Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography

Santiago Urrutia has clinched the 2015 Pro Mazda Championship with a second-place finish behind race winner Garett Grist in what was an eventful first race at Laguna Seca.

Urrutia’s first single-seater title is a significant and emotional one for racing fans in his home nation of Uruguay, 16 years and one day since their hero Gonzalo Rodriguez lost his life in a Champ Car practice accident at the same circuit.

Timothe Buret got an early jump on the field at the start of the race, which triggered a chain reaction behind him.

Kyle Connery and?Victor Franzoni?collided heavily, and that also collected championship contenders?Weiron Tan and?Patricio O’Ward.

O’Ward and Franzoni retired due to damage, while Connery would lose two laps in the pits.

The incident would send Buret to the tail end of the field when the race restarted with 20 minutes to go.

But Buret jumped the start again when the race restarted, which forced race officials to hand him a drive-through penalty, ending any chance the Frenchman had to challenge for the title.

Tan wasted no time climbing up the order after pitting for minor repairs under the safety car, getting up to sixth place in just a couple of laps, but his title bid was also finished.

Urrutia would get past?Will Owen after conceding second place to him on the restart, as would championship rival?Neil Alberico, the last remaining challenger to Urrutia’s title hopes.

As Grist continued to hold a comfortable margin over Urrutia, it put the Team Pelfrey driver in a position to capture the title.

Then, on the penultimate lap, as he was trying to keep Urrutia within his sights, Alberico went off at the Corkscrew, putting him out of the race.

That guaranteed Urrutia’s title, the Uruguayan taking the chequered flag in second to confirm his crown. Ahead of him, Grist led every lap from pole to win his second race of the 2015 season.

Owen completed the podium, holding off?Jose Gutierrez?and Tan who completed the top five.

Dalton Kellett?finished sixth,?Raoul Owens was seventh, ahead of outgoing USF2000 champion?Florian Latorre?in eighth.

Daniel Burkett finished ninth despite being involved in the melee at the start of the race, while paraplegic driver?Michael Johnson completed the top ten.

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Andretti Autosport’s Weiron Tan remains the only Pro Mazda driver to lead an oval race in the series in 2015, having added an easy Iowa victory from pole to his earlier Lucas Oil Raceway triumph.

Although Garett Grist had topped qualifying, him and his Juncos teammates Timothe Buret and Jose Gutierrez were sent to the back of the grid for unapproved wing adjustments.

That handed pole to Tan, who made the most of it at the start, pulling clear of championship leader Santi Urrutia in virtually no time.

His early advantage, however, was negated 15 laps in as Alessandro Latif spun in turn two, ramming against the high wall with his rear wing.

The field’s first attempt at the restart was called off and, while Tan and Urrutia comfortably held position when the race finally went green, the latter’s squadmate Pato O’Ward passed Florian Latorre for third.

After the overtake, O’Ward could not close in on Urrutia, although the Uruguayan was dropping away from Tan at a very quick rate and trailed five seconds as the race approached halfway.

The race leader eased off shortly thereafter as he now had traffic to deal with, while his Andretti teammate Dalton Kellett in turn picked up the pace, first easing past Latorre on the lower groove and then doing the same to O’Ward for third.

Kellett then made quick work of Urrutia’s advantage and joined Tan in the top two, while the points leader bogged down, with a train of O’Ward, Latorre and Daniel Burkett soon forming behind him.

As Urrutia took his time lapping a struggling Grist, Burkett dealt with teammate Latorre, who then continued his descent down the timesheets.

When the Frenchman looked to put Grist behind him, Neil Alberico cleared him both on the outside – and a recovering Gutierrez soon passed Latorre as well.

Out front, Tan and Kellett traded fast laps, but the latter could not make significant inroads into the Malaysian’s six-second lead.

In fact, by the chequered flag Tan’s advantage had grown to nine seconds as he headed home an easy Andretti 1-2.

But another pair of teammates – O’Ward and Urrutia – continued to battle fiercely, the latter eventually slipping behind and then letting Burkett through around the outside.

Burkett then caught up to O’Ward but couldn’t find a way past the Mexican and had to do with fourth.

