Archives for Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire – TSO

Pro Mazda at Barber Motorsports Park – 2018 – Friday – Practice #1 – Thompson leads the way

Posted by  on Friday, April 20th 2018     

By Steve Wittich

Exclusive Autosport rookie Parker Thompson led the way in first official Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire session with the new PM-18 with a lap of 76.758 seconds. The Canadian enjoys Barber Motorsports Park, collecting one win, three podiums and never finishing outside of the top five in six races on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course.

Juncos Racing’s Robert Megennis had the second quickest lap.  Team Pelfrey trio Rafa Martins,  Andres Gutierrez, and Sting Ray Robb started the weekend off strong, finishing with the fourth, sixth, and ninth quickest laps respectively.

Third quickest was David Malukas (BN Racing), who led March’s official test at Barber Motorsports Park, and rounding out the top five was reigning Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda champion Oliver Askew in the Soul Red No. 3 from the Cape Motorsports stable.

It took all of one lap for the first driver to go under the Pro Mazda track record of 80.249 seconds, which was set by current Verizon IndyCar Series driver Spencer Pigot during qualifying in 2014.

The 30-minute practice session began promptly at 8:45 am under stunning blue skies. However, the temperature was struggling mightily to break the 50F

With 18 minutes left in the session, the red flag came out so that the AMR INDYCAR Safety Team could retrieve the No. 91 Exclusive Autosport car of Antonio Serravalle which came to a stop off-track at the exit of Turn 1.

The car was towed back to the pits, and the green flag came back out with 15 minutes remaining in the lone practice session before the first qualifying session at 2:15 pm.

At that point in the session, the top quickest by Megennis,  Askew, Harrison Scott, Thompson, and VeeKay.

The second red flag of the session was shown to the 16 entries when one of the BN Racing cars came to a stop in the thick grass just before the sand trap in the Turn 5 – Turn 6 Charlotte’s Web complex. The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team returned the car to pit road, and the session went green for the final two minutes.

DEForce Racing’s Kory Enders was the only driver that didn’t turn any laps. The crew was pushing the No.11 Mazda/Tatuus back to the Pro Mazda paddock as the session began.

Current points leader VeeKay and the Juncos Racing technical team will have some work to do before qualifying. The 17-year-old Dutch driver had the eighth quickest time.

The teams each receive three sets of sticker Cooper Tire slicks for the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Alabama Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader and are allowed to use one set of tires carried over from a previous event during the first practice session. The carryover tires need to be turned in immediately after the first practice.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Alabama Presented by Cooper Tires Practice #1 timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER QUICK LAP DIFFERNCE TOTAL LAPS
1 90 Parker Thompson 1:16.758 –.—- 14
2 9 Robert Megennis 1:16.946 0.1872 12
3 79 David Malukas 1:17.010 0.2511 9
4 80 Rafael Martins 1:17.040 0.2818 6
5 3 Oliver Askew 1:17.167 0.4088 15
6 81 Andres Gutierrez 1:17.302 0.5436 17
7 10 Harrison Scott 1:17.371 0.6127 16
8 2 Rinus VeeKay 1:17.431 0.6722 13
9 82 Sting Ray Robb 1:17.499 0.7409 16
10 1 Carlos Cunha 1:17.586 0.8272 15
11 8 Nikita Lastochkin 1:17.851 1.0927 17
12 78 Kris Wright 1:18.167 1.4084 12
13 27 Lodovico Laurini 1:18.265 1.5061 14
14 91 Antonio Serravalle 1:19.129 2.3706 7
15 83 Charles Finelli 1:23.818 7.0594 13
16 11 Kory Enders No Time — —
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Pro Mazda preview – Rinus VeeKay leads championship going into Barber Motorsports Park doubleheader

Posted by  on Thursday, April 19th 2018     

By Steve Wittich

Rinus VeeKay, the 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda vice-champion led 29 of 50 laps, stood on the top step of the podium twice and scored 62 of a possible 66 points to leave the season-opening pair of races in St. Petersburg.

Rinus VeeKay and Arie Luyendyk take a selfie together after the Juncos Racing driver grabbed his second Pro Mazda win (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

The Dutchman, who holds a 19 point lead headed into this weekend’s Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Alabama Presented by Cooper Tires doubleheader kept busy during the six weeks between events.

The 17-year-old took care of some school work and exams during his downtime, but also had time to test a Euro Formula 3 car.

VeeKay will be making his third and fourth start at Barber Motorsports Park, finishing third and fourth in a pair of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda races last year.

The points situation headed into Pro Mazda Rounds 3 & 4 at Barber Motorsports Park

RANK DRIVER TOTAL
1 Rinus VeeKay – R 62
2 Parker Thompson – R 43
3 Carlos Cunha 42
4 David Malukas – R 39
5 Sting Ray Robb 35
6 Oliver Askew – R 33
7 Robert Megennis – R 27
8 Nikia Lastochkin 27
9 Harrison Scott – R 21
10 Lodovico Laurini – R 21
11 Andres Gutierrez – R 20
12 Antonio Serravalle – R 18
13 Rafa Martins – R 17
14 James Raven – R 17
15 Kris Wright 16
16 Charles Finelli 14

The middle rung of the Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires will be making the trip to Alabama to join the Verizon IndyCar Series for the sixth time, and will be contesting race #10 and #11 in the rolling hills east of Birmingham.

Previous Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire winners at Barber Motorsports Park

2016 Race #2 Patricio O’Ward Team Pelfrey
2016 Race #1 Patricio O’Ward Team Pelfrey
2015 Race #2 Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports
2015 Race #1 Weiron Tan Andretti Autosport
2014 Race #2 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing
2014 Race #1 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing
2012 Race #2 Jack Hawksworth Team Pelfrey
2012 Race #1 Martin Scuncio Juncos Racing
2011 Tristan Vautier JDC Motorsports

Juncos Racing and Team Pelfrey both have three wins on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course, but with a brand new engine and chassis package, it will be interesting to see which team has it figured out.

The series tested with the new package on March 2nd, a week before the race weekend in St. Petersburg, and it was a pair of new teams that led testing.

New team, BN Racing with driver David Malukas, turned 70 laps with a best lap of 77.068 seconds to lead the test. Malukas, who is currently fourth in points was only a tenth of a second ahead of fellow rookie Parker Thompson (2nd in the championship) and new team Exclusive Autosport.

The 20-year-old Thompson has won twice, stood on the podium three times and has failed to finish outside the top five in six career Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires starts at Barber.

Finishing the March test with the third, fifth and sixth quickest times during the test in March were the Team Pelfrey trio of Sting Ray Robb, Rafa Martins, and Andres Gutierrez. The three drivers will attempt to join Patricio O’Ward (twice) and Jack Hawksworth as drivers who wheeled the yellow and black of Team Pelfrey into victory lane in Alabama.

The Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire field were all afforded a one-hour test session this morning after the series impounded their engines to make upgrades. Sources tell us that Rafa Martins was speedy this morning.

VeeKay’s teammates Carlos Cunha (third in the championship) and Meggenis (seventh in the championship) both had terrific pace in St. Petersburg, Fla., but will first need to beat their championship-leading teammate VeeKay.

Oliver Askew, who was in for a comfortable podium in Sunday afternoon’s race in St. Petersburg until he made an uncharacteristic mistake by tapping the wall and damaging his suspension.

