Kyle Kirkwood Tag

By Road to Indy 2019 HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Two days of Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires Spring Training for both the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship wrapped up this afternoon at the Homestead-Miami Speedway road course in South Florida. Teams and drivers were greeted by warm weather – a welcome respite for some after a particularly harsh winter in the Midwest and Northeast – as they completed preparations for next weekend’s season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Sting RayRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The second day of the 2018 Performance Racing Industry trade show at the Indiana Convention Center and it was packed full of happenings. In the morning, 1992 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Lyn St. James hosted a panel entitled Opportunities for Women in Motorsport with panelists Dr. Karen Silvaggio (Thunder Valley Racing President), sports car racer Shea Holbrook, NBC Sports IndyCar pit reporter Katie Hargitt and chief Firestone Racing engineer Cara Adams. Abel Motorsports announced their intention to race two cars in the Pro MazdaRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 31st annual Performance Racing Industry trade show kicked off in Indianapolis on Thursday with the usual fanfare one would expected for the last motorsports event of the 2018 calendar year. Here’s some notes about happenings at the show on Thursday. The opening breakfast featured Al Unser Sr. and Al Unser Jr. talking about their careers with the recently retired Dave Despain in front of a capacity crowd at the Sagamore Ballroom. The first press conference of the show took place with NGK Spark Plugs/NTK SensorsRead More

By Road to Indy HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Hot and humid conditions blighted the first of two days that will comprise the final Mazda Road to Indy Open Test of the season held at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but even though lap times in all three open-wheel categories – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – were well shy of the existing track records, that didn’t stop David Malukas (BN Racing), Rasmus Lindh (Pabst Racing) andRead More

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – There was a bittersweet element to last night’s Mazda Road to Indy Championship Celebration as over 200 members of the racing community, including drivers, families, teams and sponsors, gathered for their traditional end-of-season banquet. Following a cocktail reception on a glorious summer’s evening overlooking the Columbia River and with Mt. Hood looming in the distance, over $2.6M was distributed in the Mount St. Helens Ballroom at the Red Lion On The River, Jantzen Beach, just a mile or so away from Portland InternationalRead More

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – Kyle Kirkwood continued his remarkable Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda win streak under gloriously sunny skies this afternoon at Portland International Raceway. The recently crowned champion stalked polesitter Rasmus Lindh (Pabst Racing) through the opening stages, then pounced decisively before edging away to another relatively comfortable victory – his 10th in a row and 12th of the 14-race season, which equals the record established by former Verizon IndyCar Series driver J.R. Hildebrand en route to the championship title in 2006. Lindh,Read More

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – He might already have this year’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda – and a Mazda Scholarship worth at least $325,000 to graduate onto the next rung of the Mazda Road to Indy open-wheel development ladder in 2019 – under his belt, but now Kyle Kirkwood has his eyes set on the record books. Specifically, he is targeting the standard of most wins in a single USF2000 season, which currently stands to former Verizon IndyCar Series driver J.R. Hildebrand, who won 12Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Friday practice has come and gone for the Verizon IndyCar Series ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland and the time sheets saw numerous names flying up and down in unexpected places. While it’s expected to see Sebastien Bourdais near the top and he in fact led the opening session, the midfield was full of happy surprises. Santino Ferrucci was 12th fastest in the opening session in his first IndyCar race since the Chevrolet Duel in Detroit. Ahead of Ferrucci was Jack HarveyRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — Kyle Kirkwood captured the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda crown with a Friday win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He celebrated a new series record with his eighth-consecutive win on Saturday. On Sunday the Cape Motorsports star got out the broom for a weekend sweep. Kirkwood surged ahead of polesitter James Raven in the first two turns and drove off from there to claim another dominant victory in Sunday’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Mid-Ohio Grand Prix Race 3, tallying his ninth-straight victory andRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor LEXINGTON, Ohio — With the 2018 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda title already secured, Kyle Kirkwood returned to the field on Saturday and continued the systematic beatdown that netted him the title midway through the summer. Kirkwood led every lap after starting second to claim his eighth-consecutive USF2000 victory in Saturday’s Cooper Tires Mid-Ohio GP Race 2. Pabst Racing’s Lucas Kohl followed in second, with Exclusive Autosport’s Igor Fraga completing the podium. Rasmus Lindh and Calvin Ming rounded out the top five,Read More