Urrutia nursed the car home in fifth, holding up Alberico and allowing for him to be passed by Gutierrez.

Latorre, compatriot Timothe Buret and Will Owen completed the top ten, while Grist and Raoul Owens rounded out the finishers.

Race results

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Canadian racer Garett Grist won the wet second race of the Pro Mazda championship’s round in Toronto.

Grist, whose last win came in 2014 at Mid-Ohio, survived the challenging conditions to convert pole into a victory.

The Ontario native endured a difficult opening lap, barely keeping Florian Latorre at bay over the first few corners before finally allowing him through into turn eight.

The caution came out just then, with two separate incidents within the field. First, Expert class driver Bobby Eberle spun, but got going again. At the same time, Neil Alberico went off in T2, hitting the wall with the right front tyre and wrecking the suspension.

Under caution, M1 Racing’s Victor Franzoni then spun out, destroying his left rear. And, as the field geared up to go back under green, race leader Latorre lost control getting on the throttle out of turn ten.

The restart was seemingly flagged off, only to take place a lap later, where Grist stormed off from Weiron Tan.

The top two positions were virtually secured, but there was a late change for third as Timothe Buret went off in T3 and allowed Patricio O’Ward through.

As the track was drying, Latorre, two laps down, returned on-track on slicks. With three minutes to go, him and Alessandro Latif made contact, both ending up in the wall.

The race was called after that, handing Grist the win ahead of Tan and O’Ward.

Points leader Santiago Urrutia increased his advantage with fourth, ahead of Jose Gutierrez.

Raoul Owens and a recovering Buret both passed Will Owen for sixth and seventh, with Daniel Burkett and Kyle Connery rounding out the top ten.

Race results

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Weiron Tan?became the Pro Mazda race winner at the Lucas Oil Raceway round, leading every lap of his maiden oval race.

Having started from pole, Tan established a safe lead in the beginning, while his Andretti teammate Dalton Kellett dropped down from second to seventh at the start.

The Canadian’s race went from bad to worse after being involved in a collision with Raoul Owens and Timothe Buret, causing all of them to retire.

It also triggered a caution stint but that did not disturb Tan as the Malaysian mastered the restart and was soon back in a confident lead ahead of Will Owen.

A battle emerged from third between Florian Latorre and Neil Alberico, the latter eventually getting past the Frenchman whose car lost grip in the final stages.

Although Owen closed the gap to less than a second for the last lap in an attempt to take the lead, it was Tan who ended up victorious. Unable to make up further ground due to his fight with Latorre, Alberico completed the podium.

Juncos duo Garett Grist and Jose Gutierrez had another duel for fourth at the end, with the former ultimately holding onto his position.

M1’s Victor Franzoni secured sixth ahead of the sole Team Pelfrey finisher Patricio O’Ward and Latorre who had to do with eighth.

The order has been rounded out by Daniel Burkett and World Speed Motorsport duo Alessandro Latif and Bobby Eberle.

Championship leader Santiago Urrutia?suffered his first retirement of the season, as his race ended prematurely due to technical problems.

Full results to follow

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Weiron Tan?will embark on his maiden oval race from the head of the field having?collected his fifth pole in Pro Mazda at Lucas Oil Speedway.

The Malaysian was the last driver to record a time in a qualifying which saw the drivers completing?two laps each, and stripped teammate Dalton Kellett of the lead to lock out the first two positions for Andretti Autosport.

USF2000 graduates Florian Latorre and Will Owen were third and fourth respectively, while the Frenchman’s teammates Neil Alberico and Daniel Burkett completed the top six.

Garrett Grist secured seventh ahead of championship leader and another oval debutant Raoul Owens, Brazilian Victor Franzoni and Uruguay’s Santiago Urrutia.

Qualifying results

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Santiago Urrutia?became the first Uruguayan driver to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with a wire-to-wire victory in the finale of a three-race weekend of the Pro Mazda Championship.

Urrutia led a train of Juncos Racing cars to the finish and extended his championship lead to twenty-five points over?Neil Alberico.

It was a clean getaway on the second attempt at a rolling start for all 21 drivers, with Urrutia getting ahead and?Will Owen slotting into second.