Barber Motorsports Park was where the 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda scholarship winner first asserted himself last year. The four-time Mazda Motorsports scholarship winner took both pole positions by over three-tenths of a second and won both races with relative ease.

Harrison Scott, the 2017 Euroformla Open Champion, was quick in his first two Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire starts. But, the Althorne, England driver needs to finish both races this weekend. The fast and flowing Barber Motorsports Park road course should remind him more of the circuits he’s raced on in Europe, and a visit to the podium this weekend would not be surprised.

We’d be shocked if qualifying track record (80.249 seconds) and race track record (80.441 seconds) that were set in 2014 by current Verizon IndyCar Series driver Spencer Pigot didn’t quickly fall. The Mazda 2.0L powered Tatuus PM-18 should be much quicker around the 2.3-mile, 17-turn, Barber Motorsports Park natural terrain road course.

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MRTI Update #13 – Sunday – Pro Mazda Race #2 – VeeKay completes magic weekend in PM-18 debut

Posted by  on Monday, March 12th 2018     

 

Sorry for the delay in getting this report out. The red flag, and wanting to get the story correct held it up yesterday. And, the finally sleeping in my own bed after 20 of the last 22 days away, held it up today (Steve). 

After an exciting run from eighth to first to eighth by Rinus VeeKay to take home victory in the first Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Product, the Dutch driver had a much more conventional pole to winners circle win in Sunday’s second race.

Before the green flag for Saturday’s first race, VeeKay had only completed nine-laps of the 1.8-mile 14-turn street course due to a mechanical issue with his No. 2 Juncos Racing machine, but that didn’t slow down the 2018 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda vice-champion.

Rinus VeeKay receives daps from fellow Dutchman Arie Luyendyk after his second Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire win of the weekend. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

That, however, did not mean that the second race was conventional because, for the first 17 of the scheduled 40-minute event, things were a little chaotic.

The chaos began on the pace lap when Charles Finelli had his engine cover come off, leaving debris on the track, and forcing the starter to display the yellow flag.

The AMR INDYCAR Safety Team quickly retrieved the debris and not long after the 15 remaining drivers had rounded the fourteenth and final corner, the starter threw the green flag before the front row had reached the start-zone.

The premature green flag caught the front row of VeeKay and Malukas off guard, and they were both swamped by the rest of field, falling outside of the top 10 by the time the field rounded Turn 1.

Harrison Scott, who was started seventh, took advantage of the confusion and moved to the lead by the time the first green flag lap had come to a close.

The field settled in for what was scheduled to be a 30 lap race, but with the confusion at the start of the race, the red flag flew, and the field came to pit road.

After a slight delay will officials discussed the situation, the drivers were put back into their original starting spots, and the race restarted in a single file configuration. The reason for the confusion was that the flag-stand had lost communication with race control, and the green flag came out too early.

The most significant loser outside of Scott, was Juncos Racing rookie, Robert Megennis, who had suffered a mechanical issue on track, and was not able to restart.

The single file restart was clean, and at the end of Lap 6, the top 10 were: VeeKay, Malukas, Oliver Askew, Carlos Cunha, Sting Ray Robb, Scott, Parker Thompson, Lodovico Laurini, Rafa Martins, Nikia Lastochkin and Andres Gutierrez.

Cunha started to immediately pressure reigning USF2000 Champion Oliver Askew for the final podium spot. On Lap 9, the Soul Red No. 3 slapped the wall at Turn 8, allowing Cunha through. Askew was able to complete the race but finished in sixth.

With 15 minutes remaining in what had become a timed race, VeeKay held a slim 0.7 second lead over BN Racing rookie Malukas. Behind them, Cunha held third, and Scott had just been able to get past Robb for fourth.

However, the RP Motorsport No. 10 sustained front wing damage, and even with a valiant effort by the English driver, the damage eventually caught up with him, and he ended the race in 12th, as the final driver on the lead lap.

RP Motorsport rookie Harrison Scott made a valiant effort to hang on to a top five spot, but Sting Ray Robb and Parker Thompson were able to get by him. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Malukas, from Chicago Height, Ill. started to eat into VeeKay’s lead at one-tenth of a second per lap. The pair of front-runners was seven seconds ahead of Cunha.

With five minutes left in the 40 minutes timed race the yellow flag came back out for the No. 78 BN Racing Mazda/Tatuus of Kris Wright who had an issue in Turn 8.

The top 10 when the green flag came back out with two minutes left in the event was: VeeKay, Malukas, Cunha, Scott, Robb, Thompson, Askew, Lastochkin, Martins, and Guttierez.

Scott immediately lost positions to Robb and Thompson and continued to fall down the order.

The 17-year-old VeeKay took the white flag with a 0.4-second lead and was able to hold off Malukas to score his second straight Pro Mazda win, and his fifth career Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires victory.

“This is amazing, just like last year when I won both races at Road America and was fighting with David,” exclaimed an ecstatic VeeKay.  “But both of us were confused at the start because the green came so early, so everyone passed us. I’m happy that the series saw the mistake and gave us a chance to recover. I had a comfortable gap through the race and when I saw the yellow flag I thought ‘oh, no!’ I knew the restart had to be very good and I did get enough of a jump to stay in front. The team gave me a great car, but I want to thank Elite Engines as well. I had trouble before the season started and they helped me get over it. It’s amazing how quick this car is so thank you Tatuus and Mazda! It’s magic, driving it.”

Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire Race #2 Official Results

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Saturday – MRTI Update #9 – Pro Mazda Race #1 – New PM-18 and VeeKay put on a show

Posted by  on Saturday, March 10th 2018     

If the first race of the PM-18 era of is any indication, Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires fans are in for a treat.

Rinus VeeKay, who started right in the middle of the 16 car grid after having some mechanical issues in qualifying used a combination of luck and skill to win his first race in the Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire series.

VeeKay gave full credit to the Juncos Racing team for giving him a race winning car, and to drivers like Thompson for pushing him to get better.

The victory in the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products race #1 is the fifth of VeeKay’s Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires career.

VeeKay took advantage of a late race caution to get past Parker Thompson on the restart to stand on the top step of the podium in the first race of the PM-18 era.

Thompson had to settle for his first Pro Mazda and 19th career Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires victory.

VeeKay’s teammate Robert Megennis, who started the race in fifth, ended up with his

The front row of Thompson and Askew brought the eight rows of two to the green flag, but the row behind them of Carlos Cunha and Harrison Scott got the jump, and the first two rows were four wide by the time they reached the Turn 1 braking point.

Askew, Scott, and Cunha all missed the braking point, while Thompson was the only driver of the quartet who made the corner. The trio all made it through the extra-wide turn at the end of the slick runway but Askew fell to sixth, Cunha fell to ninth, and Scott dropped all the way to 14th.

As the bunched up field made it to Turn 5, Cunha and Rafa Martins made contact while fighting for the same piece of real-estate. The loser in the incident was the black and yellow No. 80 Team Pelfrey machine of Martins, which ended up in the concrete wall on driver’s right.

The running order at the end of the first lap was: Thompson, Robert Megennis, Rinus VeeKay, Sting Ray Robb, Andres Gutierrez, Askew, Nikita Lastochkin, Lodovico Laurini, Carlos Cunha, David Malukas, James Raven, Antonio Serravalle, Kris Wright, Scott, Charles Finelli, and Martins

The race got restarted on Lap 5, and VeeKay who started in eighth got by Megennis for the second spot.

