Nikita Lastochkin

No. 80 Russkaya Mekhanika Team Pelfrey Mazda 

Race 1: Qualified 5^th / Finished 5^th

Race 2: Qualified 4^th / Finished 5^th

Race 3: Qualified 4^th / Finished 6^th 

The Russian had an outstanding start in Race Two after battling with teammate Carlos Cunha throughout the 26-lap contest, however his chances of claiming a podium finish diminished after making contact with lapped traffic. 

Lastochkin continues to show consistency as the 12 Round championship progresses.

The Race Two finish marks his seventh top-five finish in the 2017 season. 

"I was really looking forward to the last race because I saved a set of new tires for which it should have given us an advantage to the cars in front. Once it all started it was clear that something was wrong and the car had no grip in the rear for which is a shame when it falls on your race set. Having competitors gradually drive away into the distance is never fun, but I was happy with my performance.” 

TJ Fischer

No. 82 Project 02 Team Pelfrey Mazda 

Race 1: Qualified 4^th / Finished 3^rd

Race 2: Qualified 5^th / Finished 4^th

Race 3: Qualified 5^th / Finished 4^th 

Despite an unfortunate start to the weekend due to engine issues, Fischer recovered securing a third-place finish in Race One. 

Fischer continued to show pace rounding out the weekend with two fourth-place finishes throughout the action-packed weekend. 

“The weekend started out awesome. The first practice was great, then we started rolling into everything and eventually we had an engine let-go, which is unfortunate. Then we had another engine issue at the start of qualifying, which made it tricky for us. We were able to put in five laps in qualifying, just throw a time up there. I qualified fourth, which I think is pretty good because at Mid-Ohio you need time, it’s only a 20-minute qualifying session and it generally takes 15 minutes to get the peak of the lap time. So, to do that in under five minutes I think is pretty good. From there, we raced the entire race with my teammate, and eventually we made a move and passed him on the outside of the carousel and got it done for the podium-finish. So, getting a third there was awesome. I think it was a lot more than we could hope for. Then, the next two races, we had solid races, with good starts. On the last race, I got a couple passes on the outside into the keyhole to make up some spots and pretty much ran my own race, pretty much, and ended up finishing fourth. We were missing a little bit, but a big credit to Team Pelfrey for bouncing back from the struggles we had to salvage something from the weekend. A podium and two fourth-place finishes, I think is a pretty good run for this, for sure.” 

Carlos Cunha

No. 81 Team Pelfrey Mazda

Race 1: Qualified 1^st / Finished 4^th

Race 2: Qualified 3^rd / Finished 3^rd

Race 3: Qualified 2^nd / Finished 3^rd

Carlos Cunha enjoyed his most competitive outing in the Pro Mazda Championship to-date by securing his maiden pole position, along with two competitive third-place finishes.

The 17-year-old continued to improve as the weekend concluded clinching his third podium finish in his first year of open-wheel racing in the United States. 

When I arrived here, I was just thinking that I needed to go through the process and do my best. It was my first pole position in the Mazda Road to Indy and even though I didn’t have the best green lap, I was pleased with how I drove. We just need to keep focused and keep working hard because Team Pelfrey is doing incredible work.”