By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer
Cape Motorsports will be running two Soul Red Mazda liveries in the 2017 Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires as Anthony Martin and Oliver Askew have signed with the team to run the livery in their respective championships.
For Martin, he’ll be racing the No.8 Burgess/BLA/Mazda entry in the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires while Askew will be piloting the No. 3 Mazda Racing entry in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda.
Both drivers earned the right to race this livery after earning Mazda Racing scholarships for their respective championships based off of their performances in 2016.
Martin’s path was through winning the 2016 USF2000 championship over teammate Parker Thompson. The Australian won seven races and had only one finish below tenth en route to winning the title and the scholarship to move up the ladder.
“Going with Cape Motorsports again was a quite easy decision,” said Martin. “I’m a loyal person and I really do love sticking with the boys. They’re a great team, and everything they have is second to none. I witnessed it all of last year, and I could not leave the team because the way they run the show is impeccable. I’ve never been a part of a team or a family environment like this one,” Martin said.
“We’re extremely happy to have Anthony compete on behalf of Cape Motorsports,” said Dominic Cape, team co-owner. “We had a great year with Anthony in 2016 and we saw him grow as a driver into a true champion. We feel confident that he will bring the momentum of his success in the USF2000 series into Pro Mazda. We would also like to thank Mazda for establishing the scholarship programs, along with the series and their partners. We look forward to the start of the 2017 season.”
Askew earned the right to race the Soul Red car after winning a $200,000 Mazda Road to Indy shootout at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca driving cars from the Lucas Oil School of Racing against other hopefuls.
Prior to that shootout, the Jupiter, FL native represented the United States at the annual Formula Ford Festival and at the Walter Hayes Trophy Race in the U.K., finishing well in both.
“The team at Cape Motorsports have helped me a lot with this next step,” said Askew.
“I’ve learned so much in the last month of testing with them preparing for this year. It’s a big opportunity for me and I want to maximize that. With Cape Motorsports, everything is possible, as they’re one of the best teams in the paddock and I’m very happy to be with them.”
“As soon as I won the Shootout, I was thinking about the championship and winning races,” said Askew. “This is my opportunity, so I want to make it easier on myself going into next year to win the USF2000 title and earn another season scholarship from Mazda. I’m very fortunate right now to have this opportunity from Mazda.”
“We are delighted to have Oliver on our team,” offered Nicholas Cape, co-owner of Cape Motorsports.
“He is an exceptional young man and has an extremely bright future ahead of him. He has everything we look for in a driver. It’s been a year in the making getting Oliver in our car and he has impressed us during the initial tests and we’re really looking forward to seeing him race. We are also very proud to be representing the first Mazda Road to Indy Shootout winner, and would like to thank Mazda for all their support. It’s really quite remarkable what they do to support young drivers.”