The field of 275HP 2.0L Mazda powered machines settled in until Lap 10 when Cunha was able to get by Gutierrez.

Four laps later, DEForce Racing rookie Raven brought out the lone yellow flag of the 25 lap race when the No. 12 made contact at the exit of Turn 8.

The caution erased the three-second lead that Thompson and his black and red Exclusive Autosport No. 90 built up over VeeKay.

Parker Thompson leads Rinus VeeKay though Turn 1 just before losing the lead on a late race restart. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

When the green flag came back out on Lap 19, VeeKay was able to get by Thompson for the lead. Further back in the field, Cunha went by Robb for fourth, after falling to 10th after missing the Turn 1 on lap 1.

With five laps to go, Askew was able to get back into the top five, getting by Team Pelfrey sophomore Robb.

VeeKay was able to pull out to an almost two-second lead, but Thompson started to chip away at that lead over the last three laps. With two laps to go, the Canadian was 9-tenths of a second behind VeeKay, when starter Paul Blevins brought out the white flag VeeKay held a slim half-second lead. Thompson put pressure on VeeKay over the final lap, but the 17-year-old was able to hold on to cross the finish line three-tenths of a second ahead of Thompson.

Thompson said that his car was fast on the long runs and that it’s not a bad day when you are disappointed with second place.

The final Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products race will roll off after the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg at 4:30 pm.

Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire Race #1 Unofficial Results

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER DIFFERENCE
1 2 Rinus VeeKay
2 90 Parker Thompson 0.3309
3 9 Robert Megennis 2.3305
4 1 Carlos Cunha 2.9675
5 3 Oliver Askew 3.6154
6 82 Sting Ray Robb 4.0101
7 79 David Malukas 5.1743
8 8 Nikita Lastochkin 6.9373
9 10 Harrison Scott 7.4872
10 27 Lodovico Laurini 12.6347
11 91 Antonio Serravalle 15.9270
12 78 Kris Wright -1 LAP
13 83 Charles Finelli -1 LAP
14 81 Andres Gutierrez -3 LAPS
15 12 James Raven -12 LAPS
16 80 Rafael Martins -25 LAPS
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Saturday – MRTI Update #6 – USF2000 and Pro Mazda – Baron, VeeKay score Race 2 poles

Posted by  on Saturday, March 10th 2018     

Alex Baron’s stop-and-start career in the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires has restarted again, with another return to the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in the revitalized Swan-RJB Motorsports team.

Despite being the 25th and last car added to the initial entry list, Baron and Swan-RJB start first in the second race of the weekend, the Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products.

Alex Baron and his Swan-RJB Motorsports No. 19 scored pole for the second Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda race (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

Baron, the 23-year-old from Narbonne, France, took his No. 19 Tatuus USF-17 Mazda to the second new track record in USF2000 qualifying in as many days. He laid down a 1:12.2574 around the 1.8-mile street circuit, which eclipsed Jose Sierra’s prior mark of 1:12.5493 set on Friday.

Baron ran a pair of USF2000 weekends with the Afterburner Autosport team in 2013, when he won two poles (both at Laguna Seca Raceway) and two races (one apiece at Laguna Seca and Houston). His last pole and win came in his final Indy Lights start, at Toronto in 2014 with Belardi Auto Racing. Baron made yet another return last year when he drove several weekends with ArmsUp Motorsports, and had a best finish of fourth place at Iowa Speedway.

And yes, to make this story even more intriguing, Swan-RJB Motorsports has former Atlantic champion and IndyCar race winner Alex Barron as the team’s driver coach. This means there are two people with the same name in the same team, but with different nationalities and last name spellings.

Igor Fraga will start alongside on the front row, a highly impressive outing in his first ever street course race weekend. The Japanese-born Brazilian took the No. 91 Exclusive Autosport entry to a best time of 1:12.494.

With Kyle Kirkwood third, Lucas Kohl fourth, Jamie Caroline fifth and Julian Van der Watt sixth, this makes six different teams in the top six on the grid. Cape Motorsports, Pabst Racing, BN Racing and Team Pelfrey join the party up front. After Van der Watt, Bruna Tomaselli posted an impressive run to qualify seventh in the second of three Pelfrey entries, in a career best start.

DEForce Racing, which will start on pole for today’s first race, was unable to replicate its Friday pace this morning. Its four-car lineup is close though, with Jose Sierra eighth, Zach Holden ninth, Kory Enders 11th and Colin Kaminsky 12th. Unfortunately for Kaminsky, he had an incident at Turn 8 to bring out the red flag in the final three minutes and provide a premature end to the session.

Beyond Kohl in fourth, none of the other three Pabst Racing drivers could better 10th this session.

The first of two Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products races rolls off at 10:15 am today, while tomorrow’s second race isn’t until 5:25 p.m.

Cooper Tires USF2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products Qualifying Session #2 timesheet

P No Name Team FTime Diff Laps
1 19 Alex Baron Swan-RJB Motorsports 1:12.257 –.—- 12
2 91 Igor Fraga Exclusive Autosport 1:12.494 0.2362 13
3 8 Kyle Kirkwood Cape Motorsports 1:12.704 0.4468 11
4 22 Lucas Kohl Pabst Racing 1:12.813 0.5556 12
5 28 Jamie Caroline BN Racing 1:12.819 0.5612 11
6 80 Julian Van der Watt Team Pelfrey 1:12.852 0.5946 13
7 82 Bruna Tomaselli Team Pelfrey 1:12.938 0.6805 13
8 12 Jose Sierra DEForce Racing 1:12.952 0.6950 12
9 10 Zach Holden DEForce Racing 1:12.961 0.7033 12
10 24 Kaylen Frederick Pabst Racing 1:12.981 0.7238 12
11 11 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 1:13.099 0.8419 12
12 27 Colin Kaminsky DEForce Racing 1:13.216 0.9584 11
13 21 Calvin Ming Pabst Racing 1:13.348 1.0903 12
14 23 Rasmus Lindh Pabst Racing 1:13.375 1.1177 12
15 36 Darren Keane Newman Wachs Racing 1:13.421 1.1633 12
16 81 Kyle Dupell Team Pelfrey 1:13.502 1.2449 13
17 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:13.543 1.2851 13
18 30 Keith Donegan ArmsUp Motorsports 1:13.676 1.4182 12
19 29 Russell McDonough BN Racing 1:13.774 1.5168 13
20 5 Mathias Soler-Obel Sol.O Racing 1:14.248 1.9910 11
21 37 David Osborne Newman Wachs Racing 1:14.256 1.9983 13
22 51 Michael d’Orlando Team Benik 1:14.362 2.1042 9
23 31 Sabre Cook Team Benik 1:15.060 2.8027 13
24 93 Jayson Clunie Exclusive Autosport 1:15.107 2.8496 13
25 38 Oscar DeLuzuriaga Newman Wachs Racing 1:15.694 3.4366 12

 

 

The second Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying session of the weekend packed a lot of punch into a compressed timeframe, after two red flags interrupted the 20-minute session.

When the checkered flag flew, Dutch standout Rinus VeeKay captured his first Pro Mazda pole position in the No. 2 Juncos Racing entry, with successive new fastest laps to ensure he’ll start P1 on Sunday in his Tatuus PM-18 Mazda.

VeeKay’s best time of 1:08.1747 was slightly off Oliver Askew’s Friday time at 1:08.1032, but still was enough to fend off a number of drivers who were also vying for the pole.

