Archives for Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire – TSO

Pro Mazda and USF 2000 – Road America race #2

Posted by  on Saturday, June 25th 2016     

Getting back into contention was the big story of the weekend in the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire and Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda series, the two lowest rungs on the Mazda Road To Indy (MRTI) ladder.

Aaron Telitz (Pro Mazda) and Anthony Martin (USF2000) both won their second MRTI races in the span of only five hours, and both drivers were able to re-enter the their respective title fights and the Mazda Motorsports Advancement Scholarship that goes with it.

When the checkered flag fell on the last USF2000 race at Lucas Oil Raceway one month ago, Cape Motorsports with /WTR sophomore Anthony Martin trailed his teammate Parker Thompson by 26 points. While not an insurmountable lead, the pressure was certainly on Martin to continue to eat into the Red Deer, Alberta native’s point lead.

The Australian was definitely successful in that quest. His fourth win in the last five races means he leaves Road America tied  with Thompson at 217 points.

Coming to his home state Wisconsin race, Telitz was facing an almost insurmountable 55 point deficit to his 17 year-old Team Pelfrey teammate Pato O’Ward.

Whether it was his familiarity with the circuit, or the energy from his 70+ guests, Telitz was absolutely dominant this weekend by leading both practice sessions, starting on pole in both races, leading every lap and winning twice.

Some of the 70+ sponsors, families, and friends that were at Road America supporting Wisconsin native Aaron Telitz (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Some of the 70+ sponsors, families, and friends that were at Road America supporting Wisconsin native Aaron Telitz (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

While Telitz was dominating, O’Ward was struggling. After seven straight first or second place finishes, the Monterey, Mexico native had his second straight fourth place finish in race #2, allowing Telitz to pull within a more manageable 28 points.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Race #2 notes: 

After running green for 19 laps in the morning race, the second Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire race was interrupted by two yellow flags. Bob Kaminsky and Jake Parsons both spun at Canada Corner causing the two yellow flags.

Telitz was never challenged and ended up winning by a dominant 10.2885 seconds, and his quickest lap of the race was over one second ahead of the next closest competitor.

Behind Telitz, the battle between Nico Jamin, Will Owen, O’Ward and Nicolas Dapero was an entertaining one. Those four drivers all finished within two seconds of each other.

Jamin was able to successfully defend the middle step of podium from O’Ward and Owen to score his 17th career Mazda Road To Indy podium. For the second race in a row, Owen was able to make a late lap pass of O’Ward to score a podium, his second in a row and the seventh of his Pro Mazda career.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Race #2 results

RANK DRIVER GAP
1 Aaron Telitz
2 Nico Jamin -10.2885
3 Will Owen -10.5616
4 Pato O’Ward -11.6581
5 Nicolas Dapero -12.5361
6 TJ Fischer -16.6524
7 Bobby Eberle -59.5967
8 Kevin Davis -1 LAP
9 Bob Kaminsky -1 LAP
10 Jake Parsons -1 LAP

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Mazda Race #2 notes

After a bit of a messy morning race with two cautions, the afternoon USF2000 race ran “clean and green” for 14 laps.

Anthony Martin gets the jump on the 24 car Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda field in race #2 (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Anthony Martin gets the jump on the 24 car Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda field in race #2 (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

For the second straight race, Anthony Martin had the car to beat, and for the majority of the second straight race it was fellow Australian Jordan Lloyd that was pressuring him. Unfortunately, the Pabst Racing sophomore had an issue and finished three laps down.

The 24 cars were able to get through the first lap cleanly with the top five after one 4.014 mile circuit were Martin, Victor Franzoni, Lloyd, Thompson and Ayla Agren.

Franzoni’s second place finish was the fifth straight podium visit for the locally based ArmsUp Motorsports veteran.

