Mazda Road To Indy Gets Underway In St. Petersburg

Details: Category: Road Racing

mazda road to indy

USF2000, ProMazda and Indy Lights get their season started alongside Indycar at the season opener in St. Petersburg.

By: Chris Jameson

March 27, 2014

Competition in the Mazda Road to Indy gets underway this weekend on the 1.8 mile temporary street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida alongside the Verizon Indycar series. It is the opening weekend for all the series and so far, most drivers have had a limited testing program. The weekend features the entry level USF200, ProMazda and Indy Lights - the final step up the development ladder for drivers looking to get into the Indycar series.

There are strong fields in both USF200 (22) and ProMazda (20) and Indy Lights has picked up a few more entries for 2014 (12). Across all level the competition is also truly international with entries from around the globe including Europe, South America, Australia and the Phillipines. There are plenty of Canadian drivers to watch for as well. Last year Canadian drivers made up one third of the field in USF2000 at St. Petersburg. That is now reduced to a single driver (as of March 23 entry list) as three drivers have made the jump to ProMazda including the 2013 USF2000 champion, Scott Hargrove (Vancouver, BC). Hargrove is joined by Garett Grist (Grimsby, ON) who finished third overall in the championship and Dalton Kellett (Toronto, ON). During the four race Winterfest series, Hargrove and Grist finished second and thrid (respectively) overall while Kellet finished ninth.

Daniel Burkett (Winnipeg, MB) returns to race in USF2000 while Zack Meyer (Toronto, ON) continues as the lone Canadian in Indy Lights. Of course they are all chasing after a seat in the pinnacle of the series which features fellow Canadian James Hinchcliffe (Oakville, ON) driving the Andretti Autosport #27 United Fiber and Data entry.

Below are the Canadian entries in each of the three laddeer series followed by this weekend's on-track schedule (including IndyCar). BBroadcast schedule and links to live timing and scoring are also listed below.

Peninsula Pipeline Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Entry List As of March 25, 2014

Track records – Qualifying: Spencer Pigot 1:13.284 = 88.423 mph set March 23, 2012
Race: Matthew Brabham 1:13.064 = 88.689 mph set March 24, 2012

#4 Daniel Burkett Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Belardi Auto Racing Granite Financial/Celco Controls/Champion Spark Plugs

Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Entry List As of March 21, 2014

Track records – Qualifying: Conor Daly 1:10.352 = 92.108 mph set March 27, 2010
Race: Jack Hawksworth 1:11.439 = 90.707 mph set March 24, 2012

#3 Scott Hargrove, Vancouver, BC, Canada Cape Motorsports w/ WTR MAZDASPEED/Analytic Systems/RaceEnergy/Metal Action Machining
#27 Garett Grist, Grimsby, Ontario, Canada Andretti Autosport /DaVinci Foods/Lander Property Management
#80 Dalton Kellett, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Team Pelfrey /K-Line Insulators USA, Inc.

St. Petersburg 100 Entry List As of March 25

Track records – Qualifying: J.K. Vernay 1:06.3497 = 97.664 mph set March 27, 2010
Sebastian Saavedra 1:07.2141 = 96.408 mph set April 5, 2009

#2 Zack Meyer Toronto, Ontario, Canada Team Moore Racing DAMIS PARTNERS III/Innisfil Indy Karting

TRACK SCHEDULE - FRIDAY, MARCH 28