David Malukas and Askew slot into second and third in the No. 79 BN Racing and No. 3 Cape Motorsports entries, both more than three-tenths of a second adrift.

It took until fourth place to find the first series sophomore behind this trio of USF2000 graduates, with Sting Ray Robb best of Team Pelfrey’s three cars in fourth in his No. 82 entry. Carlos Cunha, who led a majority of the qualifying session until the final, frantic three minutes, fell to fifth.

An early red flag flew barely more than a minute into the session, while a second flew following slight contact for Kris Wright in his No. 78 BN Racing entry.

The first of today’s Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products races rolls off at 12:10 p.m. today, while tomorrow’s second race is at 4:30 p.m.

Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products Practice Qualifying #2 timesheet

P No Name Team FTime Diff Laps
1 2 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 1:08.175 –.—- 10
2 79 David Malukas BN Racing 1:08.487 0.3122 10
3 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 1:08.517 0.3427 8
4 82 Sting Ray Robb Team Pelfrey 1:08.518 0.3431 10
5 1 Carlos Cunha Juncos Racing 1:08.704 0.5290 11
6 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 1:08.719 0.5448 8
7 10 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport Racing 1:08.747 0.5727 10
8 9 Robert Megennis Juncos Racing 1:08.876 0.7016 10
9 8 Nikita Lastochkin Cape Motorsports 1:09.082 0.9077 8
10 27 Lodovico Laurini RP Motorsport Racing 1:09.153 0.9785 10
11 81 Andres Gutierrez Team Pelfrey 1:09.202 1.0275 10
12 80 Rafael Martins Team Pelfrey 1:09.260 1.0851 10
13 12 James Raven DEForce Racing 1:09.438 1.2635 10
14 91 Antonio Serravalle Exclusive Autosport 1:10.480 2.3050 11
15 78 Kris Wright BN Racing 1:15.603 7.4282 5
16 83 Charles Finelli BN Racing/Fatboy Racing 3:34.919 2:26.7440 2

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Friday – MRTI Update #4 – Pro Mazda qualifying – Askew secures his 9th MRTI pole as another track record falls

Posted by  on Friday, March 9th 2018     

As his eight poles in 14 Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires races attest to, Cape Motorsports rookie Oliver Askew knows how to throw down in qualifying. The 21-year-old briefly lost the top spot to Harrison Scott and Parker Thompson but was able to throw down the last flyer of the session, to pip Exclusive Autosport’s Thompson by just under two-tenths of the session.

Askew’s lap at 1:08.103 obliterated the previous Pro Mazda track record of 1:10.352 that was set in 2010 by Conor Daly.

Qualifying fourth was the first of the Juncos Racing drivers, Carlos Cunha, who was followed by his teammate Robert Megennis, who won the first USF2000 race of the 2017 season on the Streets of St. Petersburg.

At the half-way point of the twenty-minute session, the top five drivers were: Harrison Scott, Parker Thompson, Oliver Askew, Carlos Cunha and David Malukas.

With just over five minutes left in the session, Juncos Racing’s Robert Megennis, who won at this track in USF2000 last year, went to the top of the timing screens.

It didn’t take long for the “Soul Red” car of reigning USF2000 champion Askew to head to the provisional pole spot, which he held until newcomer Scott knocked him down a spot.

Scott held onto the provisional pole until the last two minutes of the session, when first Thompson and then Askew were able to go quicker.

Would be championship contenders Sting Ray Robb, Rinus VeeKay, Andres Gutierrez, and David Malukas qualified in sixth, eighth, tenth and ninth.

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

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP GAP LAPS
1 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 1:08.103 –.—- 14
2 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 1:08.288 0.1853 13
3 10 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport Racing 1:08.301 0.1978 13
4 1 Carlos Cunha Juncos Racing 1:08.383 0.2803 14
5 9 Robert Megennis Juncos Racing 1:08.532 0.4290 13
6 82 Sting Ray Robb Team Pelfrey 1:08.559 0.4555 12
7 8 Nikita Lastochkin Cape Motorsports 1:08.766 0.6628 13
8 2 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 1:08.774 0.6705 9
9 81 Andres Gutierrez Team Pelfrey 1:08.948 0.8448 11
10 79 David Malukas BN Racing 1:08.963 0.8602 15
11 27 Lodovico Laurini RP Motorsport Racing 1:09.041 0.9377 14
12 80 Rafael Martins Team Pelfrey 1:09.063 0.9600 13
13 12 James Raven DEForce Racing 1:09.104 1.0008 14
14 78 Kris Wright BN Racing 1:09.520 1.4168 15
15 91 Antonio Serravalle Exclusive Autosport 1:10.274 2.1705 15
16 83 Charles Finelli BN Racing / Fat Boy Racing 1:15.495 7.3916 10

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Friday – MRTI Update #1 – USF2000 and Pro Mazda – first practice sessions

Posted by  on Friday, March 9th 2018     

 

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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category: Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda - TSO, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, USF2000 News/Results
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An extensive preview of the 2018 Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire season.

Posted by  on Thursday, March 8th 2018     

The Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire series will take to the streets (and runways) of downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. for the 15th and 16th time this weekend. It’s the fifth straight and seventh overall year that the series contests their first race of the year on the shore of Tampa Bay.

Previous race winning drivers and teams at the Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire events in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Year Driver Team Start
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 Pato 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 DePhillippi Juncos Racing 1
2011 Race Connor DePhillippi Team Pelfrey 3
2010 Race Conor Daly Juncos Racing 1

 

Race weekend basics:

  • The official name of the pair of races is: Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products
  • Saturday’s Race 1 is scheduled for 25 laps or 40 minutes
  • Sunday’s Race 2 – is scheduled for 30 laps or 40 minutes
  • Each entry is permitted to use three sets of new Cooper Tire slicks, and can also carry over one set that has to be used in
  • the first practice session of the event
  • Each entry is permitted to use three sets of new Cooper Tire rains.
  • 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, and to the driver who leads the most laps

A few things we’ll be watching this weekend.

  • The first one, and the biggest is the engine situation. This worrisome issue is something that we’ll hopefully not have to get into more detail on as the weekend progresses, but let’s just say that the 275HP Mazda developed MZR-PM18A have been expiring at an alarming rate. The series hopes that it has found the problem, and any engines that have failed due to that problem (crank-shaft) will be replaced at no cost to the teams. The series has a plan in place to replace the offending parts during the break in the action after St. Petersburg, but the engines will be running with a much reduced maximum RPM this weekend.
  • The second thing that we’ll be watching is how the set-ups and driving styles translate from the drivers with USF-17 experience vs. the drivers with experience with the previous Pro Mazda car.
  • The last thing that we’ll be watching is who finishes up front. The lowest that a Pro Mazda champion has finished in races held in St. Petersburg is fourth, and the eventual champion has won races in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Will 2018 be the next year that happens?

Breaking down the teams and drivers:

Team Pelfrey has won four of the last eight Pro Mazda Championships and will have the opportunity to make it five of ten with a talented line-up that includes sophomore Sting Ray Robb, with rookies Andres Gutierrez and Rafa Martins. TSO expects to see the trio of drivers all competing for race wins early and often.

The 16-year old Robb, who is managed by Pieter Rossi (IndyCar driver Alex’s father), finished his rookie Pro Mazda season in 6th place, with a best finish of fourth (on three occasions). The Idaho native, was impressive in testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway two weeks ago, ending the two-day affair with the second quickest lap. If Team Pelfrey has the new PM-18 sorted, expect Robb to lead the charge for the black and yellow liveried squad.

