjoying success at the F4 level, and am hoping to continue the streak.”

 

Keeping busy and winning races the Indy Pro 2000 edition

With the long break between Indy Pro 2000 events, the Abel Motorsports duo of Parker Thompson and Jacob Abel have kept busy.

Abel Motorsports with driver Kyle Kirkwood ware the defending F3 Americas Championship Powered By Honda champions and after five of sixteen races hold down the top spot with Abel.

Abel finished third and fourth in the opening pair of races at Barber Motorsports Park in support of the NTT IndyCar Series before winning twice and finishing on the podium once at Road Atlanta. The 18-year-old holds a one-point advantage headed to the third round of the competition.

“Getting those wins has given me a lot of confidence going into Indy,” said Abel. “It’s going to be a busy month of May for us with the Grand Prix weekend and then my oval debut at Lucas Oil Raceway on the 500 weekend. I can’t wait to get going!”

Abel’s teammate and Indy Pro 2000 points leader Thompson is contesting Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA series with JDX Racing. The single-make series began the season at Barber Motorsports Park with the NTT IndyCar Series in April where Thompson turned his first laps in a race car with a roof, before moving to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last weekend.

Thompson began the season with a pair of second place finishes in the season-opening couple of races in Alabama. His third second-place finish followed a dominant victory in treacherous conditions Saturday in Ohio. That leaves the Canadian in second place, ten points behind countryman Roman DeAngelis headed into the next round at home in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Exclusive Autosport’s Nikita Lastochkin took part in a different kind of race. The Russian ticked off a bucket list item by completing the Los Angeles Marathon in March.

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR INSTAGRAM POST

 

Other Notes

  • Abel Motorsports sophomore Parker Thompson is the only past winner the field this year.
  • Indy Lights rookie Oliver Askew, who also holds the USF2000 qualifying record on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course, set the qualifying track record last year with a lap of 79.3319 seconds.
  • Parker Thompson with a lap of 81.0338 seconds currently holds the race track record.
  • Only two of the eleven previous Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race winners on the IMS have gone on to win the coveted advancement scholarship. Santi Urrutia won once in 2015, and Victor Franzoni won twice in 2017.
  • All 11 races have finished under green flag conditions.
  • The most significant margin of victory occurred in 2017 race #2 when Victor Franzoni obliterated the field, finishing 13.0798 seconds ahead of TJ Fisher.
  • Only three of the 11 races have had a margin of victory of less than one second, including the closest finish — Harrison Scott’s slim 0.3834-second margin over Oliver Askew in race #1 last year.
  • The first four Indy Pro 2000 races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course had a first lap caution. There was then a six-race span with no first lap cautions, until a first lap caution in the second race in 2018.

Race Weekend Basics

  • Each entry can utilize three new sets of Cooper Tire slicks as well as one set of used/scuffed tires from the test at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  • Race name: Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of Indianapolis Presented by Cooper Tires
  • Race #1 length: 25 laps or 40 minutes
  • Race #2 length: 25 laps or 50 minutes
  • Drivers failing to slow at least 15% in a timing sector with a local yellow will be subject to a two-place grid spot penalty.
  • Drivers who fail to heed the checkered flag at the end of a session will receive a two-grid spot penalty.
  • Causing one red flag will result in a driver losing their fastest lap.
  • Causing a second red flag will wipe out all of drivers laps, and be parked for the remainder of the session.
  • Crossing the white line between Turn 6 and Turn 7 is considered out of bounds. Crossing behind the Turn 7 curbs in qualifying will result in the loss of that lap.
  • Pit lane speed is 45mph.
  • At pit exit, all cars shall exit behind the Turn 1 curb and keep all four wheels to the right of the white line.
  • Driver points are distributed as follows: 30 – 25 – 22 – 19 – 17 – 15 -14 – 13 – 12 – 11 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – an additional one point will be awarded to the pole sitter, to the driver who leads the most laps, and to the driver who turns the quickest race lap.

Watch the 2018 Races

Race #1

Race #2

 

 

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A pair of veterans, Darren Keane (USF2000) and Parker Thompson (Indy Pro 2000) lead Road To Indy practice in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Posted by  on Thursday, March 7th 2019     

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship was the first INDYCAR sanctioned series to officially kick off their season in preparation for the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by Andersen RacePark. The sky was a brilliant blue with no clouds and the temperature just cracking 70F.

It was not a surprise two quickest laps of the first USF2000 practice session of the season was led by a pair of veterans. Cape Motorsports’ Darren Keane led the way with a lap of 74.056 seconds. The lap was five-hundredths quicker that track record holder Alexandre Baron.

DEForce Racing rookie Manuel Sulaiman, who is making his first ever start on a street course, ended the session with the third quickest lap.

Rookie Braden Eves (Cape Motorsports) and veteran Colin Kaminsky (Pabst Racing) led a pair of Aussie rookies, Hunter McElrea (Pabst Racing) and Cameron Shields (Newman Wachs Racing).

The first red flag of the session and season came out only five minutes into the lone 30-minute practice session for an incident with Jay Howard Driver Development rookie Matthew Round-Garrido.

At that early part of the session, the top three were Baron, Keane, and McElrea.

The green flag came back out five minutes later and times began to drop as drivers got their Cooper Tire slicks up the correct operating temperature.

The second red flag came out with ten minutes remaining. It was veteran Darren Keane that had the quickest lap at 74.4896 seconds. Baron, MeElrea, Colin Kaminsky and Manuel Sulaiman made up the remainder of the top five.

The track went green again with six minutes remaining and was immediately busy with the buzzing of twenty Elite Engine 2.0 liter power plants.

At the end of the session, 11 of the 19 drivers that turned laps at speed were within one second of Keane’s fast lap.

USF2000 Cooper Tires Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Practice #1 timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM FAST LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 2 Darren Keane Cape Motorsports 1:14.056 –.—- 16
2 14 Alex Baron Legacy Autosport 1:14.113 0.0571 16
3 12 Manuel Sulaiman DEForce Racing 1:14.253 0.1967 17
4 8 Braden Eves Cape Motorsports 1:14.363 0.3067 16
5 23 Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing 1:14.378 0.3221 17
6 22 Hunter McElrea Pabst Racing 1:14.389 0.3328 16
7 73 Cameron Shields Newman Wachs Racing 1:14.711 0.6547 16
8 24 Bruna Tomaselli Pabst Racing 1:14.895 0.8387 17
9 40 Jack William Miller Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:14.976 0.9196 16
10 41 Eduardo Barrichello Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:15.103 1.0466 16
11 27 Zach Holden BN Racing 1:15.138 1.0815 14
12 21 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 1:15.443 1.3869 16
13 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:15.552 1.4963 15
14 3 Reece Gold Cape Motorsports 1:15.555 1.4994 14
15 28 Anthony Famularo BN Racing 1:16.572 2.5157 15
16 36 Nolan Siegel Newman Wachs Racing 1:16.741 2.6849 15
17 69 Nate Aranda Team E JAY Racing 1:16.781 2.7251 14
18 7 Christian Bogle Jay Howard Driver Development 1:17.111 3.0550 16
19 77 Jose Sierra Legacy Autosport 1:22.714 8.6576 2
20 5 Matt Round-Garrido Jay Howard Driver Development No Time — —
21 6 Christian Rasmussen Jay Howard Driver Development No Time — —

The USF2000 series has a twenty-minute qualifying for the Cooper Tires Grand Prix of St. Petersburg rolls off at 4:45 pm.

