Seven Races on Tap as Title Chases Tighten for Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and USF2000
PALMETTO, Fla. – Just five races remain in the quest for a trio of Mazda scholarships and season-ending awards worth more than $2.3 million as competitors in Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – all three steps on the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel development ladder – convene this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series.
The scenic and challenging 2.258-mile road course will host two races apiece for Indy Lights and Pro Mazda, as well as a triple-header for USF2000 as the 2016 season reaches toward its climax.
Advantage Thompson in Quest for USF2000 Championship
Parker Thompson, from Red Deer, Alb., Canada, broke a points tie with Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing teammate Anthony Martin, from Perth, Australia, during the double-header event on the streets of Toronto two weeks ago and is now intent upon extending his 20-point advantage during this weekend’s crucial triple-header Allied Building Products USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio.
"Mid-Ohio has been one of my best tracks on the Mazda Road to Indy and I'll be looking to maximize that this weekend with some good finishes for the championship," said Thompson. "I'll approach this weekend like any other round thus far, shooting for poles and wins. After a solid weekend in Toronto, I am riding the confidence coming into the weekend and I will be looking to use that to my advantage."
Chief rival Martin will be seeking to bounce back from a difficult weekend in Canada when he crashed out of second place in Race One, then fought through the intense pain of an injured wrist to finish second the following day. Both Thompson and Martin have won four races this year.
The Florida-based Cape team has been a dominant force in USF2000, winning five consecutive championships and nine in all dating back to 2000, but a pair of Wisconsin-based teams, ArmsUp Motorsports and Pabst Racing, have both tasted the fruits of victory this season.
Victor Franzoni, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, won for ArmsUp in Toronto and has finished on the podium in seven of the last nine races, while both Jordan Lloyd, from Toowoomba, Australia (the same home town as Verizon IndyCar Series race winner Will Power) and China’s Yufeng Luo have won races for Augie Pabst’s team during an intensely competitive season.
Yet another young Australian, Luke Gabin, has displayed an excellent turn of speed for JAY Motorsports, while last year’s Skip Barber Championship Scholarship winner Dakota Dickerson, from San Diego, enjoyed a breakthrough weekend in Toronto for Afterburner Autosport with a fourth-place finish. Robert Megennis, 16, from New York, also posted two impressive performances in Toronto bouncing back from an electrical failure in qualifying, which forced him to start at the back, to claim a pair of fifth-place finishes for Team Pelfrey.
Jordan Cane, the youngest driver in the field at 15, from England, aboard another Cape Motorsports Van Diemen-Mazda, will hope to build on his experience of Mid-Ohio from 2015, when he won an F1600 Championship race, while Norway’s Ayla Agren (John Cummiskey Racing) also can boast prior success at the venue, winning the corresponding F1600 race in 2014 en route to her championship crown.
Eric Filgueiras (Spencer Racing), from Cape Canaveral, Fla., will seek to extend his National Class points lead.
The Allied Building Products USF2000 Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio will kick off with three 40-minute test sessions plus the first official practice on Thursday, July 28, then continue with qualifying on Friday morning and then one race apiece on Friday (1:00 p.m.), Saturday (also 1:00 p.m.) and Sunday (9:15 a.m.). All times are Eastern. Live timing and live streaming shows will be available on the Road To Indy TV App and at usf2000.com and indycar.com.