Making up the rest of the top five were former Team Pelfrey USF2000 teammates Ayla Agren and Garth Rickards. The fourth place finish the best career USF2000 finish for John Cummiskey Racing’s Agren and the fifth place is the best finish of the year for Pabst Racing’s Rickards.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Mazda Race #2 results

RANK DRIVER GAP
1 Anthony Martin
2 Victor Franzoni -2.6518
3 Parker Thompson -9.2563
4 Ayla Agren -12.1076
5 Garth Rickards -12.71
6 Jordan Cane -13.3142
7 Luke Gabin -13.7396
8 Nikita Lastochkin -15.0506
9 Yufeng Luo -15.2226
10 Dakota Dickerson -21.8562
11 Robert Megennis -23.8674
12 Max Hanratty -24.1103
13 Lucas Kohl -26.0979
14 Cameron Das -27.5727
15 Austin McCusker -36.9609
16 Devin Wojcik -38.0065
17 Tazio Ottis -50.0485
18 Dale VandenBush -99.3182
19 Clint McMahan -106.45
20 Michai Stephens -131.562
21 Jordan Lloyd -3 LAPS
22 Brenden Puderbach -4 LAPS
23 Sam Chastain -4 LAPS
24 Eric Filgueiras -6 LAPS
category: Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda - TSO, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO

Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire – Road America race #1

Posted by  on Saturday, June 25th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

Aaron Telitz, from Rice Lake, Wisconsin, has had this race weekend circled on his calendar since it was first announced. The 24 year-old more than 70 guests at Road America and so far they have had a lot to cheer about. Telitz has led every practice session, took pole and won the first of two Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America.

The win was his second of the season and the fourth in his Mazda Road To Indy career.

Championship leader Pato O’Ward came to “America’s National Park of Speed” with a 55 point lead and after a disappointing fourth-place finish the 17 year-olds point lead fell to 42 points over his Team Pelfrey teammate Telitz.

Telitz was able to get to and through Turn 1 before his competitors, but behind him Nico Jamin, who started third made contact (and caught some air) with Jake Parsons who started second.

Jamin was forced to pit lane in order to repair damage to the front end of his car, but he was able to get back out on track, where the defending USF2000 champion was able to set the quickest lap of the race.

Parsons was able to continue with his rear wing damaged and askew. The Australian was able to hold onto a podium position for the first half of the race, but the damage eventually caught up with him and he struggled to keep his tires under him and he finished in 6th.

Juncos Racing rookie Dapero was able to take advantage of the Jamin and Parsons contact and finish on the Pro Mazda podium for the second straight race.

While it appeared that Telitz had a fairly easy time of it, winning by 3.3 seconds, he did tell TSO that his car was handful and very loose in the second half of the race. He mentioned that he had numerous moments in Turn 1 and in the Carousel.

Telitz’s early 4.5 second lead over Dapero had dwindled to under three seconds by Lap 14, when Dapero made a mistake at Turn 6 and lost 3 seconds to fall 6 seconds behind Telitz.

Dapero told TSO that he was just pushing a little too hard to catch Telitz and missed a shift and made a mistake. The 17 year-old explained that his improved performance comes down to increased confidence and getting more comfortable with the his Juncos Racing team.

Owen, who scored his seventh career Mazda Road To Indy podium, spent the mid to late portion of race trying to get by O’Ward. Owen was finally able to make the pass on around the outside of Turn 1 on Lap 16. Owen told TSO that this was one of the most fun races of his career.

This was only the race so far that O’Ward did not lead a lap, and his fourth place finish was the first time he had not finished among the top two.

Veteran Mazda Road To Indy Pro Mazda competitor Bobby Eberle (JDC Motorsports) led way in the three car National Class field and was followed by Sports Car Club of America veterans Bob Kaminsky and Kevin Davis.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Race #1 results

POSITION DRIVER GAP
1 Aaron Telitz
2 Nicolas Dapero -3.3111
3 Will Owen -15.3729
4 Pato O’Ward -18.3892
5 TJ Fischer -25.6885
6 Jake Parsons -49.5985
7 Bobby Eberle -88.2778
8 Bob Kaminsky -1 LAPS
9 Kevin Davis -1 LAPS
10 Nico Jamin -1 LAPS
category: Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO

Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire – Road America qualifying

Posted by  on Friday, June 24th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

After four straight poles by Pato O’Ward, it was home state Wisconsin driver Aaron Telitz who thrilled his 70+ guests by scorching the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire field by over one second to also take over the qualifying track record. This is the Rice Lake, Wisconsin native’s third pole of the season and the 24 year-olds third Mazda Road To Indy pole.

Telitz’s final lap of the session clocked in at 2:04.782 which was 1.0461 seconds ahead of Juncos Racing rookie Jake Parsons and almost a half-second ahead of Pablo Donoso’s qualifying record of 2:05.302 which had stood since 2006.

The Pro Mazda qualifying session to set the grid for the first Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America doubleheader began a little late at 1:33pm.