Parker Thompson, who is on a one event deal with rookie team Abel Motorsports served notice that he left the cold and snow of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada for the warmth of the “Sunshine City,” for one reason. To have fun (and maybe win too).

The 21-year-old’s quick lap at 58.7842 seconds was almost eight-tenths ahead of his next closest competitor, Juncos Racing rookie Rasmus Lindh.

Lindh led a sextet of drivers of drivers covered by a half second that included Lindh, his teammate Sting Ray Robb, Moisés de la Vara (DEForce Racing), Danial Frost (Exclusive Autosport), Kyle Kirkwood (RP Motorsport) and Nikia Lastochkin (Exclusive Autosport).

The second rung of the Road To Indy, the newly renamed Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, took to the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit 15 minutes after the smaller sibling.

The 14 PM-18 entries quickly got to work on the tricky street circuit with veterans Sting Ray Robb, and Nikia Lastochkin joined by rookies Rasmus Lindh and Kyle Kirkwood at the top of the timing screens.

At the half-way point of the 30-minute session, Thompson went to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 69.320 seconds and was joined in the sub-70 second club by Danial Frost (Exclusive Autosport) and Robb. Veterans Moisés de la Vara and Lastochkin rounded out the top five.

With just under five minutes remaining in the session, Thompson was the first driver to turn a lap under 79-seconds and went quicker than that on his next lap.

Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products Practice #1 timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM FAST LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 8 Parker Thompson Abel Motorsports 1:08.784 –.—- 23
2 10 Rasmus Lindh Juncos Racing 1:09.578 0.7941 21
3 2 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing 1:09.648 0.8637 22
4 6 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing 1:09.649 0.8647 23
5 68 Danial Frost Exclusive Autosport 1:09.756 0.9720 23
6 28 Kyle Kirkwood RP Motorsport Racing 1:09.882 1.0982 19
7 90 Nikita Lastochkin Exclusive Autosport 1:09.891 1.1065 23
8 7 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 1:10.107 1.3226 22
9 11 Antonio Serravalle Pserra Racing/Jay Howard Driver Development 1:10.430 1.6459 22
10 51 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports 1:11.070 2.2853 21
11 5 Damiano Fioravanti RP Motorsport Racing 1:11.398 2.6136 20
12 91 Parker Locke Exclusive Autosport 1:11.866 3.0814 22
13 83 Charles Finelli FatBoy Racing! 1:18.365 9.5812 20
14 98 Phillippe Denes Fatboy Racing! No Time — —

The Indy Pro 2000 series has a 20-minute qualifying session for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products rolls off at 5:20 pm.

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Previewing the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season and first event of 2019 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Posted by  on Thursday, March 7th 2019     

By Steve Wittich

The Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires (formerly the Star / Pro Mazda Series) will be starting their season on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit for the sixth straight year.

Eight of the 21 seasons have started in St. Petersburg, Fla. Combine that with the ten times the series began their year at Sebring International Raceway and the series has begun the title chase in the Sunshine State 86% of the time.

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race winners on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

Year Driver Team Start
2018 Race #2 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 1
2018 Race #1 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 8
2017 Race #2 Anthony Martin Cape Motorsports 1
2017 Race #1 Anthony Martin Cape Motorsports 1
2016 Race #2 Aaron Telitz Team Pelfrey 1
2016 Race #1 Patricio O’Ward Team Pelfrey 1
2015 Race #2 Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports 1
2015 Race #1 Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports 1
2014 Race #2 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing 1
2014 Race #1 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing 1
2013 Race #2 Matthew Brabham Andretti Autosport 5
2013 Race #1 Matthew Brabham Andretti Autosport 8
2012 Race #2 Jack Hawksworth Team Pelfrey 1
2012 Race #1 Connor De Phillippi Juncos Racing 1
2011 Connor De Phillippi Team Pelfrey 3
2010 Conor Daly Juncos Racing 1

Winning the season opener

Only seven drivers who stood on the top step of the podium in the season-opening Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires went on to win the championship. The 35% win percentage is the lowest of the three rungs of Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires ladder.

YEAR DRIVER
1999 Joey Hand
2000 Bernardo Martinez
2001 Scott Bradley
2005 Rafa Matos
2009 Adam Christodoulou
2014 Spencer Pigot
2018 Rinus VeeKay

Spencer Pigot, who won the first Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race of the year in St. Petersburg, Fla. will starting in the NTT IndyCar Series race on Sunday (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

The winner of the season-opening Indy Pro 2000 race may have only won the championship seven times, but has finished second another eight times. That leaves the average championship finishing position of 2.75 for first race winners.

Does previous experience matter?

The mix of veterans and rookies in Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, the middle rung of the Road To Indy, is almost an even split.

The 14 entries feature six veteran drivers and eight rookies Indy Pro 2000 drivers, with two of those newcomers making their Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires debuts in St. Petersburg, Fla. this weekend.

Almost half of the 20 title winners were true rookies, including Rinus VeeKay in 2018 and five of the last seven scholarship winners.

Race weekend basics

Each entry can utilize three new sets of Cooper Tire slicks as well as one set of used/scuffed tires from the test at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Race name: Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products

Race #1 length: 25 laps or 40 minutes
Race #2 length: 30 laps or 40 minutes

Drivers failing to slow at least 15% in a timing sector with a local yellow will be subject to a two-place grid spot penalty

Drivers who fail to heed the checkered flag at the end of a session will receive a two-grid spot penalty

Causing one red flag will result in a driver losing their fastest lap

Causing a second red flag will wipe out all of drivers laps, and be parked for the remainder of the session

Driver points are distributed as follows: 30 – 25 – 22 – 19 – 17 – 15 -14 – 13 – 12 – 11 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – an additional one point will be awarded to the pole sitter, to the driver who leads the most laps, and to the driver who turns the quickest race lap

Watch the 2018 races

Race #1

Race #2

 

Other notes

  • Drivers starting the NTT IndyCar Series in St. Petersburg, Fla. who raced on the middle rung of the Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires ladder include Marco Andretti, Max Chilton, James Hinchcliffe, Spencer Pigot, Graham Rahal, and Zach Veach.
  • Oliver Askew set the qualifying (68.1032 seconds) track record in 2018, and Sting Ray Robb set the race (68.5144) track record in 2018.
  • There are no previous Indy Pro 2000 race winners or pole sitters in the field this year.
  • Juncos Racing is the most successful Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The Speedway, Ind. based team leads the wins, poles, podium, and laps led categories.
  • The same team, but not necessarily the same driver, has won both races every year since 2012.
  • An even dozen of the 16 race winners in St. Petersburg, Fla. have started the race on the pole, and the average finishing position of the pole sitter is 1.5. With a couple of excellent passing opportunities, it is indeed not necessary to start on the pole as Rinus VeeKay proved last year. The winner of Race #1 started on the outside of the fourth row in eighth place.
  • All 16 races have finished under green flag conditions and Rinus VeeKay’s narrow 0.3309-second victory over Parker Thompson in Race #1 last year was the closest finish at the circuit.

