TSO Road To Indy Coverage

Mazda Road To Indy update – halfway through testing

Posted on by Steve Wittich

Class Photo

The entire Mazda Road To Indy field took to the front straight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this morning for a “class photo.”  At the head of the field were the soul red Mazda sponsored cars of the three Mazda Motorsports scholarship winners:

The No. 80 Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda car of Skip Barber Championship Shootout winner Luke Gabin.

The No. 10 Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire car of 2014 USF2000 champion Florian Latorre.

The No. 12 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire of the 2014 Pro Mazda champion Spencer Pigot.

Can’t wait to see all of the pictures, but here is a sneak peak from Mazda.

A familiar name returns to Pro Mazda

There has been a list minute entry to the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire field.  The addition of Scott Hargrove to the No. 19 JDC Motorsports car boosts the field to 22 cars.

The 20 year-old scored three wins on the way to the Pro Mazda vice-championship in 2014.  The Vancouver, British Columbia native has already made a Mazda Road To Indy  appearance this season.  Hargrove had a fourth and sixth place finish in the two Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire races at St. Petersburg while driving for 8Star Motorsports.

Hargrove should be an immediate favorite to defend the two Pro Mazda Races he won at IMS last May.  This will not be the first time that John Church led squad and Hargrove have partnered up.  The contested a partial Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda season together in 2012, scoring one podium.

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Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda test session #1

The first one hour Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda test session was extremely disjointed with four red flags.

The top five in the session were:

  1. Nico Jamin
  2. Aaron Telitz
  3. Jake Eidson
  4. Nikita Lastochkin
  5. Garth Rickards

The most laps in the session turned was 21 circuits by five drivers: Nikita Lastochkin, Garth Rickards, Ayla Agren, Luke Gabin and James Dayson.

Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire test session #2

Much like the first USF2000 session, the first Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tire session was very disjointed with three red flags.

The top five in the session were:

  1. Neil Alberico
  2. Santiago Urrutia
  3. Pato O’Ward
  4. Dalton Kellett
  5. Florian Latorre

With 13 circuits completed, rookie Urrutia turned the most laps in the one hour session.

Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire test session #1

The one hour session went green the entire time.

The top five times were turned by:

  1. Jack Harvey
  2. Spencer Pigot
  3. Ed Jones
  4. RC Enerson
  5. Sean Rayhall

Rookie RC Enerson turned the most laps, completing 26 circuits of the 2.439 mile 14-Turn road course at IMS.

It didn’t take long for the track record to unofficially fall.  The top lap of 1.18.4256 seconds on the 2.439 mile 14-Turn road course was set by Matthew Brabham in qualifying last year.

Halfway through the session five drivers were under the track record, and with 15 minutes left in the session 9 of the 12 drivers had turned sub 78 second laps.

By the time the session had ended, 11 of the 12 drivers were under the track record.