PALMETTO, Fla. – After splitting their resources the past couple of weeks, all three series which comprise the acclaimed Mazda Road to Indy – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – will join together again this coming weekend in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. Two rounds will be held for each series on the picturesque and challenging 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course.
The Mazda Road to Indy is a proven driver development “ladder” which guides drivers all the way from the grassroots of the sport to the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500, with scholarship packages to assist in the graduation to each level.
Eidson, Jamin, Telitz and Franzoni Head a High-Quality USF2000 Field
The opening four races of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda have produced three different winners and witnessed the emergence of some extremely talented rookies.
Jake Eidson, from Littleton, Colo., currently leads the points table for Pabst Racing on the heels of two wins at St. Petersburg, Fla., and a pair of thirds at NOLA Motorsports Park. On current form, fellow veterans Nico Jamin and Aaron Telitz, both of whom drive for four-time defending champion team Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, plus Afterburner Autosport’s Victor Franzoni are likely to be Eidson’s closest challengers this weekend.
Jamin, 19, from Rouen, France, already has a race win at Barber to his credit this year, having clinched victory in the five-race Cooper Tires Winterfest preseason mini-series with an accomplished performance in the final race in February, while teammate Telitz, from Birchwood, Wis., is knocking on the door of ultimate success following a series of three second-place finishes to begin his regular-season campaign. His streak was only broken by a rare mechanical failure in the most recent race.
Franzoni, 19, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, also won earlier in the year at Barber, as well as in the most recent event at NOLA where he split the two races with Jamin.
A trio of rookies – Australians Jordan Lloyd and Anthony Martin for John Cummiskey Racing and Canadian karting standout Parker Thompson (JDC MotorSports) – currently hold fifth, sixth and seventh in the championship standings, separated by just eight points. There are a total of 65 points up for grabs in this weekend’s two races.
Other promising youngsters from the multinational field include Norway’s Ayla Agren and Russian Nikita Lastochkin (Team Pelfrey), 15-year-old German Keyvan Andres Soori (ArmsUp Motorsports) and China’s Yufeng Luo (Pabst Racing).
The Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Alabama will commence with two promoter test sessions on Thursday, followed by a busy day on Friday, April 24 which will comprise a half-hour practice at 12:10 p.m., qualifying at 2:30 p.m. and then the first of two 30-minute races at 6:10 p.m. The green flag for Race Two will fly at 5:20 p.m. on Saturday, April 25. All times are local. Live timing and commentary for all sessions will be available on the new Mazda Road to Indy App and at usf2000.com.