Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

MRTI: Recent February USF2000, Pro Mazda signings roundup

jgs_7645-l

As the new season for the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires continues to draw near, there’s been a few announcements in both the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda ranks to go along with those that have come from the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires series.

A quick note first: the expected team announcements for Mazda scholarship drivers Anthony Martin (Pro Mazda) and Oliver Askew (USF2000) will come from Mazda directly, so while those two drivers will be racing they’ve been not formally announced as yet.

Anyway, here’s what’s come down in the last couple weeks:

USF2000


  • Luke Gabin joins the list of those back for a third season in USF2000, and will join fellow third-year driver Parker Thompson at Michael Duncalfe’s Exclusive Autosport. Gabin was one of the more exciting drivers to watch last year and scored his first few podiums, extracting the maximum from a tight budget at JAY Motorsports. The Australian will be in the No. 91 Tatuus USF-17. The full release is linked here.
  • Kart racer Rick Donison of India is Cape Motorsports’ first confirmed driver for the season and will be in the team’s No. 2 car. His initial background is in karting prior to his car debut in both Formula BMW India and UAS F4 races. The full release is linked here.
  • A couple weeks ago, Pabst Racing announced their second driver for 2017 with Brazilian Lucas Kohl back for a second season. Kohl raced last year with John Cummiskey Racing; JCR is yet to announce a driver for 2017. The full release is linked here.
  • Menards made a big splash into IndyCar upon its return to the series last year with Simon Pagenaud at Team Penske. The Midwest retailer will now adorn Chandler Horton’s No. 20 RJB Motorsports entry in USF2000.
  • Gabin’s announcement makes 13 car/driver/team combinations confirmed thus far in the series. More are expected given the number of car orders and teams which have yet to fill out one or more seats from here.

Pro Mazda


  • FatBoy Racing! joined Leading Edge GP as the second new team to announce its intentions of entering Pro Mazda this season. Drivers Brendan Puterbach and Charles Finelli raced sporadically in the USF2000 National class last year.

MRTI

Next week’s test at Homestead-Miami Speedway has this schedule:


  • February 27: Indy Lights oval testing
  • February 28, March 1: USF2000, Pro Mazda road course testing
  • March 2: Indy Lights road course testing

Follow @TonyDiZinno