INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – After dominating the action in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda doubleheader at Barber Motorsports Park in late-April, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing fueled their momentum even further when two of their drivers split the victories during the Mazda Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Australian talent Anthony Martin drew first blood on Friday as he scored his maiden Mazda Road to Indy win, while Canadian Parker Thompson made it three wins in four races as he was victorious on Saturday, adding to his double-win total from Alabama. Cape’s third driver, Russian-born Nikita Lastochkin, was collected in an incident on Friday and then battled back to 11th in the second race on Saturday.
"What a brilliant job our whole USF2000 team did at IMS,” offered Nicholas and Dominic Cape. “It’s a constant fight every session to try to be on top, with all the front runners pressing as hard as they can Anyone could be on the pole and anyone could win a race, it’s truly fantastic to be a part of."
In the opening race on Friday afternoon, Martin led from the green flag after starting on the pole thanks to turning the fastest lap during morning qualifying. Thompson started alongside his teammate but was outrun into the opening corner by Pabst Racing’s Jordan Lloyd. Contact deeper in the pack on the opening lap put the race into a full course caution and, on the ensuing restart, Martin again managed his lead while Thompson found a way around Lloyd to move into second.
For the remainder of the 30-minute race, Parker pushed hard to chase down Anthony, but it was not in the cards as the 2015 USF2000 Rookie of the Year was brilliant all day and cruised to the first Mazda Road to Indy win of his young career by a margin of 0.514 seconds in his #8 Burgess BLA entry. Thompson had a large gap over the third place car, while Lastochkin was not able to finish the race after he was struck by another car that was attempted to get back onto the track after an off into the grass. He was officially classified in 23rd.
Thompson’s second fastest lap in qualifying earned him the pole for Race 2 on a chilly Saturday morning, and the Canadian bolted away at both the green flag and on the restart after a long early yellow flag period in his #3 Weyburn Energy / Uber / #AlbertaStrong Van Diemen. The series point leader picked up where Martin left off from Friday, running off to a 0.711-second win, his third of the year and Cape’s fourth straight triumph.
Martin never gave up the chase for his second victory of the weekend and finished in the runner-up position, vaulting him to second overall in the championship standings behind Thompson, who now leads by 28 points. Lastochkin was able to avoid issue, and finished in the 11thposition in his #2 Russkaya Mekhanika entry.
The team is definitely on a roll with four straight wins and first and second in the standings. They will return to competition in Indianapolis on the May 26-27 on the banked 5/8th mile oval at Lucas Oil Raceway for the newly scheduled Carb Night Classic in the Friday evening before the Indianapolis 500. The USF2000 pilots will run on a 75-lap main event, called the Freedom 100.
DRIVER PERFORMANCE – ROUNDS 5/6
PARKER THOMPSON - #2
Qualifying: 2nd – 1:26.173
Race #1: 2nd
Race #2: 1st
Driver Quote: “"The Grand Prix of Indianapolis treated the #2 Cape Motorsports car very well. We knew what we had to do, and that was to maintain solid finishes for the championship. It was another near perfect weekend for us. My hat goes off to the entire Cape Motorsports crew for preparing us great cars for the start of the season. I can't thank Weyburn Energy, Uber and my remaining partners enough for all of their support. Things are feeling great at the moment, but it's time to put my blinders on and focus hard on the midway point of the season coming up."
ANTHONY MARTIN - #8
Qualifying: 1st – 1:26.105
Race #1: 1st
Race #2: 2nd
Driver Quote: “Coming out of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with a win gives me more confidence going into the next race, the Freedom 75 at Lucas Oil Raceway. Having finally got a win under my belt and an strong weekend overall, I’ve moved to second in the championship and now I can strive hard to gain more points on my teammate!”
NIKITA LASTOCHKIN - #3
Qualifying: 7th – 1:26.768
Race #1: 23rd
Race #2: 11th
Driver Quote: “Indy was a very tough weekend for me, as after the day of testing I got sick and was running a fever, which was getting only worse throughout the weekend. In the first race, I made a late pass on a car that went on the grass coming out of the previous corner, but he did not see me and turned into the back of my car, which got airborne. There was a lot of damage to both the chassis and engine, but my team did a phenomenal job in putting the car back together for the race the next day. On Saturday, we had quite a long safety car period and I made a mistake on the restart, which cost me a few spots. All in all, I have to say big thank you to Cape Motorsports, as everyone on the team helped me get through the weekend. Right now, I'm focusing on getting well rested and being ready to for Lucas Oil."
About Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing:
Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing was formed in 2010 as a partnership between two successful racing entities. With leadership from brothers Nicholas and Dominic Cape, and along with Wayne Taylor and his organization in Indianapolis, the team campaigns cars in the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda and the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. The goal of Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing is to provide unmatched driver development both on and off the track. It is difficult for a young driver to jump into a professional series and win, regardless of talent. Through coaching and mentoring, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing provides young drivers with as much knowledge of motorsports to become as successful as possible.