USF Pro Championships

The USF Pro Championships Presented by Cooper Tires, formerly known as 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.

USF Pro Championships logo
Road to Indy logo

Since its launch in 2010, the Road to Indy ladder system has attracted competitors from around the globe. Drivers from Albania, Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, 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 ranking)

Series Name Description Year Founded
USF Juniors A new addition to the pathway - sanctioned by USAC, equivalent to Formula 4 2022
USF2000 Championship Competing for a scholarship to the next stage of the pathway - sanctioned by USAC, equivalent to Formula Ford 1990
USF Pro 2000 Championship Competing for a scholarship to the next stage of the pathway - sanctioned by USAC 1991
Indy NXT A single-seater developmental championship supporting IndyCar Series at specific races across the season - sanctioned by IndyCar 1977 (predecessor)
1986 (original)
2002 (IndyCar sanctioned)
IndyCar Series Highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars - sanctioned by IndyCar 1996 with history going back in early 1900's

In 2021 Kyle Kirkwood won the Indy Lights championship and became the first driver to win a 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, Oliver Askew 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 scholarship to race in the USF2000 series.

Drivers from the following series can qualify to compete in the shootout:[3][4]

Shootout winners

YearTrackWinner
2016Mazda Raceway Laguna SecaUnited States Oliver Askew
2017Wild Horse Pass Motorsports ParkRepublic of Ireland Keith Donegan
2018Wild Horse Pass Motorsports ParkNew Zealand Hunter McElrea

Champions

IndyCar Series Indy NXT USF Pro 2000 USF2000 USF Juniors
2010 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti 2010 France Jean-Karl Vernay 2010 United States Conor Daly 2010 United States Sage Karam Not Held
2011 United Kingdom Dario Franchitti 2011 United States Josef Newgarden 2011 France Tristan Vautier 2011 Finland Petri Suvanto
2012 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay 2012 France Tristan Vautier 2012 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth 2012 Australia Matthew Brabham
2013 New Zealand Scott Dixon 2013 United States Sage Karam 2013 Australia Matthew Brabham 2013 Canada Scott Hargrove
2014 Australia Will Power 2014 Colombia Gabby Chaves 2014 United States Spencer Pigot 2014 France Florian Latorre
2015 New Zealand Scott Dixon 2015 United States Spencer Pigot 2015 Uruguay Santiago Urrutia 2015 France Nico Jamin
2016 France Simon Pagenaud 2016 United Arab Emirates Ed Jones 2016 United States Aaron Telitz 2016 Australia Anthony Martin
2017 United States Josef Newgarden 2017 United States Kyle Kaiser 2017 Brazil Victor Franzoni 2017 United States Oliver Askew
2018 New Zealand Scott Dixon 2018 Mexico Patricio O'Ward 2018 Netherlands Rinus VeeKay 2018 United States Kyle Kirkwood
2019 United States Josef Newgarden 2019 United States Oliver Askew 2019 United States Kyle Kirkwood 2019 United States Braden Eves
2020 New Zealand Scott Dixon 2020 no season - pandemic 2020 United States Sting Ray Robb 2020 Denmark Christian Rasmussen
2021 Spain Alex Palou 2021 United States Kyle Kirkwood 2021 Denmark Christian Rasmussen 2021 Brazil Kiko Porto
2022 Australia Will Power 2022 Sweden Linus Lundqvist 2022 United Kingdom Louis Foster 2022 United States Michael d'Orlando 2022 Canada Mac Clark
2023 Spain Alex Palou 2023 Denmark Christian Rasmussen 2023 United States Myles Rowe 2023 United States Simon Sikes 2023 Brazil Nicolas Giaffone

References

  1. "Mazda Road to Indy". Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  2. Mazda to sponsor Road to Indy program Archived 2010-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, IndyCar, December 9, 2010, Retrieved 2010-12-09
  3. "Official Feeder Series of the Mazda Road to Indy". USF2000. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  4. "MRTI USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout Dates/Venue Announced". usf2000.com. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  5. "La FIA F4 Nacam participará en el MRTI Scholarship Shootout". Chicas Racing. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
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