Aaron Telitz Tag

By Road to Indy PALMETTO, Fla. – All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel development ladder will hit the ground running in Florida this coming weekend, March 9-11, in support of the headline Verizon Indy Car Series as part of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Drivers representing at least 18 states and 14 different nations from around the world are expected to be among the starting lineups when Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper TiresRead More

By Road to Indy PALMETTO, Fla. – A new season of competition in the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is almost set to commence. All three rungs on the world’s premier open-wheel development ladder – the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires – will be in action beginning Friday, February 23, for the annual Spring Training open test which will take place over four days at Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida.Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After some downtime following the new year, the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires has had a few driver announcements in recent days that have helped shape the grids across the three championships. In the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda, Canadian team Exclusive Autosport announced Mexican pilot Manuel Cabrera while DEForce Racing confirmed their trio of drivers for the season. Kory Enders will rejoin the team he spent his rookie season with, while Colin Kaminsky joins the team after spending much ofRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer After bookending the 2017 Indy Lights season with victories at St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen International, Aaron Telitz and Belardi Auto Racing are set to give the tour another go. Belardi announced on Thursday that Telitz, 26, will return to the organization for his second Indy Lights season in 2018. The team intends to complete the full 17-race schedule, though they currently have only a partial budget prepared for the coming year. “I’m incredibly excited about how our team is developing for 2018, and beingRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After a thrilling championship, Victor Franzoni won the 2017 Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires driving for Juncos Racing. Franzoni will be moving up to Indy Lights in 2018 in a yet-to-be-announced drive for Juncos Racing. This move up the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires was possible thanks to a scholarship presented to the Pro Mazda series champion valued at just over $790,000. But what advice would past Pro Mazda champions give to Franzoni about moving up toRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Mark Twain popularized the phrase “There are three kinds of falsehoods; lies, damned lies and statistics,” which he attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Statistics was how this writer looked at Team Pelfrey in a recent roundtable discussion.  In it, this writer said that the team had been disappointing because “I did not expect a large organization like Pelfrey to have only one win this season.” Motorsports Tribune sat down at Watkins Glen with Jonathan Baker to speak about the team’sRead More

By Road to Indy The map of Belardi Auto Racing’s 2017 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season might just look like a Richter Scale, with spectacular highs and punishing lows punctuating the year. In the end the team and its three drivers – Shelby Blackstock, Santiago Urrutia and Aaron Telitz – came back from numerous adversities to take four victories and 14 podium finishes, earning their first team championship. The Indy Lights team is at the heart of its program but Brian Belardi admits that his thoughts have begunRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In an Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season that saw a ton of unpredictability with seven different winners, one thing was predictable: consistency from one driver would win the championship. That consistency came from Juncos Racing’s Kyle Kaiser. Kaiser entered his third season in Indy Lights and his fourth Mazda Road to Indy season with Juncos Racing (fifth MRTI season overall). His second Indy Lights campaign was a big improvement over his first with two wins and only two finishes outsideRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — After a 2017 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season that was, for the most part, one to forget, Aaron Telitz was able to earn his second victory of the season and his first since the first race of the year in St. Petersburg in some very wet conditions. Polesitter Colton Herta led at the start but Telitz took the lead shortly thereafter and so began one of the best on track battles of the season. Santiago Urrutia,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer A thrilling final three lap shootout nearly allowed Juan Piedrahita to earn his first win in the Mazda Road to Indy but it was Santiago Urrutia who walked away from Gateway Motorsports Park with another victory in his sophomore Indy Lights season. The race began with a first lap yellow flag after Belardi Auto Racing teammates Aaron Telitz and Shelby Blackstock had contact resulting in Telitz’s retirement from the event. Soon after the green flag came out for the restart there wasRead More