David Malukas Tag

By Road to Indy BROWNSBURG, Ind. – For many competitors in both the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and even the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, tomorrow at Lucas Oil Raceway will mark their very first competitive outing on an oval track. To aid them with the transition from road racing, reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden and last year’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires champion Kyle Kaiser, along with six-time Indianapolis 500 starter Johnny Unser and Gerardo Bonilla, Director of Competition for theRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer One day removed from a pair of podiums in the first Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, title hopefuls Rinus Veekay and Harrison Scott entered Saturday’s second event hoping for more of the same. They would instead be met with early problems. Scott and Veekay both failed to reach the checkered flag in the second Royal Purple Synthetic Motor Oil Grand Prix of Indianapolis, finishing outside of the top 10 and losing ground in the championship battle. Veekay didn’t makeRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS — Thursday has come and gone for the 2018 INDYCAR Grand Prix weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and despite all the on track action being devoted to the Mazda Road to Indy, the Verizon IndyCar Series had some news of its own. Alfonso Celis announced that he would be racing an Indy car for Juncos Racing at Road America. Celis raced at Barber Motorsports Park for Juncos Racing in Indy Lights, finishing seventh and eighth in his two races. Zachary Claman DeRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Parker Thompson had a month to think about the race win he’d let slip away on the streets of St. Petersburg. So when he got an opportunity to redeem himself at Barber Motorsports Park, the Canadian made it count. “It was on the back of my mind, but I had a month-long break to get over the fact that I lost a race in Race 1,” Thompson said. “I think that really helped, because I came into this weekend with my elbows up,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — After a month off, the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires races are back at Barber Motorsports Park with two championship doubleheaders: Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires and the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires. Indy Lights Despite the loss of Team Pelfrey in Indy Lights, the Indy Lights field is strengthened by the addition of Alfonso Celis to the Juncos Racing squad. Celis was a test driver for Formula One team Force India and is making his AmericanRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2018 Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires kicks off on the streets of St. Petersburg and with the strongest field from top to bottom since 2015, this year promises to be a special one. Before getting to the teams and drivers, let’s first look at the tracks. Barber Motorsports Park returns to the schedule after a 2017 hiatus and Mid-Ohio only has two races this year instead of three like it had last year. Gone is the single oval race date and instead thereRead More

By Road to Indy HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The new Mazda-powered Tatuus PM-18, introduced for this year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires – the middle rung on the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel development ladder – continued to impress this weekend as 15 drivers completed a total of 1610 laps during two days of Spring Training road course testing which concluded this afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Three different drivers topped one or more of the six sessions before second-year Pro Mazda competitor Carlos Cunha, from Campinas, Brazil, earned someRead More

By Road to Indy BN Racing burst onto the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires scene early this season and made an immediate impact, scoring a pole position and podium finish with former karting star David Malukas at the team’s second race weekend in their home event at Road America. The Chicago-based squad now has plans to expand into the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, having purchased two Tatuus PM-18s that will make their race debut next year. The team is led by Englishman BrynRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer In the course of one year, Oliver Askew went from karting to earning a scholarship to race in the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires in 2018. Not bad. For the Jupiter, Florida native, the road was a long one. He had to endure the scrutiny of the judges ahead of the Team USA Scholarship panel, the Team USA shootout and then the Formula Ford Festival in England and the Walter Hayes Trophy Race. After Askew finished second in the finalsRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Pabst Racing’s Rinus VeeKay needed to win the final race of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda in order to win the championship. Win he did, but Cape Motorsports’s Oliver Askew was able to finish second to secure the championship and with it the scholarship that allows him to move up to the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires. VeeKay got around Askew at the start and would pull away to an early lead. AskewRead More