The highly successful Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship – a six-race mini-series held in February which offers drivers and teams a head start on their regular season campaigns – has been a staple of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda the past three years. In 2014, series promoter Andersen Promotions will take the concept to a new level with an expanded program to include the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, a testing opportunity for Indy Lights and two new venues.

Andersen Promotions has confirmed that the third annual Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy Open Test will take place on December 9 and 10 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. The two-day test features all three levels of the ladder system. The outing, which attracted more than 50 drivers last year, offers teams in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Indy Lights the opportunity to audition new talent and gain a head start on their 2014 campaigns.

In a year that saw records shattered in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and a title fight that came down to the streets of Houston in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the 2013 season was closed in fine fashion with a dual awards banquet held at the St. Regis Houston to honor the outstanding talent in both series. Over 200 people, including 30-plus drivers, were on hand to take part in the ceremonies which recognized the future stars of open-wheel racing and the teams that allowed their talents to shine.

Matthew Brabham’s sensational debut season in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires came to a close today with another dominant performance on the streets of Houston. Brabham made a clean sweep of the pair of Allied Building Products Grand Prix of Houston races on the temporary street circuit to set new milestones in the series, ending with records for most wins (13), most podiums (15) and most fastest laps (13) in a single season.

While Andretti Autosport’s Matthew Brabham locked up the Pro Mazda Championship Powered by Cooper Tires title prior to this weekend’s season-ending pair of Allied Building Products Grand Prix of Houston races, it didn’t stop the 19-year-old from continuing his winning ways. Brabham was solid out-of-the-gate on the 1.634-miles, 10-turn temporary street circuit, starting on pole and claiming another victory to break his own records of most wins (12) and podiums (14) in a single season. He has now added one more record to his sensational season, besting 2012 champion Jack Hawksworth for most fastest race laps with 12.