Following an exceptional 2015 season, in which the Frenchman won the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in record-setting fashion, and a very encouraging winter testing program with his Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team, Nico Jamin traveled to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the opening two rounds of the 2016 Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires with high expectations.
Jamin's goal was to start the season like he finished his 2015 season -- with a win -- or at least a podium finish, like he scored in his 2014 USF2000 debut at St Petersburg, and last year, when he collected two third-place finishes in the season opener with Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Unfortunately, racing is not an exact science, and despite the hundreds of miles of testing and preparation that he and his team put in during the winter, history did not repeat for Jamin and his team.
In race 1 on Saturday, Jamin finished fourth, right behind his teammate, Jake Eidson. On Sunday for race 2, Jamin finished 4th, behind the untouchable Team Pelfrey trio of drivers.
In 2016, Jamin is the Mazda scholarship driver in the 2016 Pro Mazda series and the driver from Normandy wanted to give Mazda Motorsports its first success of the season and take his No. 2 Soul Red Pro Mazda car to victory lane.
"We definitely didn't have the weekend we expected to have at St Pete," Jamin said. "We headed there with high expectations of wins, and we ended up with two fourth-place finishes. All the Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team worked very hard to try to get to the front, but it was just not enough this weekend. We still scored big points, and now the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires is on, and we're in the fight for the title. It is going to be a very long season, and I am very excited for it. We'll work really hard in the next four weeks to get ready for the next two rounds at Barber, Ala., and figure out what we did wrong."
Jamin said that he gave everything he had at St Petersburg and was really frustrated by the fact that he could not do anything against the speed of his direct St. Petersburg racing rivals. Jamin has returned to France to prepare himself for the next Pro Mazda battles. Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team is considered by many to be one of the best open-wheel racing teams in the Mazda Road to Indy paddock, and the Cape brothers two of the most capable team owners. They plan to use the next five weeks to regroup and come up with a plan to fight back at Barber.
On a very positive note, Jamin is currently ranked second in the Rookie of the Year competition after two rounds, and he has a solid fourth place in the driver championship.
The Pro Mazda championship will resume at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., on April 22-24, once again in support of the Verizon IndyCar Series.