PALMETTO, Fla. – A hectic weekend lies in store at the famed Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course which will host double-header events for Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires and the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires as well as a triple-header event for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda on July 31-August 2. All seven Mazda Road to Indy events will be held in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series headliner and are likely to prove pivotal in the chase for three championship titles and over $2.3 million in
MAZDASPEED scholarships and other end-of-season prizes and awards aimed at assisting young drivers in their pursuit of a career in the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500.
For the second time in as many years, the battle for the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and a
MAZDASPEED scholarship to assist in graduation to Pro Mazda has boiled down to a duel between a Frenchman and an American. This weekend could prove pivotal to the outcome as the Allied Building Products USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio will comprise three races on Friday and Saturday. As with Indy Lights and Pro Mazda, the 16-race season will conclude with two more races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., on September 11-13.
The European challenge is led by Nico Jamin, from Rouen, France, who is seeking to secure a fifth successive crown for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Jamin, 19, has been a dominant force in qualifying, starting from pole in eighth of the last nine races including seven in a row leading into this weekend. He has won five times and added three seconds and a pair of thirds during the 11 races run to date.
His primary rival, representing Pabst Racing, is Jake Eidson, from Littleton, Colo., who won one of the races last year at Mid-Ohio and finished third in the championship. Eidson, 20, formerly a champion in both the Skip Barber Racing Series and the F1600 Championship Series, as well as a Team USA Scholarship winner, has four wins to his credit this year, plus two seconds and four thirds.
Jamin and Eidson are separated by just 17 points prior to this weekend’s triple-header, with 66 points up for grabs.
Another American, Jamin’s Cape Motorsports teammate, Aaron Telitz, 23, from Birchwood, Wis., lies a further 40 points adrift after accumulating one win, four seconds and two thirds.
Australian rookies Anthony Martin and Luke Gabin, who won a
MAZDASPEED scholarship last year after winning the Skip Barber Championship Shootout, have shown impressive form with their respective first-year USF2000 teams, John Cummiskey Racing and Team Pelfrey, while Canadian karting standout Parker Thompson (JDC MotorSports) also has made steady progress.
Other regular contenders will include China’s Yufeng Luo (Pabst Racing) and the rapidly improving Team Pelfrey pair, Garth Rickards, from Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Norway’s Ayla Agren. In addition, Afterburner Autosport will return to the series with highly rated English teenager Sennan Fielding and Jack Mitchell, from Chicago, Ill., while Alex Mayer, from Lansdale, Pa., and Clint McMahon, from Covington, Ga., will make their USF2000 debuts with a new team, RJB Motorsports.
In common with their Pro Mazda counterparts, the USF2000 field will begin their weekend with a trio of 40-minute test sessions on Thursday, July 30. The following day will include one more practice session, then a single 30-minute period of qualifying at 12:15 PM and Race One at 4:45 PM. Race Two will start at 9:50 AM on Saturday, August 1, with the green flag for Race Three set for later in the afternoon at 6:00 PM. All times are EDT. Live timing and commentary for all sessions will be available on the new Mazda Road to Indy App and at usf2000.com with live streaming at racecontrol.indycar.com and behind the scenes features on RoadToIndy.TV.