Sophmore Sting Ray Robb will look to improve on his sixth place Pro Mazda championship after moving to Team Pelfrey in 2018 (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

“It’s an amazing atmosphere at St. Pete – you see kids hanging on the fences, people walking around eating hot dogs and having fun,” explained Robb, “It’s cool to be running right on the streets of the city, and all the drivers look forward to it. We were P2 in Spring Training at Homestead last week, and that’s a good start. The same techniques apply whether you’re on a road course or a street course, and I have more time in this car before the start of the season than I did last year, so that’s a big help.”

Guttierez, from Monterey, Mexico, made three USF2000 starts in 2017, finishing sixth in the season finale at Watkins Glen International. Guttierez had a busy 2017, contesting five FIA Formula 4 Nacam Championship races (with two wins and five podiums) and six IMSA Prototype Challenge races (winning twice and finishing on the podium in all six races).

The third member of the trio is 19-year-old Rafa Martins. The Brazilian, who was a world class karter, is returning to racing this season after taking a year off to get his funding sorted. Martins spent the two years before that racing in the British F4 series, standing on the top step of the podium five times and scoring a total of nine podiums. Martins told TSO Ladder that everything about the PM18 is new and very different from what he has raced in the past, but he does have Tony Kanaan to lean on for advice this year.

“He (Kanaan) started helping me this year,” said Martins to TSO Ladder. “He’s going to mentor me this year. I really appreciate that. It’s very good to have been behind me helping me. I’m very happy to be working with him.

Last year, Victor Franzoni fought a fierce battle against Anthony Martin, but was able to bring home Juncos Racing’s second Pro Mazda driver’s championship. The Speedway, Ind. based team signed three outstanding drivers in an attempt to defend the title.

The driver with the most experience that will be piloting the familiar green, white and orange liveried Juncos Racing cars is Robert Megennis. The New Yorker, who has was recently accepted into Butler University, spent the previous two seasons in USF2000 with Team Pelfrey. The 17 year-old won the first race of the season in St. Petersburg last year, and a total of nine top-fives. Megennis told TSO Ladder that the progression from the USF17 to the PM18 is natural. It also shouldn’t hurt that just had the opportunity to develop a new car last season.

Rinus VeeKay, the 2017 USF2000 vice-champion, makes a move up to Pro Mazda, after also testing Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires machinery at the Chris Griffis Memorial Test last October. The 17-year-old, who is mature for his years, won three races, had 12 podiums in 14 races, and impressively never finished lower than he started in an impressive first season in cars. However, the Dutch driver had some engine troubles during testing and might start the season behind some of his competitors that completed more test miles.

“My goals for the upcoming season are winning the championship and maximizing my potential physically and mentally,” said VeeKay. “These past weekends have certainly been disappointing. Not being able to gain experience or data has been difficult but I’ve been training harder than ever before with my trainer, Raun Grobben.

“I’m ready for St. Pete. It’s been on my mind for the entire offseason, and I hope we don’t experience the same engine problems down in Florida. Our team has worked incredibly hard, and I’m coming into this weekend ready for battle.”

Last, but not least is Carlos Cunha. The sophomore Pro Mazda pilot has made a smooth transition from the venerable Star chassis / Mazda Renesis combination to the PM-18, leading the recent two days of testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Cunha, Meginnis, and VeeKay will all be drivers to watch in 2018 and should be able to push each other.

At least, that’s what Cunha told TSO Ladder, saying: “Of course. VeeKay and Megennis are both good drivers. It’s always really difficult to always be ahead of him, but I’m trying to my best all the time. It’s really good when you have someone that can push you to the front. It’s amazing.”

The third returning team, Cape Motorsports, who has won seven straight USF2000 driver’s championships is still looking for their first in Pro Mazda. The St. Petersburg, Fla. based team, who joined the series in 2014, have had a driver finish second in the championship three times, and third during the remaining season.

Leading the charge will be Oliver Askew, who is gunning for his third straight Mazda Motorsports advancement scholarship had seven race wins, eight poles, 13 podiums and set four track records. Not bad for the 21 year-olds first season in cars.

Oliver Askew get buckled in – the 21-year-old from Jupiter, Fla. will be attempting to win his 3rd straight Mazda Motorsports advancement scholarship. ((Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski

Returning to Cape Motorsports, whom he drove for in USF2000 is Nikia Lastochkin. The Russian driver, who only started racing a few years ago when he took part in a Skip Barber racing school, is coming off his most successful season of racing. The 27-year-old had two podiums, and eight top fives on the way to a fifth-place finish in the 2017 Pro Mazda championship.

Joining the three returning teams, are four new teams. BN Racing, DEForce Racing, and Exclusive Autosport are moving up from USF2000, while RP Motorsport and their championship-winning pedigree are moving to the United States from Europe.

The Chicago Ridge, Ill. based BN Racing will enter two PM-18 cars for David Malukas and Kris Wright.

Wright, from Pittsburgh, Pa., contested races in both USF2000 and Pro Mazda during the 2017 season, and also finished second in the IMSA Prototype Challenge Series.

The 16-year-old Malukas split his 2017 between USF2000 and the Formula 4 ADAC (German) series but will concentrate his racing on this side of the Atlantic in 2018. The former stand-out karter has plenty of speed, leading the latest series test at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend, but will need to improve his race craft if he wants to contend for the championship.

After a successful first season of Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires competition in USF2000, the Angleton, Texas-based DEForce Racing will make the jump to Pro Mazda with English driver James Raven.

Over the past decade, Raven has been one the most successful Formula Ford racers in the United Kingdom. Winning 15 races, the 2014 Formula Ford Festival, and finishing third in the most recent Walter Hayes Trophy finale.

Raven has spent most of his career piloting a Ray chassis for Cliff Dempsey Racing. Cliff Dempsey’s son Peter, the former Indy Lights driver, is the engineer for the DEForce Racing squad and told TSO Ladder that on his dad’s recommendation they brought Raven to the United States for a Formula 4 test, and that went so well that the team decided to run him in Pro Mazda instead.

The third team that is making a move up the ladder is Canadian squad Exclusive Autosport, whose Pro Mazda team will be flying the Canadian Flag proudly all season with a Canadian two-some behind the wheel of the pair of PM-18s.

Parker Thompson, who has seven wins, six poles, and 18 podiums in Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires competition, finished the 2017 USF2000 season with the same team in third place. Thompson has been near the top of the timesheets in the last two official series tests at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Barber Motorsports Park, and with veteran, open wheel engineer Tim Lewis leading the team should be in the running for the $790,300 scholarship and a spot in Indy Lights.

Veteran Thompson will have the chance opportunity to mentor, Antonio Serravalle, his 15-year-old Canadian teammate. Serravalle will be on a steep learning curve, but the youngster is the most recent U.S. and Canadian KZ Shifter Kart champion, and anybody that can handle a shifter kart should have no problem adapting to Pro Mazda.

RP Motorsport, who call Milano, Italy home, have won five team and four driver championships in the Euroformula Open Championship (formerly the European F3 Championship) are making a move to the U.S. for the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship. The team, who are entering their 21st year of competition have based their Ameican operations at Newman Wachs Racing shop in Mundelein, Ill.

Harrison Scott, who won 12 of 14 races on the way to a dominant Euroformula Open Championship, will a be a driver to watch this season. It might take the team a few races to get a hold of the PM-18, but when they do, expect the 21-year-old to find the podium.

