REDLANDS, Calif. – Momentum is a key aspect in motorsports, and it’s a power that a driver can feed off of going into the upcoming events. California open-wheel formula car star Neil Alberico has momentum on his side right now, claiming his first two podium finishes of the season in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at the inaugural Allied Building Products Grand Prix of Indianapolis early this month. This coming weekend is a new challenge for the Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver, as the series hosts Round Seven at the Lucas Oil Raceway during the ‘Night Before The 500’ festivities, which surround this year’s Indianapolis 500.

Alberico recorded his two best finishes of the 2014 season at the May 7-10 weekend event that ran the revamped Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course as part of the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The California pilot got a taste of leading the competitive Pro Mazda line-up, pacing the field for 11 laps during the first race until contact shuffled him back to the third position. Neil held on to earn his first top-three finish in the series, standing on the prestigious IMS podium. The following day, starting seventh, Alberico was negotiating the opening corner when he was struck from behind and spun around at the apex of the corner. Dropping back to 14th, Alberico showed true poise and talent to work his way through traffic to claim his first runner-up finish in the Pro Mazda series, coming home one spot behind teammate Scott Hargrove.

Prior to this weekend’s event, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires series held an official test at the Lucas Oil Raceway on May 13. Three practice sessions were completed before heavy rain ended on-track activities. Alberico and the Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing crew continued to improve on the performance of the No. 2 Rising Star Racing/Arai/OMP Racing/J&M Trophies/Oakley/Bondurant School of High Performance Driving/SafeisFast/eFormulaCarNews.com machine as the day progressed. In the final session, Alberico had recorded the fourth quickest time of the day.

"We are coming off a pair of great results at the Indy GP, and as a team we have to keep this momentum up going into the Night Before The 500,” added Alberico. “It's a crucial time for us to make our championship push here in the middle of the season and what better way to start that off than a win here in Indy! We're in a good spot at the moment and we wouldn't be here without our Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing crew and all the support from Rising Star Racing."

Alberico currently sits fourth in the championship standings thanks to the two recent podium finishes. The Allied Building Products Oval Challenge during the Night Before The 500 event gets underway on Friday, May 23 with three test sessions for the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires, beginning at 4pm EDT. Two practice sessions on Saturday afternoon lead into single-car qualifying, scheduled to start at 4:55pm EDT, with the green flag waving at 8:25pm EDT. Live audio and timing is available at the Pro Mazda Championship Live page.

A native of Los Gatos, Calif., Alberico first started racing karts at the age of 10, competing in IKF Region 11 action. Over the course of four seasons (2004-07), the young talent captured the Junior Sportsman, Junior Super Sportsman, and Junior Puma championship titles. Continuing to race in the karting ranks while raising funds to pursue a career in motorsports, Alberico won the Snap-On Stars of Karting Series National finale in Las Vegas in 2009, before finishing third in the CKI National TaG Senior championship, and winning the 2010 TaG Senior class in the WSK North American Series. That same year, Alberico won the Bondurant Championship Race Series, winning 10 races as a junior formula car rookie. In 2011, Alberico made his European racing debut, competing in the world-renowned Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain with Irish-based Cliff Dempsey Racing. Finish ninth in his maiden FF season, the Californian earned a Team USA Scholarship, subsequently capturing a Semi-Final win and third place finish in the historic 40th Formula Ford Festival. Alberico joined the Mazda Road to Indy program in 2012, earning a podium finish and nine top-fives in his rookie season of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The California standout followed that up with 11 wins in 2013, en route to the Cooper Tires Winterfest title and second in the USF2000 Championship with multiple champion Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. For 2014, he has continued his relationship with CMWTR to run for the Pro Mazda Championship.