The 2016 Mazda Road to Indy Shootout was the first edition of the Road to Indy Shootout. The event was held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on December 6 and 7. The winner received a $200,000 scholarship to compete in the 2017 U.S. F2000 National Championship.
Entry list
Driver Age 2016 result Ryan Norman 18 Atlantic Championship Series champion Will Brown 18 Australian Formula Ford highest eligible driver (2nd). Niall Murray 21 BRSCC F1600 champion Oliver White 23 Mountney Formula Ford Super Series Peter Portante 20 F1600 Formula F Championship runner-up John McCusker 20 F2000 Championship Series runner-up Jonathan Sugianto 21 Formula Car Challenge champion Axel Matus 18 Formula Panam champion Trenton Estep 16 Formula Tour 1600 champion Marcel Coletta 14 Mazda Road to Indy Brazil champion Karthik Tharani 22 MMSC 1600 Indian Championship runner-up Michael Scott 21 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship champion Tim de Silva 20 Pacific F2000 champion Austin Garrison 18 Rotax Max Challenge Nigel Saurino 21 SCCA Runoffs – FC Neil Verhagen 15 SCCA Runoffs – F1600 champion Matt Machiko 25 SCCA Runoffs – FM Neil MacLennan 18 Scottish Motor Racing Club Formula Ford 1600 Championship champion Timo Reger 19 Skip Barber Race Series Oliver Askew 19 Team USA Scholarship Kyle Kirkwood 18
Notes Neil Verhagen won the 2016 F1600 Championship Series. But as he was already qualified by winning the Runoffs, runner-up Peter Portante was awarded a place to compete.
McCusker finished second in the 2016 F2000 Championship Series. The championship was won by Steve Bamford, a masters class competitor, ineligible because of his age. Drivers must be between 14 and 25.
Formula Car Challenge FormulaSpeed champion Sugianto won the shootout invitation over Formula Car Challenge Pro Formula Mazda champion Bruno Carneiro after a video competition.
Brown finished second in the 2016 Australian Formula Ford championship. The championship was won by Leanne Tander, ineligible because of her age (36).
Tharani finished second in the MRF1600 (India) championship, but champion Vikash Anand is facing indictment for drunk driving from a September crash where Anand was driving under the influence, and thereby disqualified.
Verhagen, McCusker and Norman all qualified, but were unable to attend due to prior commitments clashing with the shootout date. Verhagen tested at the annual Road to Indy Chris Griffis Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, scoring the fastest time in the test with Pabst Racing. Norman signed with Andretti Autosport on December 5, 2016, to participate in Indy Lights for the 2017 season.
Mazda Road to Indy - Brasil The 2016 Mazda Road to Indy - Brasil was a karting contest to qualify for the finals at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The event was held at Kartódromo de Interlagos on 27 August 2016. The event was set up by former racing driver Paulo Carcasci. Eleven drivers from four different Brazilian states and the Federal District competed for a spot in the final at Laguna Seca.
Result Rank Driver Points 1. Marcel Coletta 3 9 2 1 55 2. Murilo Coletta 2 8 1 2 51 3. Vinicius Papareli 1 2 1 3 47 4. Lucca Croce 6 4 3 4 35 5. Jean Aguiar 9 1 4 5 33 6. Pedro Cardoso 8 7 2 9 32 Italo Barrilari 7 6 5 7 Evandro Bambirra 4 5 4 8 Allan Croce 5 3 3 6 Edgar Henrique 11 11 5 11 Erick Lutum 10 10 6 10
Format Judges Joel Miller Mazda Motorsports factory driver Spencer Pigot Jonathan Bomarito Andrew Carbonell Scott Goodyear former IndyCar Series driver Kyle Kimball Mazda Motorsports operational manager Jim Bowie owner of Brandrenaline
Lucas Oil School of Racing supplied the 18 scholarship candidates with Formula Ford style cars. The Ray Race Cars GR-RSC was fitted with a 2-litre engine built by Elite Engines. All cars were shod with Cooper Tires. The Shootout started with orientation of the cars and the track on December 5. On the second day drivers were divided in four groups and took to the tracks. For the final Shootout day the group was again divided in four. After initial testing sessions the first drivers were eliminated. The remaining drivers started 30 minute qualifying sessions before the race over 30 minutes.
Competition All participants participated in a vehicle orientation and then multiple practice sessions over two days, culminating in a pre-qualification session where six finalists would be chosen. Those finalists would then participate in a 30-minute qualifying session and a 30-minute race.
Driver Qualifying Finale Oliver Askew 3 1 Oliver White 1 2 Trenton Estep 4 3 Kyle Kirkwood 5 4 Niall Murray 6 5 Will Brown 2 6 Marcel Coletta DNQ Austin Garrison DNQ Matt Machiko DNQ Neil MacLennan DNQ Axel Matus DNQ Peter Portante DNQ Timo Reger DNQ Nigel Saurino DNQ Michael Scott DNQ Tim de Silva DNQ Jonathan Sugianto DNQ Karthik Tharani DNQ John McCusker DNA Ryan Norman DNA Neil Verhagen DNA
Winner Oliver Askew was selected as the winner of the shootout and won a scholarship to compete in the 2017 U.S. F2000 National Championship.Malsher, David. Askew wins Mazda Road to Indy Scholarship Shootout, Motorsport.com, December 8, 2016, Retrieved 2016-12-10
References