Over $2.6 Million in Prizes on Offer at Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and USF2000 Finales
PALMETTO, Fla. – Drivers representing no fewer than 14 nations will highlight the international appeal of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires as all three steps on the acclaimed open-wheel development ladder – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – will conclude this weekend at the famed Watkins Glen International road course in upstate New York.
Mazda Scholarships and year-end awards valued at over $2.6 million will be presented at the traditional awards banquet to be held in Watkins Glen on Monday.
Talented rookies Oliver Askew and Rinus VeeKay have been locked in combat for this year’s USF2000 championship. Both contenders are taking part in their first full season of car racing after enjoying hugely successful careers in karting. They are chasing a Mazda Scholarship package valued at almost $400,000 to assist in the graduation to the next step on the Mazda Road to Indy, Pro Mazda, in 2018.
Askew, 20, from Jupiter, Fla., currently leads the way – as he has for the majority of the season after a sequence of five consecutive race wins aboard his new Cape Motorsports Tatuus-Mazda USF-17 between March and May – but VeeKay, 16, from Hoofddorp, The Netherlands, lies within striking distance, just 13 points adrift with a maximum of 33 available at the series finale. VeeKay is riding a streak of eight straight podium finishes for Pabst Racing. Both will be competing at Watkins Glen for the first time.
“I have been working harder than I ever have to secure this championship,” said Askew, for whom a podium finish would be enough to put the crown beyond VeeKay’s grasp. “I think the same can be said about Cape Motorsports and everyone around me that has helped get to this point. We all want this, and if we keep doing what we have been every race so far this season, I don’t see a reason why it can’t happen. The mindset that I’ve developed throughout this year will be the same in the final race – I will be focusing on the elements within my control and will maximize the opportunity given to me.”
While only Askew and VeeKay are able to claim the title, the “form man” of late has been USF2000 veteran Parker Thompson. It took a little while for the Red Deer, Alb., native’s new Canadian-based team, Exclusive Autosport, to adapt to the series but the combination has proven to be effective, claiming three wins and a second from the last four races.
Other likely contenders will include the Team Pelfrey pair of Kaylen Frederick, 15, from Potomac, Md., and fellow teenager Robert Megennis, from New York, N.Y., the Pabst Racing duo of Calvin Ming, from Guyana, and fellow South American Lucas Kohl, from Brazil, plus Chicago’s David Malukas, who has impressed during a partial campaign with the new BN Racing team. For the first time, BN will field a second car for F1600 Championship Series race winner Zach Holden, from Greenfield, Ind.
Team BENIK will return after a short hiatus with talented South African Callan O’Keeffe, who impressed at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May, while Phillippe Denes, from Carmel, Calif., will return in a third Team Pelfrey Tatuus.
Much interest also will be focused on Ireland’s Niall Murray, who has proven to be a dominant force in British and Irish Formula Ford 1600 circles over the past few years and will be making his USF2000 debut with Newman Wachs Racing.
The Mazda USF2000 Watkins Glen Grand Prix Presented by Cooper Tires will start with a pair of practice sessions on Friday, September 1, followed by qualifying at 8:00 a.m. EDT the following morning and then the race at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday.
Coverage of the Mazda Road to Indy can be found on a series of platforms including Road to Indy TV, the Road to Indy TV App and dedicated broadcast channels on demand via Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku and, most recently, the Xbox One Official App as well as live streaming and live timing on the series’ respective websites and indycar.com. Indy Lights is also featured on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts on Sirius 214, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app.