Team and driver previews

Juncos Racing

We’ll start our Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires preview with the team who won the driver’s title with Rinus VeeKay and also dominated the team title.

The Ricardo Juncos led squad has won four Indy Pro 2000 titles in the last nine years with drivers Conor Daly (2010), Spencer Pigot (2015), Victor Franzoni (2016), and Rinus VeeKay (2018).

The team with the instantly recognizable green, white and orange liveries has been hard to beat on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit with six wins, six poles, 16 podiums, and 114 laps led, to lead all teams.

In 2018, the team collected both wins, and the trio of drivers stood on four of the six possible steps of the podium.

The 2019 scholarship is down one driver from 2018, but the pair of 17-year-olds the team signed should be able to contend for the 2019 Indy Pro 2000 title.

Despite being only 17-years-old, Sting Ray Robb will be starting his third season of Indy Pro 2000 action. The Idahoan has made 28 starts with one podium and one fastest lap.

Sting Ray Robb led the recent series test at Homestead-Miami Speedway and while having tempered expectations is looking for wins and podiums in his third year of Road To Indy action (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Robb led the last pre-season test and is excited to join the proven Juncos Racing driver development program.

“The results don’t lie, they’ve proven what they can do,” explained the Payette High School senior about the team’s proven record is delivering drivers to the NTT IndyCar Series. “It’s a big confidence builder. You’ve got examples like Rinus (VeeKay) and Robert (Megennis) last year. You could see them develop throughout the season and they won a lot of races.”

In four races on the Streets of St. Petersburg, the 2018 MRTI Kids on Track Spirit Award winner has finished no worse than 7th and hold the race track record.

Rasmus Lindh, who made his Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires debut with Pabst Racing in USF2000 last year had three poles, five podiums, and three fastest race laps which garnered the Gothenburg, Sweden a second place finish behind runaway USF2000 champion, Kyle Kirkwood.

Lindh, formerly a world-ranked karter, had the second quickest average race lap in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship field last year and started in the first two rows of the grid in 11 of 14 races.

RP Motorsport

Speaking of Kirkwood, the winner of 27 of 31 open wheel races across the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship and F3 Americas Championship Powered By Honda will be joining Italian team RP Motorsport.

The squad has won five of the last seven driver championships, and six of the previous seven team championships in the Formula 3 derived Euroformula Open Championship and its predecessor, the European F3 Open Championship.

The team had a successful inaugural American campaign with Harrison Scott winning twice and three different drivers helping the team collect eight top-five finishes.

When we asked the 20-year-old Kirkwood whether he had to temper his expectations after such a dominating season, he gave us a measured response saying:

“Of course you want to do it. I’m going to have the same mentality that I had last year, just going into it with no expectations. Obviously, there are expectations from other people around, but I’m trying to ignore those because it’s a new team, new car, new tire.

“Everything is different, and the only knowledge that I have going into this is the series, a couple of the competitors and tracks. It’s all a learning curve, and I have no expectations. If we don’t come out of the gate strong, it won’t scare me away from thinking I’m going to do really well in the championship.”

Kirkwood won the first race of the USF2000 season, but his second race was the only time he did not finish on the series podium in 2018.

Kyle Kirkwood and his Soul Red No. 28 from the RP Motorsport stable navigates the road course at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires testing in preparation for the 2019 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

The Jupiter, Fla. native will have an experienced teammate to help with the transition to Indy Pro 2000.

Damiano Fioravanti, who moved to cars in 2013 after stand-out karting career has been part of four Euroformula Open campaigns, including a fifth and seventh place championship finish while driving for RP Motorsport.

The 22-year-old from Rome, Italy contested the 2017 World Series Formula V8 3.5 Championship before becoming a race winner in the GT3 Pro Category of International GT Open.

Exclusive Autosport

The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan based Exclusive Autosport just missed out on the driver’s championship with Parker Thompson in 2018 in their first season of competition in Indy Pro 2000

This year, the Michael Duncalfe owned, and Mirl Swan managed team returns with a three-car effort.

The first signee for the team was veteran Nikia Lastochkin, who will be making his 60th Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires start on Friday. The Russian born resident of Los Angeles, Calif. has two podiums and 11 top fives in Indy Pro 2000 action.

The 28-year-old who had a productive off-season of testing has taken the green flag on Runway 7/25 of the Albert Whited Airport on eight occasions, finishing between fifth and tenth in every race.

The second driver for Exclusive Autosport is Danial Frost, who has wins in the MRF Challenge – Formula Challenge, the Formula 4 South East Asia Championship, and the Formula Masters Asian Series made seven Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship starts with the team last year.

“Last year we came into USF2000 just focusing on learning the car and the tracks,” explained the 17-year-old from Singapore. “Last year I took a long break and just wanted to get back in the rhythm, knowing we wanted to do the Indy Pro 2000 season. We’ve always had this plan.

“We’ve come back at our strongest. We’re hoping that this year that we will be fighting for the championship. This weekend (at the Homestead-Miami Speedway test) we had strong results. We were P1 in session 3 & 4, so the car has the potential, and I have the potential to be up there. I think we have a good chance of being up there with the other guys.”

Rounding out Exclusive Autosport’s trio is Texan Parker Locke.

The 2017 graduate of the Lucas Oil Formula Car Race Series has completed two seasons of the F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda, a partial season of F3 Americas Championship Powered By Honda and most recently took part in the 2019 Castrol Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand.

DEForce Racing

DEForce Racing made their Road To Indy debut at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the Indy Pro 2000 category in 2016 with the same pair of 21-year-olds, Moisés de la Vara and Kory Enders, that will be on the grid for the Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products doubleheader.

“I’ve known Ernesto and David Martinez since karting days,” explained de la Vara when asked what it’s been like to grow with the Angleton, Texas squad since the beginning of their joint Road To Indy adventure. ‘I’ve been driving with them every step of the way. We were there at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for their first race and my first race on the Road To Indy. Now three years together in Indy Pro 2000 to hunt down that championship.’

DEForce Racing, who stated their Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires adventure together in 2016 are hunting for wins and podiums in 2019 (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

The San Antonio, Texas resident who has contested eight previous races in Indy Pro 2000, along with 12 in USF2000, has worked hard in the off-season, losing 25 pounds since his last race at Portland International Raceway on Labor Day Weekend last year.

