Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and USF2000 Set for Double-Header Rounds in Wisconsin

PALMETTO, Fla. – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, which collectively comprise the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel development ladder, will all feature a pair of races this weekend at one of the country’s most scenic and challenging race tracks, Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wis., as part of the Kohler Grand Prix.

Each of the three championships are reaching their halfway stage, with Mazda Scholarship prizes and other awards totaling more than $3.6 million ultimately at stake to assist the respective champions move on to the next step on the ladder with the ultimate goal of competing in the Verizon IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500.

Franzoni, Martin to Continue Pro Mazda Battle 
The largest contingent of Pro Mazda cars since 2015 will assemble for Rounds Five and Six of the 12-race season. Brazilian Victor Franzoni (Juncos Racing) and Australian Anthony Martin (Cape Motorsports) are separated by just six points in their quest for the champion’s Mazda Scholarship worth over $790,000 to ensure graduation to Indy Lights, the next step on the Mazda Road to Indy, in 2018.

Martin, who swept last year’s pair of USF2000 races at Road America en route to the championship title, hit the ground running by winning both of the opening Pro Mazda rounds at St. Petersburg, Fla., only for fellow ex-USF2000 front-runner Franzoni to respond by dominating both of the next two races on the Indianapolis Grand Prix course.

Californian TJ Fischer has finished on the podium in each of the first four events for Team Pelfrey, including a career-high second in the most recent race, where he was joined on the podium by Brazilian rookie teammate Carlos Cunha. Los Angeles-based Russian Nikita Lastochkin will drive a third Team Pelfrey car in search of his first podium result following a string of top-fives.

Opposition will stem from a trio of World Speed Motorsports entries for teenagers Phillippe Denes, from Carmel, Calif., and Sting Ray Robb, from Payette, Idaho, plus veteran Bobby Eberle, from Houston, Texas, as well as Milwaukee native Max Hanratty, who will return to the series with local Sheboygan Falls team ArmsUp Motorsports.

Kris Wright, from Pittsburgh, Pa., will step up from USF2000 for the first time with Minnesota-based JDC MotorSports, while a strong National Class contingent, led by regular local racers Kevin Davis, from Alvin, Ill., and Bob Kaminsky, from Homer Glen, Ill., will be joined for the first time by the Unfair Advantage Motorsports pair of Dave Zavelson and Kevin Bury, both from Austin, Texas.

After a lone practice session at 1:55 p.m. CDT on Thursday, June 22, the grids for the two races which will make up the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Allied Building Products will be set during a pair of 20-minute qualifying sessions at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday and 8:25 a.m. on Friday. Race One is set for later that same day at 1:35 p.m., and the green flag for Race Two will fly at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday.

Of note, Franzoni and Eberle will both celebrate their 50th Mazda Road to Indy starts on Friday.

Coverage of the Mazda Road to Indy can be found on a series of platforms including Road to Indy TV, the Road to Indy TV App and dedicated broadcast channels on demand via Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku and, most recently, the Xbox One Official App as well as live streaming and live timing on the series’ respective websites and indycar.com.