Indy – Mazda Road to Indy Update #3 – Thursday 5:50 p.m.

By Tony DiZinno

Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda practice 2

As the temperatures heated up for second practice, the times went up too for the second USF2000 practice of the day.

Aaron Telitz topped the timesheets at 1:27.079 for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, ahead of Team Pelfrey teammates Luke Gabin and Garth Rickards.

Nico Jamin ended fourth in this session with JDC Motorsports’ Parker Thompson turning in a decent run to end fifth. Jamin’s morning time of 1:26.173 ended as the fastest time of the day.

All 17 cars entered turned between 16 and 19 laps in the session, with Telitz and Swan Racing’s Tyler Hunter each turning 19 to lead the field in laps completed.

No red flags or incidents interrupted the 30-minute session.

The complete time sheet is as follows:

P No Name FTime
1 3 Aaron Telitz 1:27.079
2 82 Luke Gabin 1:27.128
3 83 Garth Rickards 1:27.139
4 2 Nico Jamin 1:27.240
5 80 Parker Thompson 1:27.481
6 23 Yufeng Luo 1:27.486
7 22 Jake Eidson 1:27.498
8 5 Keyvan Andres Soori 1:27.582
9 33 Anthony Martin 1:27.625
10 81 Ayla Agren 1:27.818
11 84 Nikita Lastochkin 1:28.020
12 19 Sam Chastain 1:28.254
13 6 Max Hanratty 1:28.449
14 16 James Dayson 1:28.627
15 12 Augie Lerch 1:29.151
16 9 Tyler Hunter 1:29.378
17 51 Bill Abel 1:29.979

Next up for USF2000 is qualifying, which runs from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Friday morning.

Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires practice 2

As in USF2000, times were slower in the heat of the afternoon for the second 30-minute Pro Mazda practice session.

Pro Mazda series debutante Victor Franzoni led the way in the afternoon heat, with ambient temperatures north of 85 degrees and track temperatures in the 90s.

The M1 Racing driver posted a best lap of 1:24.683. Will Owen, Garett Grist, Kyle Connery and Timothe Buret completed the top five.

Weiron Tan ran off course on the exit of Turn 4 of his first lap, which caused a quick red flag. He quickly recovered though and set the sixth fastest time.

Buret’s 1:23.459 posted in the morning served as the fastest lap time of the day.

Florian Latorre and Alessandro Latif posted 16 laps apiece, most in the session.

The complete time sheet is as follows:

P No Name FTime
1 21 Victor Franzoni 1:24.683
2 23 Will Owen 1:24.715
3 5 Garett Grist 1:24.729
4 91 Kyle Connery 1:24.773
5 6 Timothe Buret 1:24.786
6 22 Weiron Tan 1:24.799
7 81 Santiago Urrutia 1:24.850
8 3 Neil Alberico 1:24.940
9 80 Raoul Owens 1:24.984
10 10 Florian Latorre 1:24.994
11 19 Scott Hargrove 1:25.014
12 7 Jose Gutierrez 1:25.019
13 82 Pato O’Ward 1:25.086
14 28 Dalton Kellett 1:25.132
15 26 Parker Nicklin 1:25.510
16 2 Daniel Burkett 1:25.736
17 14 Alessandro Latif 1:26.051
18 13 Bobby Eberle(E) 1:27.342
19 44 Kevin Davis(E) 1:27.383
20 57 Bob Kaminsky(E) 1:27.421
21 33 Carlos Conde No Time

Pro Mazda has its makeup race from NOLA Motorsports Park later tonight, a 35-minute race from 5:55 until 6:30 p.m.

Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tire practice #2

Whereas both USF2000 and Pro Mazda had slower lap times in the second practice of the afternoon, times improved for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires field of 12 in the second 45-minute practice from 4:55 to 5:40 p.m.

Times improved by a full six tenths from first practice as a handful of drivers went under Ed Jones’ morning time of 1:15.7096; some were on new tires.

Jones’ Carlin teammate Max Chilton, in a new chassis, threw down a 1:15.1646 near the end of the session. RC Enerson, on new tires, added a 1:15.5843 to come second and Jones himself knocked a tenth off his morning time and ended third at 1:15.6558.

Juncos Racing teammates Spencer Pigot and Kyle Kaiser completed the top five, ahead of Sean Rayhall.

While 11 of the 12 drivers ran anywhere from 17 to 25 laps – Scott Anderson led the way with 25 completed – Jack Harvey completed only five laps and then had a brake issue during the session.

“I had a very small lockup, then a vibration, which wasn’t bad,” Harvey told IndyCar Radio during the session. “I went to brake into Turn 12 and it exploded. Made it back into the pits. Not ideal. But if anything it helps us, because we save tires.”

Always taking the positive outlook, that amiable Englishman.

There was a red flag early in the session, but no major incidents.

The complete time sheet is as follows:

P No Name FTime
1 14 Max Chilton 1:15.165
2 7 RC Enerson 1:15.584
3 11 Ed Jones 1:15.656
4 12 Spencer Pigot 1:15.883
5 18 Kyle Kaiser 1:15.988
6 8 Sean Rayhall 1:16.135
7 4 Felix Serralles 1:16.519
8 77 Scott Anderson 1:16.602
9 5 Juan Piedrahita 1:16.643
10 71 Ethan Ringel 1:16.672
11 42 Jack Harvey 1:16.797
12 51 Shelby Blackstock 1:17.562

Indy Lights’ next session is qualifying on Friday afternoon, which runs from 12 to 12:45 p.m.

That makes six of seven sessions for this Thursday complete, two practices apiece for each of the Mazda Road to Indy divisions. Pro Mazda’s makeup race from NOLA Motorsports Park is up next and will round out the day’s activity.