“That’s what we’re here for this year,” said the 6’ 2” driver. “We’ve been preparing for months. DEForce Racing has been working very hard and so have I. We’re looking forward to the start of the season. I couldn’t be more excited.”

The Guadalajara, Mexico born driver has contested three seasons of the FIA Formula 4 North And Central American Championship. de la Vera finished the season in third place in 2017 before taking home the title last year. He won 13 races and stood on the podium 24 times in three seasons of competition. de La Vara also made 21 starts across two seasons of F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda.

Completing the Texas connection for DEForce Racing is Kory Enders, a veteran of 33 Road To Indy starts. (28 in USF2000 and five in Indy Pro 2000).

The Sugarland, Texas-based driver had 14 top tens, four high fives and scored his first career podium in the season-ending USF2000 event at Portland International Raceway.

Enders was once a nationally ranked online chess player and gifted musician.

Abel Motorsports

Abel Motorsports might be relatively new to the American junior open-wheel ranks, but the team founded by noted vintage racer Bill Abel is as experienced as they come.

Experienced Abel Motorsports engineer Ian Brown’s resume includes stints in Indy car (Budweiser King Racing, Patrick Racing), V8 Australian Supercars, and in many iterations of the Road To Indy (Andretti Autosport, AFS Racing, Bryan Herta Autosport, Forsythe Racing, and Guthrie-Meyer Racing).

The team made their debut on Road To Indy last year and have contested the 2017 and 2018 F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda and the 2018 F3 Americas Championship Powered By Honda. F3 champion Kyle Kirkwood won 15 of 17 races while driving for the Louisville, Ky. based team.

Confirmed for a full-season is soon to be 18-year-old who celebrates a birthday on Saturday, March 9. Despite his young age, Abel has made 49 open-wheel starts across USF2000 (7), F3 Americas Championship Powered By Honda (11) and F4 United States Championship Powered By Honda (31).

The Louisville, Ky. born and based driver only began karting four years ago and has Road To Indy veteran Shelby Blackstock as his driver coach.

Abel will be joined at the season-opening event by Parker Thompson. The Canadian has ten wins, nine poles, 24 podiums and 13 fastest race laps in a career spanning three seasons of USF2000 and one season of Indy Pro 2000 action.

The 21-year-old is only confirmed for the season-opening pair of races, but the driver who was part of new USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 programs at Exclusive Autosport is excited to help Abel Motorsports kick start their program on the middle rung of the Road To Indy.

“Nothing gets me more excited than working with a group of guys that want to get better,” said the Red Deer, Alberta, Canada native. “I look at the Abel Motorsports group. They are a fantastic group to work with – you can call them rookies to the series – but not to racing. These guys have a lot of history of winning, and we’re just trying to carry that into their season here in 2019 in the Indy Pro 2000 category. “

Thompson has made eight starts on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit, collecting one pole, a pair of podiums, five top-five finishes and one fastest race lap.

Fatboy Racing!

Fatboy Racing, the Locust Valley, New York-based team led by former racer Brandan Puderbach have taken their program to the next level.

The team has brought in a number of experienced crew and for the first time has hired an engineer, the experienced Cooper Ring.

A lawyer by day, gentleman racer by weekend Charles Finelli will return for another season of action with the team he co-founded. Finelli is a veteran of 22 Road To Indy starts and for the first time will have an up-and-coming driver that Finelli met while racing in Europe.

Finelli teamed with Phillipe Denes in a sports car race and had so much fun with the young driver; he decided he wanted him as a teammate for the upcoming Indy Pro 2000 season.

The 19-year-old made starts in USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 in 2017, with a best finish of fifth on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Carmel, Calif. resident calls WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca his home track and spent 2018 racing in the International GT Open Series in Europe.

Pserra Racing

Pserra Racing is a family run Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires team that will race under the Jay Howard Driver Development tent in Indy Pro 2000.

The pilot of the bright red No. 11 PM-18 will be 16-year-old Antonio Serravalle who contest nine races in Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires series in 2018 with Exclusive Autosport.

The Markham, Ontario native, who was an internationally ranked shifter-kart pilot has a goal of becoming the youngest driver in the NTT IndyCar Series.

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Veteran Sting Ray Robb and Juncos Racing lead the final tune-up before the Indy Pro 2000 season gets under way

Posted by  on Monday, March 4th 2019     

A new tire run clocked at 79.751 seconds turned in by Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires veteran Sting Ray Robb was the quickest of the two-day season-opening test at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Robb’s scorching lap knocked Parker Thompson, who was testing with Abel Motorsports off the top of the timesheet. Thompson, who turned 21-years-old yesterday did not take part in the final session of the day.

“It’s obviously a big confidence boost,” said the 17-year-old to TSO Ladder after a day of testing. “The guys here at Juncos (Racing) are awesome though. I love being with them again. I had my first test with them back at the 2017 Chris Griffis Memorial Test. I decided to go with Team Pelfrey, but this year we are back at Juncos. It’s nice to be wearing green!”

Sting Ray Robb and Juncos Racing used a list session flyer to take over top honors at the season opening Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires test at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Canadian Thompson has not been in an open wheel car since he piloted a Team Pelfrey Indy Lights machine at the Chris Griffis Memorial Test in September 2018.

Only three-tenths of a second separated the top four drivers on the combined timesheet.

That quartet included reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship champion Kyle Kirkwood, who was driving with RP Motorsport for the first time.

“Yesterday we were just getting warmed up to things, said a satisfied Kirkwood to TSO Ladder. “I had to get familiar with the team and the car. I was fortunate enough to come up on top of the leaderboard. Even though it’s testing and it doesn’t really matter what the times are, it felt good. The first day as a team together, the first official test. Overall, we found a lot. I’ve learned a lot about the car. The car felt really good, and I think we have a strong car for St. Petersburg.”

Kyle Kirkwood and his Soul Red No. 28 from the RP Motorsport stable navigates the road course at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires testing in preparation for the 2019 season (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Danial Frost, who made his Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires debut in a partial season with Exclusive Autosport in USF2000 last year had an issue with his transponder in his No. 68 Exclusive Autosport PM-18. TSO Ladder chatted with the team, and they told us that Frost’s time in the third session would have put him among the top five on the combined chart.

Session #3 notes

Thompson, who turned 21-years-old yesterday was the first to turn a lap under 80 seconds, but it was a tight session. Four drivers were within a half-second of Thompson, with eight drivers within one second.

Birthday boy Parker Locke, who turned 18 on Sunday, did 30 circuits of the Homestead-Miami Speedway road course. The most of any driver.

Session #4 notes

Thompson led his second straight session in the Abel Motorsports No. 8.

It was the hottest session of the test and times were quite a bit slower, and the track was not as busy with the dozen drivers not reaching 200 laps of testing.

Session #5

The final session of the two-day test saw temperature just starting to come down and plenty of drivers pushing hard to end the test on a positive note.

Half of the entries (six) turned their quickest official lap of the session including Robb, Kirkwood, Rasmus Lindh, Danial Frost, Damiano Fioravanti, and Charles Finelli.