With 15 minutes left in the session and it was Wisconsin native Aaron Telitz who was the quickest at a lap of 2:05.6080. Nico Jamin, Nicolas Dapero, Jake Parsons and championship leader Pato O’Ward was fifth.

All ten drivers completed four or five laps before heading to their crews to make adjustments and put on a set fresh Cooper Tire slicks.

With only five minutes left in the session, nothing had changed up front with all 10 entries back on track.

With three minutes left in the session, Telitz went even quicker with a lap at 2:05.106, and was able to lower that again on his final hot lap.

Parson’s was also able to improve his lap time on his final lap to snag the outside front row starting spot. Nico Jamin will be joined by Nicolas Dapero on the second row. The fourth place start is the best road or street course for the 17 year-old Argentinian.

Championship leader O’Ward will have to show some patience while starting from the fifth spot, the 17 year-olds worst qualifying effort in 2016.

Drivers were able to complete eight to 10 laps.

The complete Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire qualifying results:

RANK DRIVER QUICK LAP GAP
1 Aaron Telitz 2:04.782 0.000
2 Jake Parsons 2:05.828 1.0461
3 Nico Jamin 2:05.922 1.1393
4 Nicolas Dapero 2:06.112 1.3293
5 Pato O’Ward 2:06.329 1.5462
6 Will Owen 2:06.880 2.0973
7 TJ Fischer 2:07.101 2.3186
8 Bobby Eberle 2:10.129 5.3468
9 Kevin Davis 2:10.351 5.5690
10 Bob Kaminsky 2:10.506 5.7236

Pro Mazda will race twice on Saturday. Green flag for race #1 flies at 8:55am and race #2 rolls off at 2:05pm.

category: Pro Mazda News/Results
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Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire – Road America preview and practice recap

Posted by  on Friday, June 24th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

The Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire series is returning to the 14-Turn, 4.048-mile Road America road course for the first time since 2008 with Team Pelfrey’s Pato O’Ward on just a “little bit” of a hot streak.

The 17 year-old O’Ward has scored four straight poles and turned those poles into four consecutive trips to the top step of the podium. That has left O’Ward 55 points ahead of his Team Pelfrey teammate Aaron Telitz.

The Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America double-header is the home race for Telitz, who hails from Rice Lake, Wisconsin. “America’s National Park of Speed” is the site of the 24 year-old’s first ever race and also his first win. Telitz, who has a plethora of Wisconsin based sponsors adorning his Mazda powered No. 82 is entertaining an impressive 70 guests this weekend.

With Garett Grist making the move up to the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire series this weekend Will Owen (Juncos Racing), Nico Jamin (Cape Motorsports with /WTR) and Jake Parsons (Juncos Racing) are only separated by 16 points in the fight for third in the championship.

Unfortunately, 2015 USF2000 vice-champion Jake Eidson has suspended his 2016 program, but that could benefit his teammate Jamin, who has inherited his chassis and seems to be much happier with it.

What we are watching:

Do you want to be on pole?

With some great opportunities to pass on the 2.33 miles of straight aways, only one time in the previous seven Pro Mazda races at Road America has the pole winner ended up on the top step of the podium.

Keeping your composure.

This applies almost solely to championship leader Pato O’Ward. With his local knowledge, O’Ward’s teammate Telitz very well could be quicker than the Monterey, Mexico native this weekend, and it will be interesting to see if O’Ward will be able to temper his youthful enthusiasm. With such a large points lead, nothing can be gained by attempting an optimistic pass… except allowing Telitz back into the championship.

Previous Pro Mazda winners at Road America

Year Driver Team
2008 Peter Dempsey Andersen Racing
2007 Ron White Team G.FRO
2006 Ron White Ross Smith Racing
2005 James Hinchcliffe AIM Autosport
2004 Michael McDowell Star Race Cars
2003 Michael McDowell Star Race Cars
2002 Guy Cosmo Racers Edge Motorsports

Pro Mazda Thursday and Friday Practice

The 10 Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire entries took part in a half-hour of practice on Thursday afternoon and a half our of practice first thing on Friday morning.

There was one red flag in each session, and both times it was for National Class entry Kevin Davis getting stuck in a gravel trap. Juncos Racing rookie Nicolas Dapero also pushed the limit in Turn 3 and took a trip through the gravel trap at the exit of Turn 3.

