2015 Pro Mazda Championship

The 2015 Pro Mazda Championship was the 17th season in series history. The series consisted of sixteen races at nine tracks, having expanded from fourteen races in 2014; adding races at NOLA Motorsports Park, the Streets of Toronto, Iowa Speedway and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, while dropping races at Houston, Milwaukee and Sonoma Raceway.[1] The season began on March 28 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and ended on September 13 at Laguna Seca.

2015 Pro Mazda Championship
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Uruguay's Santiago Urrutia became the first champion from South America since Raphael Matos in 2005, driving for Team Pelfrey.[2] Urrutia, who joined the series for the 2015 season after a year in GP3,[3] won only three races during the season – at NOLA Motorsports Park, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Mid-Ohio – but consistent finishing (finishing 14 of 16 races in the top-5) saw him finish 53 points clear of his nearest rival in the championship standings. Second place in the standings went to Cape Motorsports driver Neil Alberico, holding off a late-season challenge from Juncos Racing's Garett Grist for the position, by a tally of eight points. Alberico won four races during the season – which was the most by any driver, shared with Andretti Autosport's Weiron Tan – while Grist won three of the final six races including a weekend sweep at Laguna Seca.[4]

Tan himself finished fourth in the championship, as five finishes outside the top ten as well as a five-point penalty early in the season hampered his championship bid. The championship top five was completed by France's Timothé Buret of Juncos Racing, one point behind Tan, who was a race-winner at Indianapolis. The only other race winner was Florian Latorre, a compatriot of Buret, who won on the Streets of Toronto for Cape Motorsports. He finished eighth in the drivers' championship, due to the result being one of only three podium finishes during the season. In the teams' championship, Juncos Racing won the title mainly due to the results for Grist and Buret, with other team drivers José Gutiérrez and Will Owen. Juncos finished 39 points clear of Team Pelfrey.[4] The expert drivers' championship for older drivers was won by World Speed Motorsports driver Bobby Eberle, taking 11 class wins during 2015.[4]

Drivers and teams
Team No. Drivers Rounds
Andretti Autosport 22 Weiron Tan[5] All
28 Dalton Kellett[6] All
Cape Motorsports
Wayne Taylor Racing		 2 Daniel Burkett[7] All
3 Neil Alberico All
10 Florian Latorre All
JDC MotorSports 19 Raoul Owens 1–5
Scott Hargrove 6–8
26 Parker Nicklin[8] 1–8, 15–16
44 Kevin Davis (E) 6–8
54 Michael Johnson[N 1] 1–2, 13–16
91 Kyle Connery[9] 1–8, 10–11, 13–16
Juncos Racing 5 Garett Grist[10] All
6 Timothé Buret[11] All
7 José Gutiérrez All
23 Will Owen[12] All
Kaminsky Racing 57 Bob Kaminsky (E) 6–8, 13–14
M1 Racing 21 Victor Franzoni 6–11, 13–16
33 Carlos Conde (E) 6–8
37 Jay Horak (E) 1–2, 4–8, 10–11, 15–16
62 Bryson Schutte 10–11
Team Pelfrey[13] 80 Raoul Owens 6–16
81 Santiago Urrutia[13] All
84 Patricio O'Ward[13] All
World Speed Motorsports 13 Bobby Eberle (E) 1–11, 13–16
14 Alessandro Latif[14] All
Icon Class
(E) Expert Class

Race calendar and results
Rnd Circuit Location Date Pole position Fastest lap Most laps led Winning driver Winning team
1 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida March 28 Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports w/ WTR
2 March 29 Neil Alberico José Gutiérrez Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports w/ WTR
3 NOLA Motorsports Park New Orleans, Louisiana April 11 Weiron Tan Patricio O'Ward Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Team Pelfrey
 – April 12 Weiron Tan Race cancelled[N 2]
4 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama April 25 Weiron Tan Timothé Buret Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Andretti Autosport
5 April 26 Weiron Tan Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports w/ WTR
6 Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Speedway, Indiana May 7[16] Weiron Tan[N 2] Timothé Buret Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Andretti Autosport
7 May 8 Timothé Buret Weiron Tan Timothé Buret Timothé Buret Juncos Racing
8 May 9 Santiago Urrutia Victor Franzoni Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Team Pelfrey
9 Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Clermont, Indiana May 23 Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Andretti Autosport
10 Streets of Toronto Toronto, Ontario June 13 Florian Latorre Florian Latorre Florian Latorre Florian Latorre Cape Motorsports w/ WTR
11 June 14 Garett Grist Garett Grist Garett Grist Garett Grist Juncos Racing
12 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa July 18 Weiron Tan[N 3] Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Weiron Tan Andretti Autosport
13 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio August 1 Garett Grist Neil Alberico Santiago Urrutia Santiago Urrutia Team Pelfrey
14 August 2 Garett Grist Garett Grist Neil Alberico Neil Alberico Cape Motorsports w/ WTR
15 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 12 Garett Grist Garett Grist Garett Grist Garett Grist Juncos Racing
16 September 13 Santiago Urrutia Garett Grist Garett Grist Garett Grist Juncos Racing