Thompson was has happy with the car they had developed and sat out the final session.

Indy Pro 2000 Homestead-Miami Speedway testing combined time sheet from all sessions.

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM FAST LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 2 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing 1:19.751 –.—- 109
2 8 Parker Thompson Abel Motorsports 1:19.951 0.200 66
3 28 Kyle Kirkwood RP Motorsport Racing 1:20.007 0.256 92
4 10 Rasmus Lindh Juncos Racing 1:20.029 0.278 107
5 6 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing 1:20.335 0.584 72
6 90 Nikita Lastochkin Exclusive Autosport 1:20.446 0.695 88
7 11 Antonio Serravalle Pserra Racing 1:20.682 0.931 76
8 51 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports 1:20.734 0.983 106
9 68 Danial Frost Exclusive Autosport 1:20.849 1.098 23
10 5 Damiano Fioravanti RP Motorsport Racing 1:21.011 1.260 105
11 91 Parker Locke Exclusive Autosport 1:21.013 1.262 93
12 83 Charles Finelli Fatboy Racing! 1:24.197 4.447 101

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Kyle Kirkwood and Manuel Sulaiman lead first day of Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Posted by  on Saturday, March 2nd 2019     

 

For the third straight year, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship and Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires Series are officially starting their season on the Homestead-Miami Speedway road course. 

The 2.1 mile, Homestead-Miami Speedway 14-turn road course has hosted a number of different road racing series including ACCUS Florida Winter Series, Formula Atlantics Championship, F4 United States Championship Powered by Honda, FIA GT, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, SCCA US Road Racing Championship, Trans-Am, and US F2000 Winterfest. The 14-turn circuit features nine left-hand turns and six right-hand turns.

Despite not having any track-time until 12:30 pm on Saturday afternoon, the group of USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 drivers were kept busy during the preceding 24 hours. 

On Friday afternoon the drivers took part in media training from NBC Sports Announcer Kevin Lee and also from Road To Indy TV. 

The first order of business on Saturday morning after going on a track walk was their first official weigh-in of the season. 

The 30 or so drivers were then walked through what is expected of them on track by Road To Indy Director of Competition Tony Cotman and Indy Pro 2000 Race Director Johnny Unser. 

Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires 

The dozen Indy Pro 2000 drivers began their on-track portion of the day in the heat of the day at 1:45 pm.

Veteran Road To Indy competitor Nikia Lastochkin, who made the switch to Exclusive Autosport this year was the quickest driver in his No. 90 2.0L powered Tatuus PM-18. The Russian’s fastest lap was a scant three-hundredths quicker than the pilot of the Exclusive Autosport No. 90 last year, Parker Thompson.

The Canadian is testing with Abel Motorsports this weekend (emphasis on only testing at this point), and this is the first time that the 21-year-old (his birthday is today) has been in an open wheel car since testing a Team Pelfrey Indy Lights machine at the Chris Griffis Memorial Test in September.

The entire session was run under green flag conditions, and the top 10 in the early session were separated a second.

Much like the second USF2000 session, the track was relatively quiet early on, but once the air started to cool just a little, new sets of Cooper Tire slicks were bolted on for qualifying simulations.

And if those final new tire runs are any indication, the Indy Pro 2000 season will be tightly contested with the top six drivers ending up only two-tenths behind Kirkwood.

Newly signed Kyle Kirkwood and his Soul Red No. 28 ended the session with a lap at 80.372 seconds, only three-hundredths ahead of Juncos Racing veteran Sting Ray Robb.

Abel Motorsports Kyle Kirkwood, the reigning USF2000 champion led the first day of Indy Pro 2000 testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Antonio Serravalle (Pserra Racing), Rasmus Lindh (Juncos Racing), Parker Thompson (Abel Motorsports) and Moisés de la Vara (DEForce Racing) all turned in laps below 81 seconds.

Indy Pro 2000 Homestead-Miami Speedway Test Day #1 Combined Timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM FAST LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 28 Kyle Kirkwood RP Motorsport Racing 1:20.372 –.—- 31
2 2 Sting Ray Robb Juncos Racing 1:20.402 0.0301 39
3 11 Antonio Serravalle Pserra Racing 1:20.550 0.1775 31
4 10 Rasmus Lindh Juncos Racing 1:20.560 0.1879 41
5 8 Parker Thompson Abel Motorsports 1:20.611 0.2392 35
6 6 Moses de la Vara DEForce Racing 1:20.627 0.2546 27
7 90 Nikita Lastochkin Exclusive Autosport 1:20.778 0.4060 38
8 51 Jacob Abel Abel Motorsports 1:21.484 1.1120 49
9 5 Damiano Fioravanti RP Motorsport Racing 1:21.611 1.2390 39
10 91 Parker Locke Exclusive Autosport 1:22.281 1.9090 40
11 83 Charles Finelli Fatboy Racing! 1:25.604 5.2320 45
12 68 Danial Frost Exclusive Autosport transponder transponder transponder

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship

Veteran Bruna Tomaselli, who is driving for Pabst Racing this season, was the first of 2.0L Tatuus USF-17 cars on track for the first official test session of the 2019 season.

Outside of a brief red-flag for a tow-in of the No. 2 Cape Motorsports car of Darren Keane due to an electrical issue with 20 minutes remaining, the session was run under green flag conditions.

The majority of the session was led by Braden Eves, who made a pair of starts in the 2018 USF2000 finale at Portland International Raceway. The lap of 85.426 seconds by the Cape Motorsports driver that was set on only his second of eighteen laps and ended up being the most rapid of the one-hour session.

The top five drivers in the early session represented five different teams (Cape Motorsports, DEForce Racing, Newman Wachs Racing, Pabst Racing, and Jay Howard Driver Development) and were separated by just over a half-second.

The 16 drivers that turned laps in the first of five test sessions completed 259 circuits of The 2.1 mile, Homestead-Miami Speedway 14-turn road course.

The second and final USF2000 session of the day began with temperatures in the mid-80s and the famous Florida sun shining brightly.

DEForce Racing rookie Manuel Sulaiman’s eighth of ten laps clocked in at 84.584 seconds, the quickest lap of the session and the first day of testing.

Manuel Sulaiman, a veteran of two seasons of British F4 competition, led the first official test of the 2019 USF2000 season with DEForce Racing (Photo Courtesy Of Andersen Promotions)

Once again, the session had a lone red flag with 20 minutes remaining. This red was for a run-away orange cone that found it’s way onto the racing line.

With each team receiving four sets of fresh Cooper Tires for the five sessions, the warmest session of the first day saw somewhat limited running with 125 laps completed.

In total, 18 cars took to the track on the first day of testing and turned a total of 435 laps.

The top seven drivers were all within one second of each other, and 16 of the 18 entries were within 120 seconds.

