The 2016 Mazda Road to Indy Shootout was the first edition of the

Road to Indy A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

Shootout. The event was held at

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 near both Salinas and M ...

on December 6 and 7. The winner received a $200,000 scholarship to compete in the 2017 U.S. F2000 National Championship.

Entry list

Notes

Neil Verhagen won the 2016 F1600 Championship Series. But as he was already qualified by winning the Runoffs, runner-up Peter Portante was awarded a place to compete. McCusker finished second in the 2016 F2000 Championship Series. The championship was won by

Steve Bamford ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve A ...

, a masters class competitor, ineligible because of his age. Drivers must be between 14 and 25. Formula Car Challenge FormulaSpeed champion Sugianto won the shootout invitation over Formula Car Challenge Pro Formula Mazda champion

Bruno Carneiro Bruno Carneiro (born 16 July 1999, in São Paulo) is a Brazilian-American Brazilian Americans ( pt, brasileiros americanos or ) are Americans who are of full or partial Brazilian ancestry. The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates t ...

after a video competition. Brown finished second in the 2016 Australian Formula Ford championship. The championship was won by

Leanne Tander Leanne Ferrier (sometimes known as Leanne Tander, born 5 June 1980 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian race car driver having raced cars such as Formula Ford, Formula 3 and in the Supercars Championship. Career Ferrier started in karts i ...

, ineligible because of her age (36). Tharani finished second in the MRF1600 (India) championship, but champion Vikash Anand is facing indictment for drunk driving from a September crash where Anand was driving under the influence, and thereby disqualified. Verhagen, McCusker and Norman all qualified, but were unable to attend due to prior commitments clashing with the shootout date. Verhagen tested at the annual Road to Indy Chris Griffis Test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, scoring the fastest time in the test with Pabst Racing. Norman signed with

Andretti Autosport Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...

on December 5, 2016 to participate in Indy Lights for the 2017 season.

Mazda Road to Indy - Brasil

The 2016 Mazda Road to Indy - Brasil was a

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

contest to qualify for the finals at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The event was held at Kartódromo de

Interlagos Interlagos is a neighborhood located in the district of Socorro in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Its name comes from the fact that the region is located between two large reservoirs, Guarapiranga and Billings, built in the early 20th century ...

on 27 August 2016. The event was set up by former racing driver Paulo Carcasci. Eleven drivers from four different

Brazilian states Brazilian commonly refers to: * Something of, from or relating to Brazil * Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil * Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent Brazilian may also ...

and the

Federal District A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...

competed for a spot in the final at Laguna Seca.

Result

Format

Lucas Oil School of Racing The Lucas Oil School of Racing is a racing school located in Port Richey, Florida that launched in December of 2015. In 2016, Lucas Oil School of Racing was chosen to host the finals for both the Team USA Scholarship and Mazda Road to Indy USF200 ...

supplied the 18 scholarship candidates with

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

style cars. The

Ray Race Cars Ray Race Cars is a British race car manufacturer. Previously Ray built Formula 3 and Formula Renault cars. The company still produces Formula Ford cars. History Ray Race Cars was founded in 1971 by Bert Ray and his brother Frank and his son Gavin ...

GR-RSC was fitted with a 2 litre engine built by

Elite Engines In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

. All cars were shod with

Cooper Tires Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. W ...

. The Shootout started with orientation of the cars and the track on December 5. On the second day drivers were divided in four groups and took to the tracks. For the final Shootout day the group was again divided in four. After initial testing sessions the first drivers were eliminated. The remaining drivers started 30 minute qualifying sessions before the race over 30 minutes.

Competition

All participants participated in a vehicle orientation and then multiple practice sessions over two days, culminating in a pre-qualification session where six finalists would be chosen. Those finalists would then participate in a 30 minute qualifying session and a 30 minute race.

Winner

Oliver Askew was selected as the winner of the shootout and won a scholarship to compete in the 2017 U.S. F2000 National Championship.Malsher, David
Askew wins Mazda Road to Indy Scholarship Shootout
''Motorsport.com'', December 8, 2016, Retrieved 2016-12-10

References

{{Road to Indy

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2016 in IndyCar U.S. F2000 National Championship seasons