Wisonsin’s Aaron Telitz, who is currently second in the championship, turned the quickest lap in both sessions, but it’s really close at the top with the top six drivers all within 0.4 seconds of Teliiz’s top lap of 2:06.966.

Full combined time-sheet

RANK DRIVER QUICK LAP TOTAL LAPS
1 Aaron Telitz 2:06.966 18
2 Jake Parsons 2:07.070 28
3 Nicolas Dapero 2:07.078 27
4 Pato O’Ward 2:07.309 24
5 Nico Jamin 2:07.362 28
6 Will Owen 2:07.386 27
7 TJ Fischer 2:08.122 23
8 Bobby Eberle 2:10.440 27
9 Bob Kaminsky 2:10.743 23
10 Kevin Davis 2:11.441 24
category: Pro Mazda News/Results
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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 —

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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

—

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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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.

—

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.

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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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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Pro Mazda – Race #2

Posted by  on Saturday, May 14th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

Pato O’Ward continued his season domination in the second of two Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires races at the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, to complete a weekend sweep.

The 17-year-old native of Monterrey, Mexico has now won five of six races this year, even as he remains on a weekend-to-weekend schedule. But given his incredible start, he seems poised to continue as the year rolls on.

O’Ward entered the day’s action with a 31-point lead on Team Pelfrey teammate Aaron Telitz, having gained 19 points on Friday alone with a flag-to-flag win from pole and Telitz finishing seventh and outside the top two for the first time this year. Grist entered third in points, a further 33 points behind Telitz.

Here was the starting grid for the 40-minute race two.

Rank Car Driver Time
1 80 Pato O’Ward 01:22.9964
2 82 Aaron Telitz 01:23.3873
3 23 Will Owen 01:23.7072
4 5 Garett Grist 01:23.9052
5 0 Jake Parsons 01:23.9388
6 2 Nico Jamin 01:24.0146
7 31 Nicolas Dapero 01:24.0735
8 3 Jake Eidson 01:24.2401
9 13 Bobby Eberle 01:25.0023
10 57 Bob Kaminsky 01:26.5003
11 37 Jay Horak 01:26.6685
12 44 Kevin Davis 01:26.8966

Off the start, Telitz tried to put his No. 82 Rice Lake Weighing Systems alongside or close to O’Ward in the No. 80 Gap Guard/Topo Chico-backed entry, but was unable to complete a move through the opening turns. Telitz then fell into the clutches of the Juncos Racing pair of Will Owen and Garett Grist, while O’Ward got away.

At the end of the first lap O’Ward led Telitz by 1.5485 seconds, with Owen leading the quartet of Juncos entries from third to sixth.

On Lap 2, O’Ward had a 2.9736-second lead. Grist fell from fourth to sixth behind his other teammates, Nicolas Dapero and Jake Parsons.

Grist got back around Parsons on Lap 3 and Dapero by Lap 6, while up front O’Ward had extended his lead on Telitz to 4.4687 seconds.

At Lap 10, O’Ward led Telitz by just over 4.5 seconds with Owen and Grist third and fourth and Nico Jamin having got around the other two Juncos entries and up to fifth.

The order stabilized from there throughout the 12-car field with O’Ward leading Telitz, Owen, Grist and Jamin in the top five ahead of Parsons, Jake Eidson and Dapero.

The Team Pelfrey pair extended the gap over the Juncos drivers to double digits, with Owen again in a race of his own behind them, and Owen clear of Grist and Jamin, which became the best battle on the racetrack.

Telitz was able to progressively gain a few tenths on O’Ward but couldn’t drop the number below the 4-second mark.

By Lap 27, O’Ward’s gap was north of five seconds to 5.0011 over Telitz.

He took the white flag after completing Lap 28 with a gap of 4.9657 seconds, and took the checkered flag 4.7056 seconds clear of Telitz, following a second successive 29-lap, caution-free race.

Owen secured his second podium finish in as many days in third in the No. 23 AMR Juncos car.

A final lap change of position occurred for fourth with Jamin able to pass Grist, and score his best result since ending fourth in St. Petersburg round two.

Jamin’s final lap of 1:24.1944 was more than 1.2 seconds clear of Grist in that lap, as the Frenchman, in his Soul Red No. 2 Mazda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entry, got around the Canadian.

Bobby Eberle of JDC Motorsports took his second National class win in as many days.