USF2000 Homestead-Miami Speedway Test Day #1 Combined Timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 12 Manual Sulaiman DEForce Racing 1:24.584 –.—- 24
2 8 Braden Eves Cape Motorsports 1:24.657 0.0733 32
3 2 Darren Keane Cape Motorsports 1:24.897 0.3140 22
4 6 Christian Rasmussen Jay Howard Driver Development 1:25.011 0.4279 11
5 22 Hunter McElrea Pabst Racing 1:25.339 0.7558 19
6 5 Matt Round-Garrido Jay Howard Driver Development 1:25.381 0.7978 12
7 24 Bruna Tomaselli Pabst Racing 1:25.677 1.0936 28
8 21 Yuven Sundaramoorthy Pabst Racing 1:25.719 1.1356 28
9 73 Cameron Shields Newman Wachs Racing 1:25.804 1.2203 33
10 23 Colin Kaminsky Pabst Racing 1:25.836 1.2521 22
11 3 Reece Gold Cape Motorsports 1:25.877 1.3231 28
12 40 Jack William Miller Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:26.186 1.6025 34
13 69 Nate Aranda Team E – Jay Racing 1:26.245 1.6618 39
14 28 Anthony Famularo BN Racing 1:26.266 1.6822 16
15 41 Eduardo Barrichello Miller Vinatieri Motorsports 1:26.617 2.0333 33
16 36 Nolan Siegal Newman Wachs Racing 1:26.619 2.0358 39
17 7 Christian Bogle Jay Howard Driver Development 1:26.772 2.1883 5
18 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:27.331 2.7477 10

Both series are back on track for a trio of session tomorrow.

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MRTI – Chris Griffis Memorial Test – Saturday – Update #2 – Pro Mazda session #1 and Juncos Racing drivers

Posted by  on Saturday, September 22nd 2018     

By Steve Wittich

A pair of USF2000 rookies from this season, who are both driving for Juncos Racing this weekend led the first of three Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire sessions on the first day of the Chris Griffis Memorial Test.

Rasmus Lindh led most of the 45-minute session before Danial Frost turned in the only lap under 80 seconds to grab the top spot. That lap at 79.731 seconds is well under the race record set by Parker Thompson in May.

Rounding out the top five were Julian Van der Watt (BN Racing), Kyle Dupell (BN Racing) and Mathias Soler-Obel (RP Motorsport).

A total of nine drivers representing five teams turned laps during the first of three Saturday sessions.

Juncos Racing and Frost, Lindh and Cameron Shields

Pro Mazda team champion Juncos Racing, who has also fielded the last two Pro Mazda Champions has a trio of drivers running for them this weekend. The Speedway, Ind. based team had seven wins and 21 podiums during the 2018 Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire season.

Frost contested seven races in USF2000 this season with Exclusive Autosport with a best finish of fourth in Toronto. The driver from Singapore has a lot of seat time in Formula 4 and Formula Masters, an Asian series that utilizes a Tatuus chassis and Volkswagen 2.0 L powerplant.

Lindh, a talented 17-year-old coming off a successful first season in cars with Pabst Racing in USF2000, is joined this weekend by Danial Frost and Cameron Shields.

Lindh ended his rookie Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires season second in USF2000 points and along the way collected five podiums, three poles, and the second lowest average race lap speed.

Shields, who like Verizon IndyCar Series driver Will Power, hails from Toowoomba, Australia. Shields started racing in Formula Ford in 2015 and since then has won 46 races across Formula Ford, Formula 4 and Formula 3 in Australia.

Saturday – Pro Mazda – Chris Griffis Memorial Test session #1 results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE TOTAL LAPS
1 62 Danial Frost Juncos Racing 1:19.731 –.—- 24
2 1 Rasmus Lindh Juncos Racing 1:20.091 0.3599 25
3 79 Julian Van der Watt BN Racing 1:20.277 0.5465 19
4 78 Kyle Dupell BN Racing 1:20.323 0.5918 19
5 27 Mathias Soler-Obel RP Motorsport Racing 1:20.342 0.6110 22
6 10 Darren Keane RP Motorsport Racing 1:20.365 0.6343 21
7 90 Nikita Lastochkin Exclusive Autosport 1:20.626 0.8953 23
8 12 Moises de la Vara DEForce Racing 1:20.838 1.1076 23
9 73 Cameron Shields Juncos Racing 1:21.190 1.4587 22

Pro Mazda is back on track 1:15 PM and 4:15 PM for 45-minute sessions.

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MRTI at Portland International Raceway – Sunday – Malukas grabs third win of the year in final Pro Mazda race of 2018

Posted by  on Sunday, September 2nd 2018     

When the Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire series came to the Pacific Northwest for the final two races of the 2018 season, Rinus VeeKay and Parker Thompson were ensconced in the first two spots of the championship, but a third-place check for $20,000 and the Indy Lights test that goes with it was still up for grabs.

The first driver in contention, Oliver Askew won Saturday’s first race. David Malukas, who was six points in arrears of Askew when the race weekend began, finished a disappointing fourth.

That left the 16-year-old driver 18 points adrift of Askew for third in the championship. The BN Racing driver, who started on the outside of the front row, did all he could, leading all 30 laps on the way to his third win of the season.

“Yesterday we ended up finishing fourth,” explained Malukas to TSO Ladder. “We knew we had the pace and today we wanted to end strong. We knew we had pace on the start and I tried not to make mistakes.”

David Malukas on the way to his third win of the season in the final Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire race of the season at Portland International Raceway ((Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Askew started third and for the fourth time in six races finished on the podium to end up in third in the championship by a 303 to 295 lap margin.

VeeKay, who clinched the championship by taking the green flag for Friday’s practice, finished on the podium for the ninth time this season. The soon to be 18-year-old scored his 21st podium in 29 career Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires starts.

The final Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire race was scheduled to start at 2:15 PM, but was delayed due to an exciting Verizon IndyCar Series race that had Takuma Sato winning his third career race.

The front row of VeeKay and Malukas led the field across the start/finish line, but it was Thompson, who started on the outside of the second row that got to Turn 1 first on the outside of Malukas and VeeKay.

VeeKay clattered across the curbs while Malukas provided an impressive smoke show after locking up his brakes. Thompson was not able to get the No. 90 Exclusive Autosport machine rotated to the apex of Turn 2. That allowed Askew to grab the final spot on the podium.

Behind them, Sting Ray Robb and Moisés de la Vara made contact. The DEForce Racing #12 lost it’s front wing, and it appeared that Robb had some rear suspension damage.

Thompson lost another spot, this time to Robert Megennis and the running order at the end of the first lap was Malukas, VeeKay, Askew, Meggennis, Thompson, Nikia Lastochkin, and Moisés de la Vara.

Robb and de la Vara were forced to pit road for repairs. Team Pelfrey and DEForce Racing were able to make repairs but both lost multiple laps, finishing sixth and eighth respectively.

On the next lap, Thompson came to pit road with what was reported at a flat right rear tire.

Thompson came out just in-front of Malukas, but quickly let the leader by, slotting in between the leader and VeeKay in 2nd.

