The first two Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires session have been successfully completed.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda had the privilege of sweeping the dew of the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg, Fla. street circuit.

After a difficult first opening session that saw multiple red flags, this morning’s session ran clean until the very end when the green and checkered flags came out at the same time for  Kory Enders had an incident in Turn 9 and Mathias Soler-Obel found trouble in Turn 4.

The session was led by Pabst Racing’s sophomore Kaylen Frederick. The 15-year-old had the quickest lap at 1:13.131, which is quicker than the quickest USF2000 qualifying lap, but slower than the quickest race laps. Both track records have stood since 2012.

The top 11 drivers were all within one-second of Frederick.

A number of cars had non-working transponders.  Alex Baron, Jamie Caroline, Russell McDonough, Keith Donegan, Sabre Cook, and Bruna Tomaselli did turn laps, but their times did not register.

The lowest rung on the American Open Wheel Ladder will be back on track for qualifying at 10:45am.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products Practice Session #1 timesheet

 

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICKEST LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 24 Kaylen Frederick Pabst Racing 1:13.131 –.—- 20
2 12 Jose Sierra DEForce Racing 1:13.338 0.2076 20
3 8 Kyle Kirkwood Cape Motorsports 1:13.398 0.2673 19
4 22 Lucas Kohl Pabst Racing 1:13.453 0.3228 20
5 80 Julian Van der Watt Team Pelfrey 1:13.461 0.3300 20
6 11 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 1:13.507 0.3766 18
7 91 Igor Fraga Exclusive Autosport 1:13.597 0.4661 20
8 23 Rasmus Lindh Pabst Racing 1:13.753 0.6228 20
9 36 Darren Keane Newman Wachs Racing 1:13.837 0.7059 20
10 21 Calvin Ming Pabst Racing 1:14.042 0.9114 20
11 27 Colin Kaminsky DEForce Racing 1:14.149 1.0182 17
12 10 Zach Holden DEForce Racing 1:14.240 1.1094 20
13 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:14.635 1.5048 20
14 81 Kyle Dupell Team Pelfrey 1:14.852 1.7212 19
15 51 Michael d’Orlando Team Benik 1:15.022 1.8919 19
16 5 Mathias Soler-Obel Sol.O Racing 1:15.182 2.0513 14
17 37 David Osborne Newman Wachs Racing 1:16.352 3.2214 19
18 93 Jayson Clunie Exclusive Autosport 1:16.891 3.7600 19
19 38 Oscar DeLuzuriaga Newman Wachs Racing 1:20.134 7.0036 18

Next up on track were the brand new PM-18 machines of the second rung of the Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires. Fifteen of the 275hp Mazda powered Tatuus turned laps in the series only practice session before qualifying

The first 15 minutes of the session ran smoothly before the No. 90 Exclusive Autosport machine of Parker Thompson came to a halt with smoke and water pouring out of the back of the car.

The session went back to green until it also ended under a red/checkered flag.

We’re headed over to the Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires paddock to check to see if they will be able to get championship contender Thompson’s car ready for qualifying at 1:15pm.

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

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICKEST LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 1 Carlos Cunha Juncos Racing 1:08.974 –.—- 18
2 2 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 1:09.062 0.0887 15
3 79 David Malukas BN Racing 1:09.209 0.2348 20
4 10 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport Racing 1:09.422 0.4479 18
5 8 Nikita Lastochkin Cape Motorsports 1:09.491 0.5176 19
6 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 1:09.499 0.5253 19
7 82 Sting Ray Robb Team Pelfrey 1:09.540 0.5663 18
8 80 Rafael Martins Team Pelfrey 1:09.628 0.6539 16
9 78 Kris Wright BN Racing 1:10.255 1.2815 20
10 9 Robert Megennis Juncos Racing 1:10.299 1.3252 15
11 27 Lodovico Laurini RP Motorsport Racing 1:10.556 1.5822 18
12 81 Andres Gutierrez Team Pelfrey 1:10.707 1.7327 14
13 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 1:11.118 2.1440 11
14 12 James Raven DEForce Racing 1:11.261 2.2870 18
15 91 Antonio Serravalle Exclusive Autosport 1:12.642 3.6687 18

 

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