O’Ward, who endured a tough weekend on the IMS road course last year, was euphoric on the cold Saturday morning in speaking to Rob Howden on the podium.

“I was really motivated when I came here,” he said. “We had a really bad weekend last year, I wanted to do a good job and give back something to the team for all the hard work they’ve given me. It showed.

“We had amazing rhythm, and had a great setup that hit the sweet spot. I was a bit nervous, and started on sticker Cooper Tires. It was going to be different than qualifying. I got into the groove, and started keeping consistent lap times. We also got the pole and fastest lap; I can’t ask for anything else. We got the perfect weekend.”

Unofficial results are below following the latest O’Ward victory.

P No Name Laps
1 80 Pato O’Ward 29
2 82 Aaron Telitz 29
3 23 Will Owen 29
4 2 Nico Jamin 29
5 5 Garett Grist 29
6 00 Jake Parsons 29
7 3 Jake Eidson 29
8 31 Nicolas Dapero 29
9 13 Bobby Eberle 29
10 44 Kevin Davis 29
11 57 Bob Kaminsky 28
12 37 Jay Horak 28

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – Pro Mazda – Race #1

Posted by  on Friday, May 13th 2016     

Pro Mazda Logo

The 17-year-old Mexican sophomore Pato O’Ward continued his domination of the early season in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires season, with his fourth win in five races to open the 2016 campaign and extend his points lead.

The driver of the No. 80 Gap Guard/Topo Chico supported entry for Team Pelfrey scored the pole by several tenths, led flag-to-flag in the 29-lap, 40-minute, caution-free race, and captured the win by 6.8509 seconds.

Not bad for a driver who has been on a weekend-to-weekend commitment with the team, having only been confirmed for St. Pete and Barber initially and then extended into the full month of May earlier this week.

O’Ward’s likely closest challenger, teammate Aaron Telitz in the No. 82 Rice Lake Weighing Systems entry, got caught out in the opening lap skirmish following a battle with Will Owen in the No. 23 AMR entry for Juncos Racing.

By Turn 7 Telitz ventured off course, with another car also off in the background. After starting second, the Wisconsin driver fell to 10th and without a yellow flag, would struggle to recoup the lost time.

From there, O’Ward was able to put on a clinic by gapping the field anywhere from three to five tenths of a second per lap.

He had a lead of 1.538 seconds after the first lap, 2.2757 by Lap 2, 3.5649 by Lap 5, 5.2047 by Lap 10 and 7.6606 by Lap 17.

With Telitz out of the fray, Owen made it into second early after a pass of him and ran a solo race from there, with no issues from behind him either.

Australian rookie Jake Parsons in the No. 00 Smart Mind Institute car for Juncos also made it up a spot, from fourth to third, and was able to maintain his pace over more experienced teammate Garett Grist in his No. 5 Lander Property Management/Mac Tools/Blacklist Lifestyle entry for Juncos for the rest of the race.

O’Ward had a 7.2961-second gap to Owen on Lap 28 and received the white flag. He took the checkered flag a lap later at a slightly reduced gap of 6.8509 seconds.

Parsons made it home in third for his first career podium with Grist fourth and Nico Jamin in fifth. Jake Eidson was sixth and Telitz made it back to seventh, a spot ahead of the fourth Juncos car, driven by Nicolas Dapero.

Bobby Eberle took the National class win in ninth, now driving for JDC Motorsports in his No. 13 car.

Post-race, O’Ward admitted it was harder than it looked. He tried to conserve his Cooper Tires over the course of the race to ensure he had enough tires left for a restart if needed.

Owen said he’s driving better this year than he did last year, but admitted he had nothing for O’Ward on this afternoon. He braked better than Telitz into Turn 7 and that was enough to secure the position, another podium at a track where he has a past Pro Mazda podium and a USF2000 win.

Parsons was thankful to secure his first podium and said managing his brakes was the toughest part of his race.

Unofficial results are below with the second race of the weekend set for 10:20 a.m. on Saturday morning.

P No Name Laps
1 80 Pato O’Ward 29
2 23 Will Owen 29
3 00 Jake Parsons 29
4 5 Garett Grist 29
5 2 Nico Jamin 29
6 3 Jake Eidson 29
7 82 Aaron Telitz 29
8 31 Nicolas Dapero 29
9 13 Bobby Eberle 29
10 57 Bob Kaminsky 29
11 37 Jay Horak 28
12 44 Kevin Davis 16

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