Harrison Scott chats with his RP Motorsport crew (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

Joining Scott is his 2017 teammate, Lodovico Laurini.

category: Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, Uncategorized

Pro Mazda and USF2000 testing recap from Homestead-Miami Speedway – Day #2 recap and timesheet

Posted by  on Sunday, February 25th 2018     

By Steve Wittich

For the second straight day, it was Juncos Racing sophomore Carlos Cunha who used an end of the day, last minute lap to jump to the top of the timesheet. The 18 year-old was able to better his Saturday afternoon lap by over two-tenths of a second, to “win” testing with the fastest lap of 1 minute, 19.202 seconds.

“I’m really happy, Juncos Racing is an amazing team,” said Cunha. “On-track, we are always improving, never going backwards and that’s very good. We have tested a lot but we still need to learn a lot about the car, though we are almost to a perfect setup. The team has given me everything I need to be comfortable inside the car, to know what the car needs, and to know what I need to be a better driver. We have time to improve and we are moving forward quickly.”

Juncos Racing sophomore Carlos Cunha ended the second day of testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the same spot he did the first day. At the top of the timesheet (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

Cunha’s swiftest lap was 4.4 seconds ahead of the venerable Mazda Renesis powered Star built chassis.

After having the second quickest lap in two different sessions, it finally looked like Team Pelfrey sophomore Sting Ray Robb was going to end the final session one spot higher, but Cunha’s last second flyer meant that the Idahoan had to settle for second in the session and in the runner-up spot on the combined time-sheet.

“We’ve done several tests this winter, working on my driving and on the car setup – and the chemistry with the team has been a huge factor,” explained the 16 year-old. “Coming into the weekend we know what we can do and here at Spring Training we got P2. The new car is so fast, brakes well, corners well, and it’s way nicer to drive than the old car. It feels like a real race car. Last year was my rookie season and it was a rough year, mentally and physically, so it’s good to be back in the swing of things, back in my rhythm!”

Sting Ray Robb is clearly enjoying his new home at Team Pelfrey. The 16 year-old was the second quickest driver in half of the six sessions and also ended the test as the second quickest pilot. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

The remainder of the top five, David Malukas (BN Racing), Rafa Martins (Team Pelfrey) and Parker Thompson (Exclusive Autosport) were covered by only a scant one-tenth of a second, and were within a half-second of Cunha.

Thirteen of the 15 drivers ended the test within one second of each other, setting the table for what should be an outstanding title fight.

The two drivers, Oliver Askew and Rinus VeeKay, that battled until the final race of the year in the 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda championship were only able to manage the ninth and eighth times, respectively.

But, both were fighting bugs. VeeKay was battling mechanical gremlins, and Askew was battling a nasty case of the flu, so don’t be surprised to see the talented duo back at the top of the time-sheets when the series heads to Barber Motorsports Park next week for two day official series test alongside the Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup Series on Saturday, March 3 and Sunday March 4.

The 15 PM18 cars that took part in the six-hours of testing turned a total of 1,610 laps (3,558.1 miles). Antonio Serravalle, who completed 169 circuits of the 2.21-Mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course was the busiest of the pilots, driving a total of 373.5 miles.

Combined timesheet for the two days of Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM FASTEST LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 1 Carlos Cunha Juncos Racing 1:19.202 132
2 82 Sting Ray Robb Team Pelfrey 1:19.409 -0.207 123
3 79 David Malukas BN Racing 1:19.579 -0.377 78
4 80 Rafael Martins Team Pelfrey 1:19.604 -0.402 111
5 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 1:19.685 -0.483 106
6 10 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport Racing 1:19.800 -0.598 39
7 9 Robert Megennis Juncos Racing 1:19.884 -0.642 125
8 2 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 1:19.914 -0.712 129
9 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 1:19.987 -0.785 127
10 12 James Raven DE Force Racing 1:20.036 -0.834 127
11 78 Kris Wright BN Racing 1:20.150 -0.948 80
12 27 Lodovico Laurini RP Motorsport Racing 1:20.197 -0.995 61
13 81 Andres Gutierrez Team Pelfrey 1:20.249 -1.047 82
14 8 Nikita Lastochkin Cape Motorsports 1:20.876 -1.674 121
15 91 Antonio Seravalle Exclusive Autosport 1:21.038 -1.836 169

For the second straight year, it was a Team USA Scholarship winning Cape Motorsports driver that led the first official test of an upcoming Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda season.

Last year, Oliver Askew used the momentum gained during the test to win the 2017 USF2000 Championship, and this year, it will be fellow Jupiter, Fla. native Kyle Kirkwood, who was part of the same Team USA Scholarship class, that will hope to follow in Askew’s footsteps.

Kyle Kirkwood and the No. 8 Cape Motorsports machine on track at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

“Everything went really well,” explained Kirkwood to TSO Ladder. “We were obviously very quick yesterday and today. We had a plan for the last two sessions, so that’s why we weren’t quicker in both of them. We were just seeing what our race pace was. I’m really happy with the outcome of the weekend. The car feels amazing, and I think going into St. Pete we should be one of the quicker car.”

Kirkwood will be attempting to win the eighth straight driver’s championship for Cape Motorsports. The St. Petersburg, Fla. based team, who faced a tough challenge from Pabst Racing last year, conceding the team championship to the Augie Pabst led team.

Drivers from the Oconomowoc, Wisc. team ended the test with the second, third, fourth, and sixth quickest laps. Rasmus Lindh, a rookie from Sweden, who will be making his first race start in cars at St. Petersburg led the veteran-laden team, but Lucas Kohl, Kaylen Frederick, and Calvin Ming were all very close together.

“The car feels very good,” explained the 16 year-old. “We’ve been quickest in two sessions and have improved through the weekend. We’ve tested a few times in the car, my first times in a race car. It takes some getting used to, going from a kart to a car. The brakes require much more pressure than a kart and you have to hold that pressure, so that’s new for me. I am used to moving my body in the kart to help the chassis, and I can’t move my body at all in the USF-17. And I’m learning what the car’s limits are, as well as the limits of the tires. It’s been great working with the Pabst team – all four of us have very similar times, so we can compare data and get the best for all of us.”

It was rookie Rasmus Lindh who led his veteran Pabst Racing during the first official Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda test of 2018 (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)

DEForce Racing sophomore Kory Enders was the only driver to break up the Cape Motorsports and Pabst Racing party at the top of the timesheet and ended the test with the fifth quickest time. The resident of Sugarland, Texas was one of the more consistent drivers of the test, ending with a top-five time in four of the six sessions.

After he got out of his car, Enders told TSO: “I think it went really great. We have a lot of speed and a lot of potential. At this point, we’re just fine-tuning the set-up at this point. We’re really looking forward to St. Pete(rsburg) because we know that we have the speed. We’re right there with Pabst, and ready to push even further to become P1. We wanted it here, but sometimes the best things are worth waiting for.”

During last year’s two-day opening test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Oliver Askew was the only driver to turn a lap below 1 minute, 24 seconds, and this year, only two drivers, Kirkwood and Lindh were able to break that threshold. After Kirkwood went under Askew’s lap yesterday, it looked like a lot more drivers would break the 84-second barrier, but according to the drivers we talked to the track got slicker as the day wore on, limiting how hard they were able to push.

