Road to Indy
The Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires is a racecar driver development program, providing a scholarship-funded path to reach the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.[1] Sanctioned by IndyCar, the Road to Indy is owned and managed by Andersen Promotions. On December 9, 2010 it was announced that Mazda would become the title sponsor of the program and provide scholarships for series champions to advance to the next rung of the ladder[2] with all three series running on Cooper Tires.
Since its launch in 2010, the Road to Indy ladder system has attracted competitors from around the globe. Drivers from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, Venezuela and Zimbabwe have been part of the grids, showcasing their talents at premier venues on a mix of road courses, temporary street circuits and ovals.
Participating series (in order from lowest to highest "rung"):
- U.S. F2000 National Championship
- Indy Pro 2000 Championship (known as the Star Mazda Championship and Pro Mazda Championship prior to 2019)
- Indy Lights
- IndyCar Series
One of the season highlights is the Indy 500 weekend, with Indy Lights competing in the Freedom 100 on Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 racing at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis later that evening.
No driver has won the championship and thus scholarship at every rung of the ladder on their way to Indycar. However, both Sage Karam and Matthew Brabham won scholarships from U.S. F2000 and made it to IndyCar. Karam, Brabham, Tristan Vautier, and Spencer Pigot have all won two scholarships on their way to IndyCar. In 2017, Josef Newgarden became the first Road to Indy graduate and scholarship winner to win the IndyCar Series championship.
Mazda Road to Indy Shootout[]
For 2017 a shootout race for up and coming talents was announced. The Road to Indy has several partnerships with other development series. In a knock-out format the drivers will compete for a $200,000.00 scholarship to race in the USF2000 series.
Drivers from the following series can qualify to compete in the shootout:[3][4]
Atlantic Championship Series (2016)
Australian Formula Ford (2016–present)
BRSCC Formula Ford 1600 (2016–present)- MSVR Formula Ford Super Series (2016–present)
- F1600 Formula F Championship (2016–present)
- F2000 Championship Series (2016-present)
- Formula Car Challenge Presented by Goodyear (2016–present)
- Formula Ford Festival (2017–present)
Formula Panam (2016–present)
(2016–present)
MMSC 1600 Indian Championship (2016–present)- NACAM Formula 4 Championship[5] (starting in 2018)
New Zealand Formula Ford Championship (2016–present)
(2017–present)- Pacific F2000 (2016–present)
- Rotax Max Challenge (USA)(2016)
- SCCA Runoffs – F1600 (2016–present)
- SCCA Runoffs – FC (2016–present)
Scottish Motor Racing Club Formula Ford 1600 Championship (2016–present)
(2017–present)- Skip Barber Race Series (2016)
- Team USA Scholarship (2016–present)
- Walter Hayes Trophy (2017–present)
- (2016)
Shootout winners[]
| Year | Track | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca |  Oliver Askew
|
| 2017 | Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park | 
|
| Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park |  Hunter McElrea
|
Champions[]
| IndyCar Series | Indy Lights | Indy Pro 2000 | U.S. F2000 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 |  Dario Franchitti
|
2010 |  Jean-Karl Vernay
|
2010 | Conor Daly
|
2010 | Sage Karam
|
| 2011 | Dario Franchitti
|
2011 | Josef Newgarden
|
2011 | Tristan Vautier
|
2011 |  Petri Suvanto
|
| 2012 | Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
2012 | Tristan Vautier
|
2012 | Jack Hawksworth
|
2012 |  Matthew Brabham
|
| 2013 | Scott Dixon
|
2013 | Sage Karam
|
2013 | Matthew Brabham
|
2013 |  Scott Hargrove
|
| 2014 | Will Power
|
2014 |  Gabby Chaves
|
2014 | Spencer Pigot
|
2014 | Florian Latorre
|
| 2015 | Scott Dixon
|
2015 | Spencer Pigot
|
2015 |  Santiago Urrutia
|
2015 | Nico Jamin
|
| 2016 | Simon Pagenaud
|
2016 |  Ed Jones
|
2016 | Aaron Telitz
|
2016 | Anthony Martin
|
| 2017 | Josef Newgarden
|
2017 | Kyle Kaiser
|
2017 |  Victor Franzoni
|
2017 | Oliver Askew
|
| 2018 | Scott Dixon
|
2018 |  Patricio O'Ward
|
2018 |  Rinus VeeKay
|
2018 | Kyle Kirkwood
|
| 2019 | Josef Newgarden
|
2019 | Oliver Askew
|
2019 | Kyle Kirkwood
|
2019 | Braden Eves
|
| 2020 | Scott Dixon
|
2020 | Season Cancelled | 2020 | Sting Ray Robb
|
2020 |  Christian Rasmussen
|
References[]
- ^ "Mazda Road to Indy". Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- ^ Mazda to sponsor Road to Indy program Archived 2010-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, IndyCar, December 9, 2010, Retrieved 2010-12-09
- ^ "Official Feeder Series of the Mazda Road to Indy". USF2000. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
- ^ "MRTI USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout Dates/Venue Announced". usf2000.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
- ^ "La FIA F4 Nacam participará en el MRTI Scholarship Shootout". Chicas Racing. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
- Road to Indy
- IndyCar Series