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.