The top nine drivers all set their quickest laps on the first day of testing, with Julian Van der Watt (Team Pelfrey) being the first driver to set their quickest lap of the test on Sunday.

The 23 USF17 cars that took part in the six-hours of testing turned a total of 2735 laps (6,044.35 miles). Sabre Cook, who completed 169 circuits of the 2.21-Mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course was the busiest of the pilots, driving a total of 373.5 miles

Combined timesheet for the two days of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway

 

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM FASTEST LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 8 Kyle Kirkwood Cape Motorsports 1:23.772 118
2 23 Rasmus Lindh Pabst Racing 1:23.924 -0.152 103
3 22 Lucas Kohl Pabst Racing 1:24.068 -0.296 104
4 24 Kaylen Frederick Pabst Racing 1:24.095 -0.323 123
5 11 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 1:24.250 -0.478 122
6 21 Calvin Ming Pabst Racing 1:24.476 -0.704 112
7 81 Kyle Dupell Team Pelfrey 1:24.484 -0.712 123
8 12 Jose Sierra DEForce Racing 1:24.566 -0.794 121
9 36 Darren Keane Newman Wachs Racing 1:24.655 -0.883 121
10 80 Julian Van der Watt Team Pelfrey 1:24.782 -1.010 99
11 28 Zach Holden BN Racing 1:24.857 -1.085 113
12 31 Michael D’Orlando Team Benik 1:24.875 -1.103 139
13 91 Igor Fraga Exclusive Autosport 1:25.005 -1.233 71
14 82 Bruna Tomaselli Team Pelfrey 1:25.109 -1.337 101
15 30 Keith Donegan ArmsUp Motorsports 1:25.147 -1.375 102
16 5 Mathias Soler-Obel Sol.O Racing 1:25.161 -1.389 144
17 27 Colin Kaminsky DE Force Racing 1:25.280 -1.508 139
18 37 Max Peichel Newman Wachs Racing 1:25.392 -1.620 141
19 29 Russell McDonough BN Racing 1:25.627 -1.855 37
20 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:25.803 -2.031 124
21 9 Sabre Cook ArmsUp Motorsports 1:25.967 -2.195 169
22 38 Oscar DeLuzuriaga Newman Wachs Racing 1:26.566 -2.794 150
23 93 Jason Clunie Exclusive Autosport 1:27.143 -3.371 159

 

USF2000 and Pro Mazda notebook:

  • 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.

The 2.21-mile, 14-turn Homestead-Miami Speedway road course (Photo courtesy of Homestead-Miami Speedway)

  • When attending a test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, one often spends some time looking at the sky. The Homestead Air Reserve Base is located just to the northeast of the track, and the flight path takes planes right over the facility. The base is home to the 482nd Fighter Wing and their Lockheed F-16C Fighting Falcons and the 125th Fighter Wing of the Florida Air National Guard and their McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles. Also calling the based home are United States Coast Guard EADS HC-144 Ocean Sentries, and various aircraft from U.S. Customs And Border Protection.
  • Each entry for spring training is allocated two sets of sticker Cooper Tire slicks for each day of the test, so they do have to be judicious in their use. Most teams spent the majority of Saturday’s first session on tires left over from testing before putting on sticker tires to end that first session. Each entry is allowed to carry over one set of tires from a previous event, but that set of carryovers does have to be used in the first practice session of another event. Tire “strategies” for the remaining four sessions varied, with some drivers/teams choosing to do their new tire, runs at the beginning of the sixty-minute session and
  • Jan Heylen will be replacing Scot Elkins as the USF2000 race director. Elkins is now the race director for the ABB FIA Formula E Championship. Heylen, originally from Belgium spent the early part of his career in open wheel racing piloting Formula Ford, Formula 3, Formula 3000, Indy Lights and Indy cars, before making the move to sports cars, where the 37 year-old has earned a reputation as an outstanding driver coach. Remaining in their race director roles from last year are Johnny Unser (Pro Mazda) and Tony Cotman (Indy Lights). Also remaining in his role as steward and USF2000 driver coach will be Joel Miller.
  • We’ve had a number of people ask us about the JUMBO sponsorship on the side pods of Rinus VeeKay’s race car. After asking VeeKay’s parents, and doing some research, we’ve learned that JUMBO is a 585 supermarket chain that currently has 19% of the Dutch supermarket market share. The chain is owned by the Van Eerd Group, who also recently purchased the La Place https://www.laplace.com/en restaurant chain that has 60+ locations in 7 countries including stores in New York, N.Y. and San Francisco, Calif., so that logo is also now visible on the No. 2 Juncos Racing machine. The company is run by Frits van Eerd, a regular in the BOSS GP series, a first-time competitor at Le Mans in 2017, partnering with Jan Lammers and Ruebens Barrichello to finish 13th overall in the historic French event.

The livery of Rinus VeeKay for the 2018 Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire season, featuring JUMBO and La Place. (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

  • USF2000 sophomore Darren Keane who drives for Newman Wachs Racing goes to high school in Coconut Creek, Fla, in the same school district and only six miles from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSDHS), the scene of a horrific school shooting less than two weeks ago. Keane told TSOLadder that one of his best friends attends MSDHS, and that the tragedy has really had an impact on all of the students in the area. The 18-year-old felt like he needed to show his support for his friends at the neighboring school, so the No. 36 is adorned with Parkland Strong 17 and #MSDStrong school logo stickers.

Photo By Steve Wittich

Photo by Steve Wittich

category: Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda - TSO, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, USF2000 News/Results
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Pro Mazda and USF2000 testing recap from day #1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Posted by  on Saturday, February 24th 2018     

The first official test of any racing season is sort of like the first day of school for a number of reasons.

As much as you might have done some school reading (or not) during the summer (non-official testing), the first day back at school (the first official day of testing) is all about knocking the rust off your reading and writing (braking and feedback) skills.

The day is also about getting to know your new teachers (crew), and classmates (other drivers), and getting comfortable with your new situation before buckling down to really get to work.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget that the first day of the school year, is not the time to get into trouble with the principals and deans (race control).

And the absolute worst thing you can do? Damage your new car while showing off for your friends and dealing with the wrath of angry parents (team owners).

For the most part, the 36 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire drivers entered in the first open test of the year had successful “first days of school.”

The first two rungs of the Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires were both afforded three hours of track time on the 2.1-Mile, 14-Turn Homestead-Miami Speedway road course.

But, it wasn’t all about track time. The drivers also took part in an information session explaining the benefits of being a regular participant in the  #TeamCooperTire and #MRTI hashtag programs. You can read more about that in our article here: #TeamCooperTire and #MRTI, a program to amplify the social media reach of MRTI drivers and teams, returns for a fifth season.

Rookie Rasmus Lindh was the quickest of the four Pabst Racing drivers, who were all in the top five on the morning timesheet, with a lap of 1 minute 23.924 seconds. Lucas Kohl, Kaylen Frederick, and Calvin Ming were all within a half-of-a-second of their freshman teammate.

Sophomore Kory Enders from the three-car DEForce Racing USF2000 stable was the only driver to break up the Pabst Racing top five party.

The second 60-minute Saturday test session saw a familiar name find their way to the top of the timesheet. The driver, Kyle Kirkwood was new, but the team, Cape Motorsports wasn’t. When the 2017 season ended the Cape Brothers told us that they didn’t think that they would be back to try and win their eighth straight USF2000 drivers championship, but when the reigning F4 United States Championship champion became available at the last minute, the St. Petersburg, Fla. based team jumped at the opportunity.

