Teenager Rinus VeeKay faced plenty of challenges prior to the opening round of the new Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires, but he put all that behind him this afternoon as he swept to an impressive victory for Juncos Racing in the first of two races which will comprise the Pro Mazda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Presented by Allied Building Products.

Cooper Tire and Mazda continue their efforts to assist young drivers in developing their brand and message with platforms that include the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires Hashtag Program, which rewards drivers and teams for utilizing the #MRTI and #TeamCooperTire hashtags on Twitter and Instagram.

Fans attending the St. Petersburg Grand Prix this weekend will be given a unique opportunity to test their skills against some of the biggest names in the sport as well as rising stars in the Mazda Road to Indy “Beat the Pros Challenge” presented by Andersen RacePark to benefit Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires open-wheel development ladder will hit the ground running in Florida this coming weekend, March 9-11, in support of the headline Verizon Indy Car Series as part of the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The new Mazda-powered Tatuus PM-18, introduced for this year’s Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires continued to impress this weekend as 15 drivers completed a total of 1610 laps during two days of Spring Training road course testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway.