Mazda Road to Indy two-day test underway at Barber - MotorSportsTalk

All three Andersen Promotions-run series in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder, Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and USF2000, are underway in the Chris Griffis Memorial Road to Indy test this week at Barber Motorsports Park.

Some news and notes about the driver/team combinations to follow:

INDY LIGHTS

USF2000 drivers Michael Epps and Alexandre Baron will test for Belardi; Epps is confirmed at Belardi’s USF2000 team while Baron, a two-time race winner last year, will move up to Indy Lights in 2014 with Belardi.
Neither of Schmidt Peterson’s drivers are confirmed but Jack Harvey is a strong possibility for one Indy Lights seat.
Zach Veach, Matthew Brabham and Lloyd Read are confirmed at their teams and the fourth confirmed 2014 driver, Zack Meyer, is not testing this week.

PRO MAZDA

USF2000 2013 drivers Neil Alberico and Scott Hargrove (Cape), Garett Grist (Andretti) and Michael Johnson (JDC) will all move up to Pro Mazda with the same teams. Shelby Blackstock (Andretti) will continue for his second season.
Americans Kyle Kaiser, Spencer Pigot and Kyle Connery all raced in Pro Mazda in 2013 but do not have deals confirmed for 2014 as yet. Kaiser and Pigot test for Juncos Racing, and Connery will test for JDC.

USF2000

Newcomers to watch at the test include Aaron Telitz, Jack Mitchell Jr. and Harrison Scott. Telitz, from Birchwood, Wis., recently won the Skip Barber Race Series Championship Shootout – and a MAZDASPEED Scholarship to compete in USF2000 next year – in the face of very stiff competition, including Eidson, and will drive one day apiece with Afterburner Autosport and ArmsUp Motorsports.
Belardi will have all four of its signed drivers testing together for the first time.

ENTRY LISTS

INDY LIGHTS (7)
Belardi Auto Racing: 5 Michael Epps (GBR), 6 Alexandre Baron (FRA)
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports: 7 Yann Cunha (BRZ), 77 Jack Harvey (GBR)
Andretti Autosport: 26 Zach Veach (USA), 83 Matthew Brabham (USA)
BHA/Jeffrey Mark Motorsports: 28 Lloyd Read (WAL)

PRO MAZDA (18)
Cape Motorsports w/WTR: 2 Neil Alberico (USA), 3 Scott Hargrove (CAN)
Juncos Racing: 4 Alfonso Celis (MEX), 5 Jose Gutierrez (MEX), 
6 Kyle Kaiser (USA), 7 Spencer Pigot (USA)
JDC Motorsports: 9 Kyle Connery (USA), 19 Harrison Scott (GBR), 
19 Jose Enrique Lopez (VEN), 54 Michael Johnson (USA)
M1 Racing: 10 Robert La Rocca (VEN), 21 Sebastian Arriola (MEX), 
21 Fernando Urrutia (MEX), 37 Jay Horak (USA)
Andretti Autosport: 27 Garett Grist (CAN), 28 Shelby Blackstock (USA)
Team Pelfrey: 81 Pipo Derani (BRZ), 82 Dalton Kellett (CAN)

USF2000 (18)
Cape Motorsports w/WTR: 3 Jake Eidson (USA)
Belardi Auto Racing: 4 Daniel Burkett (CAN), 14 Florian Latorre (FRA), 
41 Nico Jamin (FRA), 44 Michael Epps (GBR)
ArmsUp Motorsports: 6 Timothy Paul (USA), 24 Peter Portante (USA), 
51 Aaron Telitz (USA)
JDC Motorsports: 9 Nathan Blok (CAN), 9 Pato O’Ward (MEX), 
12 Henrik Furuseth (NOR), 19 Clark Toppe (USA)
Afterburner Autosport: 17 Victor Franzoni (BRZ), 18 Harrison Scott (GBR), 
18 Aaron Telitz (USA), 98 Gustavo Myasava (BRZ)
Pabst Racing Services: 21 Will Owen (USA), 77 Austin Cindric (USA)
JAY Motorsports: 91 Jack Mitchell Jr. (USA)

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”