The top-five drivers in the session all represented different teams with BENIK (Michael D’Orlando), DEForce Racing (Kory Enders), Newman Wachs Racing (Darren Keane) and Team Pelfrey (Kyle Dupell) joining Cape Motorsports and Kirkwood. Of note, the Pabst Racing foursome that was at the top of the first timesheet did not run any laps in anger.

The quickest lap in the third Saturday test session was a scorcher 1 minute 23.772-second last-minute scorcher by Kirkwood. That lap bested Oliver Askew’s best lap during last year’s test by two-tenths of a second.

A new driver, Kyle Kirkwood, with a familiar team, Cape Motorsports, led the first day of Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda spring training at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

“It was good, explained the 19 year-old to TSOLadder after getting out of his No. 8.  “We had a run plan to get through. I hadn’t run with Cape Motorsports yet. I’m trying to get familiar with the car and the team and how they operate with this car.

“The first session, we knew we weren’t going to be quick in the session. We went out for the second session and we ran new Cooper Tires right of the bat. We were quick right away, and then we started testing certain things to see what was better with degraded tires. Something similar to a race situation. That last session, we ran the same tires that we did that we did for the entire session and tested a bunch of things. We put new tires on at the end to go fast, and it worked perfectly.

“We got a bunch of testing things done and we’re really happy with the outcome today.”

Following Cape Motorsports and Kirkwood were a trio of Pabst Racing drivers (Lindh, Kohl, and Frederick).

The fifth quickest drier of the final 60-minute test session was Enders, who was the only driver to finish in the top five in each of Saturday’s sessions.

Sophomore Kory Enders was the only driver in the top five in each USF2000 session during the first day of official 2018 testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – Saturday combined timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 8 Kyle Kirkwood Cape Motorsports 1:23.772 ———— 66
2 23 Rasmus Lindh Pabst Racing 1:23.924 -0.152 52
3 22 Lucas Kohl Pabst Racing 1:24.068 -0.296 53
4 24 Kaylen Frederick Pabst Racing 1:24.095 -0.323 51
5 11 Kory Enders DEForce Racing 1:24.250 -0.478 72
6 21 Calvin Ming Pabst Racing 1:24.476 -0.704 51
7 81 Kyle Dupell Team Pelfrey 1:24.484 -0.712 70
8 12 Jose Sierra DEForce Racing 1:24.566 -0.794 76
9 36 Darren Keane Newman Wachs Racing 1:24.655 -0.883 57
10 28 Zach Holden BN Racing 1:24.857 -1.085 74
11 80 Julian Van der Watt Team Pelfrey 1:24.871 -1.099 48
12 31 Michael D’Orlando Team Benik 1:24.919 -1.147 71
13 5 Mathias Soler-Obel Sol.O Racing 1:25.161 -1.389 73
14 82 Bruna Tomaselli Team Pelfrey 1:25.162 -1.390 57
15 30 Keith Donegan ArmsUp Motorsports 1:25.344 -1.572 24
16 37 Max Peichel Newman Wachs Racing 1:25.583 -1.811 78
17 27 Colin Kaminsky DE Force Racing 1:25.609 -1.837 75
18 90 Manuel Cabrera Exclusive Autosport 1:25.803 -2.031 45
19 38 Oscar DeLuzuriaga Newman Wachs Racing 1:26.921 -3.149 85
20 93 Jason Clunie Exclusive Autosport 1:27.143 -3.371 79
21 9 Sabre Cook ArmsUp Motorsports 1:27.330 -3.558 81

It took all of one lap for the brand new PM1-18 to turn a lap quicker then it’s Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire predecessor, and when the day ended the 275 horsepower 2.0L Mazda developed MZR-PM18A powered Tatuus was over four seconds a lap quicker over the Homestead-Miami Speedway 2.1-Mile road course.

A fleet of brand new PM18s on pit road during spring training at Homestead-Miami Speedway The Mazda powered Tatuus shod with Cooper Tire rubber had a successful first day of Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire testing (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography – Joe Skibinski)

The first session of the day saw MRTI veteran, but Pro Mazda newcomer Parker Thompson lead the way with a lap of 1 minute 20.067 seconds. Within one-tenth of a second of the Exclusive, Autosport pilot was Sting Ray Robb (Team Pelfrey) and David Malukas (BN Racing). Rounding out the top five were Robb’s Team Pelfrey teammates Andres Gutierrez and Rafael Martins.

When the second 60-minute Pro Mazda test session ended, the top of the timesheet looked like a late 2017 USF2000 practice session with reigning USF2000 champion Oliver Askew (Cape Motorsports), Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing), Thompson and Malukas holding down the top four slots. Rounding out the top five was sophomore Carlos Cunha (Juncos Racing).

After spending the first two sessions of the day in the middle of the Pro Mazda pack, reigning championship team Juncos Racing jumped to the top of the charts. Sophomore Cunha ended the day with the fastest lap of the day at 1 minute, 19.498 seconds.

“It’s really good to start the season like this,” said the 18 year-old Brazilan to TSOLadder. “We still need to improve the set-up of the car a lot. It’s really difficult to drive. It’s really difficult to find good grip in the front, but we’ll figure it out.”

ICarlos Cunha led the first day of Mazda Road To Indy Presented by Cooper Tires testing on road corse at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography Joe Skibinski)

Only eight-hundredths behind Cunha was BN Racing’s Malukas.

Cunha’s teammates Robert Megennis, and Rinus VeeKay followed Malukas and were only three and four tenths behind their more experienced teammate.

Team Pelfrey’s Robb was the final driver in the top five.

The RP Motorsport twosome of Harrison Scott and Lodovico Laurini do not show up on the time-sheet due to an issue with their transponders, but both drivers did turn laps. The experience Italian team who is working out of the Newman Wachs Racing shop were still preparing their cars yesterday, so the gremlins are not a shock.

Pro Mazda Presented By Cooper Tire – Saturday combined timesheet

RANK CAR NO. DRIVER TEAM QUICK LAP GAP TOTAL LAPS
1 1 Carlos Cunha Juncos Racing 1:19.498 –.—- 62
2 79 David Malukas BN Racing 1:19.579 -0.080 46
3 9 Robert Megennis Juncos Racing 1:19.884 -0.386 62
4 2 Rinus VeeKay Juncos Racing 1:19.914 -0.416 80
5 82 Sting Ray Robb Team Pelfrey 1:19.969 -0.471 75
6 80 Rafael Martins Team Pelfrey 1:19.970 -0.472 66
7 3 Oliver Askew Cape Motorsports 1:20.006 -0.508 74
8 90 Parker Thompson Exclusive Autosport 1:20.067 -0.569 63
9 12 James Raven DE Force Racing 1:20.087 -0.589 75
10 78 Kris Wright BN Racing 1:20.150 -0.652 51
11 81 Andres Gutierrez Team Pelfrey 1:20.249 -0.751 75
12 8 Nikita Lastochkin Cape Motorsports 1:21.024 -1.526 63
13 91 Antonio Seravalle Exclusive Autosport 1:21.850 -2.352 87
14 10 Harrison Scott RP Motorsport Non- Working Transponder
15 27 Lodovico Laurini RP Motorsport Non- Working Transponder

Don’t miss any of the action:

We’ll be back with a lot more tomorrow.

category: Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda - TSO, Pro Mazda News/Results, Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire - TSO, USF2000 News/Results
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