By Lap 13, Askew was looking to get past VeeKay. The 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda champion looked to the outside, but couldn’t get the pass done.

On Lap 17, Megennis and his No. 9 Juncos Racing Mazda/Tatuus came to pit road. The Juncos Racing did get back on track, but ended up retiring after 16 laps.

Up front, Malukas had a 4.4989 lead over VeeKay, who was still being forced to defend against Askew who continued to pressure the new champion.

VeeKay was able to pull away through the Festival Curves and Turns 4, 5 and 6. Askew was able to close up from the exit of Turn 7 through Turn 12.

With five laps left Malukas lead was still 4.5 seconds. Askew was still pressuring the Dutchman for second place.

With two laps remaining, Askew turned the quickest lap of the race in an effort to catch VeeKay for second, but the pilot of the Juncos Racing No. 2 was only a few-hundredths off of Askew’s torrid pace.

Askew turned the quickest lap of the race as he took the white flag, starting the final lap only 3/10ths behind VeeKay, but Saturday’s winner was not able to get around VeeKay. That duo ended the race 3.5 seconds behind Malukas.

Lastochkin equaled his best finish of the year from Race #2 in Toronto with his fourth-place finish.

Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire Race #2 – unofficial results

P No Name Laps Diff
1 79 David Malukas 30
2 2 Rinus VeeKay 30 3.5821
3 3 Oliver Askew 30 3.8847
4 8 Nikita Lastochkin 30 41.9233
5 90 Parker Thompson 29 1 LAPS
6 82 Sting Ray Robb 19 11 LAPS
7 9 Robert Megennis 16 Contact
8 12 Moises de la Vara 5 Contact
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MRTI at Portland International Raceway – Saturday – Oliver Askew takes Soul Red No. 3 to victory lane in the “Rose City”

Posted by  on Saturday, September 1st 2018     

Oliver Askew, who won seven times during his 2017 USF2000 Championship season, won his first Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire race, lifting a significant weight off his back after 16 winless races.

“It’s a really good feeling,” said a relieved Askew to TSO Ladder. “I can’t quite describe it. It was one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. I was under pressure the whole time! I just tried not to make any mistakes. I know it’s very hard to pass here and my priority was to not make any mistakes. Our pace wasn’t an issue, but I didn’t want to give Rinus any opportunities to get around me. It’s a huge monkey off our backs especially going into the offseason. It’s a big help.”

Askew’s win, combined with a fourth-place finish by Malukas extends his lead for third in the championship, and the Indy Lights test and $20,000 check, that goes along with it.

Rinus van Kalmthout (Rinus VeeKay), who clinched the $790,000+ Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship when he took the green flag for practice yesterday, had his five-race winning streak come to an end after losing the lead in the “Festival Curves” on Lap 1. The 17-year-old Dutchman did come home in second, his ninth podium of 2018 and 21st of his Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires career.

Exclusive Autosport rookie Parker Thompson ended up on the final step of the podium, his sixth of the year, but the first since a Lucas Oil Raceway win in May.

Oliver Askew leads Rinus VeeKay, Parker Thompson, and David Malukas through the “Festival Curves” on the way to a Saturday win at Portland International Raceway (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

The final race of a busy Saturday at the Grand Prix of Portland was the first of two Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Cooper Tires scheduled for the final Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires weekend of 2018.

Askew, who was still looking for his first win in 2018, got a great jump and arrived at the right-hand Turn 1 first. VeeKay swept past Askew for a brief moment, but by the time the duo exited Turn 2, the No. 3 Soul Red Mazda from the Cape Motorsports was in the lead.

“Well I had a terrible start actually,” explained VeeKay to TSO after the race. “I went… I was a bit confused. There were signs, so I went too early on the throttle. I then backed off and went on again. Oliver stayed flat out. So it was a bit unfortunate, although could have been a lot worse. Getting a podium in my championship-winning race is great. I cannot wait to go to Indy Lights next year!

Moisés de la Vara was forced to head through the Turn 1 run-off.

The running order at the end of the first lap was: Askew, VeeKay, Thompson, David Malukas, Sting Ray Robb, Robert Megennis, de la Vara and Nikia Lastochkin.

Moisés de la Vara was the first driver to retire from the race with damage to his rear wing.

With ten laps remaining, Askew had a slim 0.7668 lead over VeeKay. On the very next lap, both drivers turned their quickest laps of the race with the Juncos Racing’s rookie being the fastest of the race to that point.

With eight laps remaining, the gap had shrunk to 0.6026 seconds, but that was as close as things got with Askew stretching the lead to 1.3482 seconds when the checkered flag was shown after 30 laps.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Cooper Tires race #1 – unofficial results

P No Name Laps Diff
1 3 Oliver Askew 30
2 2 Rinus VeeKay 30 1.3482
3 90 Parker Thompson 30 2.5135
4 79 David Malukas 30 3.7177
5 9 Robert Megennis 30 12.7176
6 82 Sting Ray Robb 30 14.8565
7 8 Nikita Lastochkin 30 24.7640
8 12 Moises de la Vara 3 Contact

The final Pro Mazda race of the season gets the green flag at 2:15 PM on Sunday after the Grand Prix of Portland.

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MRTI at Portland International Raceway – Saturday- VeeKay lowers Pro Mazda track record on the way to his sixth pole

Posted by  on Saturday, September 1st 2018     

For the sixth time during his rookie Pro Mazda season, Rinus VeeKay grabbed the bonus point for winning the pole. It’s the 17-year-old’s fifth pole in the last seven races, and seventh straight front row start.

VeeKay’s lap of 1:05.897 lowered the Pro Mazda track record that the Dutchman set yesterday. David Malukas joins VeeKay on the front row, with Oliver Askew and Parker Thompson starting right behind them. The front two rows were all below yesterday’s fastest qualifying lap.

For comparison, that lap is a tenth-of-a-second quicker than James Hinchcliffe’s Mazda Atlantics pole time from 2007.

The final Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying session of 2018, a 20-minute Pro Mazda affair, followed a crazy Indy Lights qualifying session. https://www.tsoladder.com/2018/09/01/mrti-at-portland-international-raceway-saturday-normans-maiden-pole-oward-incident-cap-off-chaotic-indy-lights-qualifying/

David Malukas was the early leader, but the top five were all within a half-second of each other.

At the half-way point of the 20-minute qualifying session, it was still the BN Racing rookie Malukas that held the provisional pole.

Askew grabbed the provisional pole just after the ten-minute mark and held it for the next four minutes.

Surrounding the halfway point, most drivers came to the attention of their teams on pit road for adjustments and fresh Cooper Tire slicks.

Thompson was the first driver to get his Coopers up to temperature and went quicker than Askew.

With four minutes remaining VeeKay grabbed the provisional pole and on his next lap went even quicker with a lap under the track record he set during Saturday’s qualifying.

On the next lap, his 12th of the session, VeeKay was the first driver to turn a sub-65-second lap.

