Australian Jake Parsons made a positive start to his US racing career with two solid drives in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Mazda events in St Petersburg, Florida. The 21-year-old said of his Mazda Road to Indy debut, “It was a pretty big experience, lots to take in but I gained a lot of knowledge overall. It’s been a really positive weekend of development and learning.

“I had only done one rolling start before in an Audi R8 race and that was carnage! It was still hectic going into turn one here, but thankfully everyone was a bit more respectful.”

Coming off a strong test at Barber, Parsons ran well in qualifying putting his Juncos Racing car 6th on the grid but found the first race quite challenging, finishing 8th. “We struggled a little with set up and tyre management, but we learned a lot about how the car performs over a race distance.”

The team worked overnight to address the problems, allowing the young Aussie to battle hard with Nico Jamin in race two. The pair ran nose to tail throughout with Parsons thrilled to come home 5th after a physically demanding race.

The former AsiaCup Champion said afterwards, “I really want to thank the team because yesterday was frustrating but everyone put everything into getting the car ready and today was as good as I could have hoped for.”

The Pro Mazda Championship continues at Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Barber Motorsport Park on April 23-24.