MEXICO CITY – Fresh from winning the 2016 Formula PANAM Championship, Axel Matus is ready for his next challenge on December 6/7 as he competes in the inaugural Mazda Road to Indy $200K USF2000 Scholarship Shootout at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Matus, 18, has enjoyed a remarkable season, winning at Leon, Pachuca and Zacatecas, claiming four fastest race laps and finishing second in each of the remaining six rounds which comprised the fastest open-wheel series in Latin America. Matus also emerged a dominant victory of the NACAM Formula 4 Championship.

The Mexican driver will compete against 20 other young drivers at Mazda Raceway, where the winner will take home a scholarship of $200,000 to ensure participation in the 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the first step on the acclaimed Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires.

Matus will travel to Monterey, California, in early December to begin preparations at the famed Mazda Raceway which first opened in 1957.