Malukas, who was the last driver back on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn Portland International Raceway natural terrain road course after making adjustments, was the last driver to set a quick lap. That lap ended up being only four-hundredths slower than VeeKay.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying #2 – unofficial results.

RANK CAR NO. NAME QUICK LAP DIFFERENCE
1 2 Rinus VeeKay 1:05.897 –.—-
2 79 David Malukas 1:05.941 0.0439
3 3 Oliver Askew 1:06.253 0.3557
4 90 Parker Thompson 1:06.324 0.4263
5 9 Robert Megennis 1:06.507 0.6093
6 82 Sting Ray Robb 1:06.696 0.7984
7 8 Nikita Lastochkin 1:06.974 1.0762
8 12 Moises de la Vara 1:07.646 1.7490

The first Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Portland Presented by Cooper Tires will roll off this afternoon at 4:50 PM, the final on-track activity on Saturday.

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MRTI at Portland International Raceway – Friday – Qualifying 1 – O’Ward scores record Indy Lights pole, VeeKay captures Pro Mazda pole

Posted by  on Friday, August 31st 2018     

O’Ward secures record ninth pole of Indy Lights season

Pole man Patricio O’Ward. (Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

He’s new to the Portland International Raceway circuit, but is not new to pole position. That was the story for Patricio O’Ward in qualifying for the first of two Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires races at the track.

O’Ward is in search of the Mazda Motorsports advancement scholarship to win the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires ladder. He’ll start from the best possible place to do so on Saturday with a record ninth pole position this year.

The four Andretti Autosport and two Belardi Auto Racing cars led the field out of the pits for the 30-minute qualifying session. Juncos Racing’s Victor Franzoni followed about half a minute later. Heamin Choi’s second car remained on pit lane at the start of the session, as the Juncos team had to repair it following his incident in the morning practice session.

After Patricio O’Ward’s 1:03.933 lap in the morning practice, it remained to be seen whether anyone could go faster in the heat of the day for qualifying. That question didn’t take long to get answered.

O’Ward and Colton Herta were both into the 1:03.8 range to start off the session. O’Ward then improved to a 1:03.1868 lap, which was significantly quicker.

Herta got down to a 1:03.3508 lap before a red flag flew with just under 20 minutes remaining, for Dalton Kellett off course at Turn 4.

The green flag flew shortly thereafter with O’Ward, Herta and Franzoni going back on track. Kellett returned to the track next ahead of Aaron Telitz and Ryan Norman. Santi Urrutia completed the runners on track with less than 12 minutes remaining.

Kellett had another off in Turn 11 later in the session into the tires, and pulled off course at that corner. Norman had an off-and-on at the same corner, but resumed.

O’Ward made it into the 1:02 bracket at 1:02.8074, a full half second clear of Herta.

Telitz moved into second at 1:03.3171 with Herta third with one minute to go. But Herta got him back at 1:03.1808, 0.3734 off the pole.

Ultimately, the pole time eclipsed Townsend Bell’s previous qualifying record of 1:04.991, set in 2001, by more than 2.1 seconds.

O’Ward told the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network’s Rob Howden on pit lane: “I didn’t know the track coming into the weekend. I knew I just had to get it together. I didn’t expect it by four tenths! Survive Turn 1 and we’ll have a chance to win. I did really well in Turns 4, 5 and 6. The lasts sector of the track is so fast and keeps you on your toes. It’s so narrow. There’s no room for error. I didn’t think I would like this place, but man I really do like it.

This pole is O’Ward’s ninth this year, which is a new single-season record. It broke a tie he had with Bryan Herta (1993), Townsend Bell (2001) and Thiago Medeiros (2004).

Qualifying two is Saturday at 9:50 a.m. The first race, where O’Ward can clinch the title, goes green at 2:05 p.m.

Indy Lights Qualifying #1 – Unofficial Results

P No Name FTime Diff Laps
1 27 Patricio O’Ward 1:02.807 –.—- 23
2 98 Colton Herta 1:03.181 0.3734 21
3 9 Aaron Telitz 1:03.317 0.5097 21
4 23 Victor Franzoni 1:03.452 0.6449 21
5 5 Santi Urrutia 1:03.593 0.7859 19
6 48 Ryan Norman 1:03.611 0.8034 21
7 28 Dalton Kellett 1:04.687 1.8800 14
8 7 Heamin Choi No Time — —

—

VeeKay grabs Pro Mazda pole for Race 1

Rinus VeeKay. (Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Rinus VeeKay’s coronation as champion of this year’s Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires series is off to a good start at Portland International Raceway.

The Dutch teenager scored the pole position for Saturday’s first race of the weekend, ahead of his two sparring partners in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda from last year.

VeeKay took his No. 2 Juncos Racing Tatuus PM-18 Mazda to a best time of 1:06.3317 around the 1.964-mile, 12-turn road course. The new car is a full two-plus seconds quicker than the previous qualifying record, set by Pablo Donoso in 2005, at 1:08.466.

VeeKay moved into the top spot with just under eight minutes remaining at 1:06.3475, then improved by a little over one hundredth before the checkered flag flew to end the 20-minute session.

While VeeKay will look for his sixth consecutive victory this season, last year’s USF2000 champion Oliver Askew is poised to return the “Soul Red” Mazda colors of Cape Motorsports to victory lane for the first time this season in Pro Mazda.

Askew will start alongside with a best time of 1:06.4202 in his No. 3 car. Askew seeks third place in the championship, and locked in a battle with Robert Megennis and David Malukas for that position.

Parker Thompson came up just 0.0008 of a second off a front row starting position, but the Exclusive Autosport driver may have the benefit of the clean line on the run down to Turn 1 from third place.

Malukas is fourth, ahead of Sting Ray Robb in fifth. Each of these three drivers are their lone representative from their respective teams (Exclusive, BN Racing and Team Pelfrey) this weekend, as all of their teammates have dropped off at some stage this season.

Megennis will look to continue his recent run of form, with four consecutive podium finishes, from sixth on the grid.

DEForce Racing’s Moises de la Vara will start seventh ahead of Cape’s Nikita Lastochkin. De la Vara was late out to the track and his car sounded off song, but he still managed to complete 10 laps.

The first race of the weekend for Pro Mazda goes green at 4:50 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Before they race, they’ll have their second qualifying session of the weekend on Saturday morning at 10:35 a.m.

Pro Mazda Qualifying #1 – Unofficial Results

P No Name FTime Diff Laps
1 2 Rinus VeeKay 1:06.332 –.—- 14
2 3 Oliver Askew 1:06.420 0.0885 15
3 90 Parker Thompson 1:06.421 0.0893 14
4 79 David Malukas 1:06.536 0.2044 15
5 82 Sting Ray Robb 1:06.735 0.4031 15
6 9 Robert Megennis 1:06.843 0.5111 15
7 12 Moises de la Vara 1:07.859 1.5276 10
8 8 Nikita Lastochkin 1:08.130 1.7986 13
category: Indy Lights News/Results, Pro Mazda News/Results
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