ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. – Team Pelfrey driver TJ Fischer endured a trying weekend at the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of Road America Presented by Allied Building Products, placing 15th and 12th in the doubleheader weekend for Rounds 5 and 6 of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
The talented Californian, who is an advocate for asthma awareness for his non-profit initiative Project O2, showed great speed in the lead-up to the races. Unfortunately, mechanical issues in both races hampered Fischer, ending his string of podium-finishes from St. Petersburg, Fla. and Indianapolis, Ind.
In the first 30-minute timed race of the weekend, the No. 82 #Race2TheRescue Team Pelfrey car lined-up from sixth position due to a penalty incurred in Friday’s qualifying session. Fischer showed strength early on by advancing to fifth position within the first lap on the four-mile, 14-turn road circuit. The No. 82 car would find a consistent spot inside the top-5 for the first half of the 14-lap race, running as high as fourth. Halfway through the race the No. 82 experienced a fuel pump issue and as a result, Fischer dropped 11 positions and eventually had to pit and ended the race in 15th.
Qualifying second for the final race of the weekend, Fischer and his team would take what they had learned from the Race 1 and put tire strategy to work. At the start of the 30-minute timed race, the 23-year old would find a consistent spot in second-position. He battled for the lead in the opening five laps and produced the fastest lap of the 11-lap race on lap 4. As the No. 82 began to close the gap behind the leader, an internal engine component let go on the front straight, forcing Fischer to retire from the race on lap 7, ending the race in 12th.
With the results in Rounds 5 and 6, Fischer holds third in the Pro Mazda Championship Series point standings, behind Brazilian Victor Franzoni and Australian Anthony Martin.
Team Pelfrey is tied with Juncos in the Team Championship point standings.
Road America also marked a new partnership for Fischer’s asthma Awareness corporation, Project O2, and its initiative #Race2TheRescue, welcoming Propeller Health as a new supporter. Propeller Health is a leading-edge technology providing digital therapy for COPD and asthma and includes a sensor that’s added to the top of a patient’s inhaler to monitor usage frequencies, locations, temperatures and finds triggers such as pollen and humidity.
Up next, Fischer will compete in Rounds 7, 8 and 9 of the 2017 Pro Mazda Championship season for the only triple-header weekend of the season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio on Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29. The races can be streamed via RoadToIndy.tv.
“I had a really good start to Race 2 from my Team Pelfrey teammate, Carlos, who snuck-up underneath me and gave me a huge tow,” Said Fischer. “We were bump drafting, which was different from the Race 1 where I was bumping our teammate, Nikita, into second. This time, Carlos was bumping me, so that was pretty cool. Then, I settled into second-place, set-up a good guard and started to size-up the leader of the race at the time, Anthony Martin, to see where we were quicker. We had a really good strategy for the weekend, the way we set-up the tire situation was really in our favor for the race, so I was really looking forward to taking advantage of that. But, unfortunately, I felt the engine let go as I was going up the straight, so I ended up stopped in Turn 1. We were really competitive on the track; we put in the fastest lap of the race so we just had a really solid car where we had a shot at winning. A big thanks to the No. 82 #Race2TheRescue Team Pelfrey crew for putting out a car that was so quick. We were really due for a win, especially with a car that was so quick, but that’s racing sometimes; we just have to rebuild from here and move forward.”