Road to Indy Category

By Road to Indy Now in its 32nd season and firmly established as the final stepping stone for drivers who aspire to compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires will celebrate its 400th race on April 23 at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Ala. The major milestone will occur on Sunday in the second of two races at the challenging, 2.3-mile road course which will comprise the Mazda Indy Lights Grand Prix of Alabama Presented by Cooper Tires. “It is aRead More

By Road to Indy Following a shakedown test on Monday at the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Ill., the brand new Mazda-powered Tatuus PM-18 wrapped up two days of development testing yesterday evening at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Mazda factory sports car driver and USF2000 driver coach/steward Joel Miller handled driving duties for the state-of-the-art next-generation chassis that will make its competition debut in the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Miller, who holds a Mechanical Engineering degree, also conducted prototype development of theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer The third place driver in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires championship, Pato O’Ward earned a fifth and a third place finish in St. Petersburg for the opening races of the 2017 season. However, he was uncertain about whether or not his season would continue. After speaking with Motorsports Tribune, it might be a good idea to pencil in O’Ward as an entrant. “As everyone knows, it’s a long championship so anything can happen here in a couple of months, but I’mRead More

With a distinctive name like Sting Ray Robb, perhaps there could be no better profession than that of a race car driver. The 15-year-old Idaho native has already garnered an impressive list of accomplishments, and the future continues to look bright as he joins the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Robb has won numerous national and international karting events and earned trips with Team USA to the Rotax World Finals in both Spain and Portugal. The resulting notoriety led to a test with California-based World Speed Motorsports andRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In a perfect world where the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires gets the maximum exposure for its top tier series, the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, one would think that having the series race on each of the premier types of tracks that the Verizon IndyCar Series visits would be a necessity. On the ovals, you have the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of the Freedom 100. On the road courses, you have Road America’s doubleheader weekend. For streetRead More

By Dalton Kellett, Driver Columnist Providing an inside look for the fans, Dalton Kellett will be contributing to Motorsports Tribune selectively throughout the 2017 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season. For his opening column, the 23-year-old Canadian will talk about taking the role as a veteran at Andretti Autosport and some of his plans during a long break before preparing for the April 21-23 doubleheader at Barber Motorsports Park. Growing Up I think one of the big things for me going through my time in Mazda Road to Indy hasRead More

PALMETTO, Fla. – Rinus VeeKay introduced himself to American open-wheel fans late in 2015 when, after earning a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda test as part of the MAXSpeed/Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires Driver Advancement Program, he steadily made his way up the timing charts at Circuit of the Americas to finish third in the final session, with two seasoned veterans in front. The 16-year-old Dutchman has an impressive karting resume, with numerous championships in Holland and Europe, including Dutch Minimax and Junior titles andRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Now that we’ve had a week to digest all of the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires action from the streets of St. Petersburg, it’s time to reflect on some interesting observations. Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires Aaron Telitz won the first Indy Lights race of the season with nearly the largest margin of victory for an Indy Lights car ever at St. Petersburg, in what was an impressive showing for the Wisconsin native. J.K. Vernay’s winning margin inRead More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Talented Australian Anthony Martin continued from where he left off yesterday, scoring another flag-to-flag victory in this afternoon’s Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He now boasts a perfect two-for-two record in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Martin, 22, led throughout the 40-minute race to enjoy a weekend sweep for himself and the locally based Cape Motorsports team on the streets of St. Petersburg. The remaining podium finishers also repeated from yesterday, with Victor Franzoni, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, finishing secondRead More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Colton Herta impressed everyone yesterday on his Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires debut by charging through from sixth to second. But that was nothing compared to this morning on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The 16-year-old from Valencia, Calif., started from the pole and displayed remarkable poise as he outpaced the field to win the Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Cooper Tires in convincing style for Andretti-Steinbrenner Racing. The son of 1993 Indy Lights champion and two-time Indianapolis 500 car owner BryanRead More