Pato O’Ward Tag

By Pato O’Ward, Driver Columnist Editor’s note: Pato O’Ward will be contributing to Motorsports Tribune selectively throughout the 2018 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season. The 18-year-old Texas-based Mexican racer pilots the No. 27 Mazda/Dallara IL-15 for Andretti Autosport. A Rolex 24 at Daytona winner and series champion in the Prototype Challenge class a season ago in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, O’Ward will be looking for similar success during his rookie campaign in the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy. I can’t believe the first race of the IndyRead More

By Road to Indy HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Just 10 days before the start of the new Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season, Uruguay’s Santiago “Santi” Urrutia (Belardi Auto Racing) laid down an early marker by posting the fastest time of the day as the traditional Mazda Road to Indy Spring Training pre-season test concluded this afternoon on the 2.21-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course. Urrutia, who has finished second in the Indy Lights championship in each of the past two years, took full advantage of Mazda Road to Indy CompetitionRead 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 Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The 2018 edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona is upon us and with 50 cars entered it is one of the more talent-filled rosters in the race’s history. Let’s make some predictions about Winners, losers and everything in between. Overall winner: No. 7 Acura Team Penske Team Penske has a stacked lineup with Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Graham Rahal behind the wheel. All three have extensive racing experience and know how to bring a car home in one piece. ThisRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona has achieved star power status with world championship-caliber drivers and manufacturers in the Prototype ranks in the second year of the DPi/LMP2 rules package. (what is a DPi? https://www.imsa.com/qa-2017-daytona-prototype-international-dpi-concept) The entry list has four manufacturers in the DPi ranks with Nissan (two cars), Mazda (two cars), Acura (two cars) and Cadillac (four cars) going up against 10 LMP2 cars from Oreca (six cars), Riley/Multimatic (one car) and Ligier (three cars). Let’s look at the Prototype portion of the entry listRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer After a successful 2017 Prototype Challenge campaign in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, Pato O’Ward has returned to his roots and signed with Andretti Autosport to contest the 2018 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires alongside returning teammates Colton Herta, Dalton Kellett and Ryan Norman. The Mexican racer began his open wheel journey in the U.S. in the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires in 2015 and after winning five of the first six Pro Mazda races in 2016, O’WardRead 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

The Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires has been nothing short of spectacular this season, with all three ladders – USF2000, Pro Mazda Championship and Indy Lights – showcasing future talent for the Verizon IndyCar Series while also bringing dynamic title battles. This week’s edition features special guest Rob Howden, who joins the cast to discuss the positives and negatives as the end of the 2017 season looms near. What two drivers should move up in the MRTI other than the series champions? Rob Howden, Road to IndyRead 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

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