Championship standings

Drivers' championship
Pos Driver STP
 LOU
 ALA
 IMS
 LOR
 TOR
 IOW
 MOH
 LAG
 Pts
1 Santiago Urrutia 2 4 1* C 3 2 4 3 1* 15 7 4 5 1* 3 2 2 355
2 Neil Alberico 1* 1* 6 C 4 1* 3 17 7 3 14 17 7 2 1* 16 3 302
3 Garett Grist 11 6 11 C 7 3 5 6 8 4 5 1* 11 4 9 1* 1* 294
4 Weiron Tan 16 15 2 C 1* 14 1* 4 21 1* 13 2 1* 6 7 5 9 282
5 Timothé Buret 17 13 3 C 2 8 2 1* 3 12 3 7 9 3 2 11 7 281
6 Patricio O'Ward 4 14 4 C 5 7 6 10 5 7 2 3 3 7 6 18 6 250
7 Will Owen 8 8 13 C 9 4 8 8 2 2 15 8 10 8 5 3 4 243
8 Florian Latorre 3 16 5 C 8 5 21 2 6 8 1* 14 8 5 17 8 18 222
9 José Gutiérrez 5 2 8 C 16 16 12 7 4 5 16 5 6 12 10 4 8 216
10 Dalton Kellett 7 7 7 C 15 6 11 13 11 13 17 DNS 2 9 8 6 5 187
11 Daniel Burkett 14 3 9 C 10 10 9 9 10 9 18 9 4 11 12 9 11 176
12 Raoul Owens 6 10 12 C 6 11 18 11 12 14 8 6 12 13 13 7 16 166
13 Alessandro Latif 9 17 10 C 12 12 13 14 14 10 9 13 13 14 11 12 15 140
14 Kyle Connery 10 5 14 C 17 9 20 15 13 6 10 18 14 17 10 122
15 Bobby Eberle 13 12 16 C 14 15 14 18 17 11 11 15 16 16 14 14 101
16 Victor Franzoni 10 5 19 6 4 16 10 4 19 DNS 91
17 Parker Nicklin 12 11 15 C 11 13 19 16 15 13 12 78
18 Jay Horak 15 9 13 17 Wth Wth Wth 12 12 15 17 58
19 Michael Johnson Wth Wth 15 15 10 13 31
20 Scott Hargrove 7 12 9 21
21 Bryson Schutte 10 11 21
22 Bob Kaminsky 15 19 18 17 18 12
23 Kevin Davis 16 20 16 6
24 Carlos Conde 17 21 20 2
Pos Driver STP
 LOU
 ALA
 IMS
 LOR
 TOR
 IOW
 MOH
 LAG
 Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
(1 point)
Italics Ran fastest race lap
(1 point)
* Led most race laps
(1 point)
1 Qualifying cancelled
no bonus point awarded
Rookie
  • Ties in points broken by number of wins, or best finishes.
  • The first race at the Indianapolis road course was a makeup for the canceled race at NOLA. Drivers who were not at NOLA were ineligible to score points in that race.

Teams' championship
Pos Team Points
1 Juncos Racing 426
2 Team Pelfrey 387
3 Cape Motorsports w/ Wayne Taylor Racing 352
4 Andretti Autosport 257
5 M1 Racing 88
6 JDC Motorsports 84
7 World Speed Motorsports 46
8 Kaminsky Racing 16

Notes
  1. Seriously injured in practice at St. Pete.
  2. Due to adverse weather conditions, the second race at NOLA Motorsports Park was cancelled. The race was rescheduled for the meeting held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.[15]
  3. Garett Grist set the fastest time in qualifying, but was sent to the back of the grid, alongside teammates José Gutiérrez and Timothé Buret, for unapproved wing adjustments. Weiron Tan, who posted the second-fastest time in qualifying, was therefore recognized as the pole-sitter for the race.[17]

References
  1. DiZinno, Tony (November 3, 2014). "Mazda Road to Indy 2015 schedules released". MotorSportsTalk. NBC Sports. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  2. "Grist Wins the Race as Urrutia Clinches the Pro Mazda Title". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. September 12, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  3. Lewandowski, Dave (September 12, 2015). "A Nation rejoices with Urrutia, who secures title". IndyCar Series. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  4. "Double for Grist Promotes him to Third in Pro Mazda Points Chase". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. September 13, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  5. DeHarde, Christopher (December 10, 2014). "Weiron Tan to drive for Andretti Autosport in Pro Mazda". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com, Inc. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  6. "Andretti Autosport signs Kellett to Pro Mazda squad". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. November 18, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  7. "Burkett Joins Cape Motorsports Pro Mazda Team". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. December 16, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  8. "Parker Nicklin Joins JDC MotorSports Four Car Line-Up". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  9. DiZinno, Tony (December 4, 2014). "Pro Mazda has Buret, Connery announcements". MotorSportsTalk. NBC Sports. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  10. "Grist signs with Juncos Racing for 2015". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com, Inc. December 13, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  11. "Timothé Buret Commits to Juncos Racing for 2015 Pro Mazda Championship". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. December 3, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  12. Bonkowski, Jerry (November 22, 2014). "Indy USF2000 winner Will Owen moves to Juncos Racing, Pro Mazda Series in 2015". MotorSportsTalk. NBC Sports. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  13. "O'Ward, Urratia join Team Pelfrey". Racer. Haymarket Publications. March 19, 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  14. "Latif joins WSM team". Racer. Haymarket Publications. February 16, 2015. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved February 16, 2015.
  15. "Series Leader Alberico Back on Top at Barber". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. April 26, 2015. Retrieved May 8, 2015. The Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires will continue with a triple-header as part of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 7–9. The event will include an additional race to make up for Race Two at NOLA Motorsports Park which had been postponed due to adverse weather conditions.
  16. "Tan Controls Rescheduled Pro Mazda Race". Pro Mazda Championship. Andersen Promotions. May 8, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  17. Khorounzhiy, Valentin (July 18, 2015). "Tan Dominates, Andretti Score 1-2 at Iowa". Paddock Scout. Retrieved July 18, 2015. Although Garett Grist had topped qualifying, him [sic] and his Juncos teammates Timothe Buret and Jose Gutierrez were sent to the back of the grid for unapproved wing adjustments.
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