Malibu, Calif. – The Pacific Formula F2000/F1600 Championship will head off to the high desert to Willow Springs International Raceway for rounds three and four of the series this weekend February 20-21. This will be the first trip to the 2.5-mile high-speed road course since the season opening event in 2012. The event will again be run with Cal Club as part of the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour.

This season the Pacific Formula F2000 Championship Series Presented by Primus Racing Parts is included in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200k Scholarship Shootout. The shootout will be expanded to include the champions of junior open-wheel and karting series both nationally and internationally. The winner of the knockout style shootout will be provided with a $200,000 Mazda Scholarship to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in 2017 – the first rung on the Mazda Road to Indy ladder sanctioned by INDYCAR.

The Mazda Road to Indy is the only driver development program of its type in the world offering a clear, scholarship-funded path to the Verizon IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.

The Pacific F2000/F1600 series has a rich history and includes among its alumni drivers J.R. Hildebrand, 2011 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the year, and Dane Cameron, IMSA series Prototype and GTD winning driver, along with Pro Mazda Presented by Cooper Tires contestant Patricio O’Ward and USF2000 contenders Nikita Lastochkin and Yufeng Luo.

This weekend the series boasts its largest entry in several seasons including defending series champion Tom Hope, 2015 F1600 champion Scott Huffaker, who is stepping up in class, as is Alex Kirby, and 2015 Rookie of the Year Connor Funk, who is returning to make a run at the championship. Others include longtime series veterans Peter West, Ira Fierberg, Harin de Silva and James Hakewill along with newcomers Robert Armington, Scott Vreeland and Tim de Silva.

Activities begin on Saturday morning with an 8:00am qualifying session followed by an afternoon race and is repeated again on Sunday with morning qualifying and race.

The weather forecast calls for mostly sunny skies on Saturday with temperatures in the mid 60s, warmer on Sunday and temperatures in the low 70s.

The series can be followed at https://www.facebook.com/pacificf2000racing and https://www.twitter.com/PacificF2000.