The Mazda Road to Indy program is one of a kind.
It's the only motorsports developmental program in the world that offers scholarships to its champions so they can continue up the ladder and advance one step closer to competing in the premier Verizon IndyCar Series and at the famed Indianapolis 500.
Current champions who have advanced up the Mazda Road to Indy ladder this year include the USF2000 champion Florian Latorre who now races in the Pro Mazda Series; 2014 Pro Mazda champion Spencer Pigot has four wins in the current Indy Lights season; and Gabby Chaves, who is driving for Bryan Herta Autosport in the Verizon IndyCar Series after winning the Indy Lights championship last season.
The program is now offering a scholarship to enter its intense development system.
Fifteen champions from fifteen different racing series will compete in a knock-out style shootout for a chance to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Series, the first step on the Mazda Road to Indy ladder.
The shootout will be held in the fall of 2016, and each of the 15 participating series will offer it’s 2016 champion an entry ticket to the shootout. The winner of the shootout will be granted a $200,000 scholarship to enter the USF2000 circuit for the 2017 season.
"Mazda prides itself on providing the most comprehensive scholarship and ladder system for drivers in open wheel and sports cars," said John Doonan, Director of Mazda Motorsports in North America. "Now, with the Scholarship Shootout, we can expand the Mazda Road to Indy entry-level opportunity to young champions from around the world. From an aggressive grassroots program to a well-defined ladder system to the top levels of racing in North America, Mazda strives to help develop superstars of the future."
Each participant of the shootout will be labeled as an Official Feeder Series of the Mazda Road to Indy. So far, 10 series spanning from Australia, Europe, and the U.S. have been invited to the shootout with more international series expected to be confirmed. The current participants are:
• BRSCC F1600 (England) sanctioned by BRSCC
• Formula Car Challenge Presented by Goodyear (USA) sanctioned by NASA
• Pacific F2000 (USA) sanctioned by SCCA/NASA
• Australian Formula Ford (Australia) sanctioned by Formula Ford Association Inc.
• F2000 Championship Series (USA) sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing
• F1600 Formula F Championship Series (USA) sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing
• ROTAX MAX Challenge (USA) sanctioned by MAXSpeed Group
• Skip Barber Race Series Champion (USA) sanctioned by Skip Barber
• Team USA Scholarship (USA)
• SCCA Runoffs – F1600 and FC (USA) sanctioned by SCCA
"The response from the various series about this new program has been incredible and we are thrilled to have them as partners as we help the rising stars of the sport take the next step in their career in USF2000 on the Mazda Road to Indy path," said Dan Andersen, Owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions. "I have to thank our terrific partner Mazda for thinking outside the box and opening up this opportunity to so many more drivers. It will be exciting to bring together all of the series champions and watch them compete."
This is another prime example of the INDYCAR ladder series doing all it can to put talented young drivers in race cars.
The three series of the Mazda Road to Indy head to Laguna Seca next to close out their 2015 season in mid-September.
Eric Lawrence is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheRic5150.