Further back,?Andretti Autosport driver and Thursday race winner?Weiron Tan was hit from behind and left stranded at turn eight, ending his race after just one lap.?Victor Franzoni also came in to pit twice before two laps had been completed, and lost a total of six laps in the final race of his Pro Mazda debut weekend. Finally, Expert Class driver?Carlos Conde?retired just three laps into the day?with mechanical failure.

Out front, Urrutia was able to maintain a lead over Owen, but was unable to stretch the lead beyond a margin of one second, as the American rookie kept in touch with the Team Pelfrey ace.

Behind them,?Timoth? Buret began to put the pressure on 16-year-old Pato O’Ward?for third, eventually taking the place on lap 15 when O’Ward drove too deep into turn 12. This also allowed Buret’s Juncos Racing teammate?Jose Gutierrez the chance to move into fourth, which he did nicely with a pass on O’Ward in turn 1 the next lap.

That meant that Juncos Racing were now running second, third, and fourth behind the leader Urrutia, who would not be denied his second victory of the season, leading all 21 laps on the way to the chequered flag.

Owen took second ahead of Buret, Gutierrez, and O’Ward – who held fifth despite final lap pressure from Florian Latorre, who started on the front row but fell to sixth on the opening lap, and Alberico.

Garett Grist was the last of the Juncos cars in eighth, finishing ahead of returning Pro Mazda race winner from last year,?Scott Hargrove, and tenth-placed?Daniel Burkett.?Kevin Davis placed sixteenth overall to take bragging rights in the Expert Class.

Race results

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A landmark Indianapolis weekend for Juncos Racing continued in style as French rookie?Timoth? Buret took his first Pro Mazda Championship victory in the second race of a three-race slate.

Buret led the field to the green flag, but starting right behind him was?Florian Latorre, the reigning USF2000 champion, who looked to put his colossal Thursday rollover behind him.

Latorre made an incisive start and dove to the lead briefly in the first corner but Buret was able to take first place back.

The first and only full-course yellow then flew as Expert class drivers?Carlos Conde and Kevin Davis had collided at the back of the field.

Victor Franzoni, who moved up to Pro Mazda from USF2000 this weekend with M1 Racing, had jumped up three places from his ninth grid position over the first lap.

After the restart, Franzoni then passed?Will Owen for fifth place, one lap after?Weiron Tan?made the move on Owen to get up to fourth, behind the lead group of Buret, Latorre, and Urrutia – all covered by less than one second.

As the lead four controlled the race ahead of the field, points leader?Neil Alberico endured an abysmal run that saw him off track in the final ten minutes and finishing 17th.

Franzoni, in fifth, came under pressure from Juncos Racing teammates?Garett Grist?and Owen with three laps to go. Grist made his move into turn 8 on lap 19, but then locked the brakes allowing the Brazilian to keep fifth. Grist and Owen then continued to battle each other, but a slide by Owen allowed their teammate?Jose Gutierrez to move past into 7th.

In the end, it was all green for Buret, who resisted the pressure to secure his first Pro Mazda victory, ahead of Latorre whose sensational recovery drive nets him 2nd. Urrutia finished 3rd and moved past the struggling Alberico for the championship lead, ahead of Tan and the debuting Franzoni who rounded out the top five.

Grist, Gutierrez, and Owen finished 6th, 7th and 8th for Juncos, ahead of?Daniel Burkett in ninth and?Pato O’Ward in tenth.?Bobby Eberle was the highest-placed Expert Class driver in 18th overall.

Race results

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Andretti’s Weiron Tan took his second victory of the 2015 Pro Mazda season after winning in a caution-heavy race at Indianapolis Speedway.

The race has been held to make up for the cancelled NOLA Park race, which the organizers had to call off due to heavy rain.

As such, Tan started from pole but the race was almost immediately yellow-flagged after Florian Latorre‘s car rolled over at turn one.

Tan had to defend from Timothe Buret after the restart but he held on until the second caution stint, which was caused by a collision between Dalton Kellett and Kyle Connery.

This time around Tan’s getaway was perfect and Buret had to look over his shoulders instead to fend off Neil Alberico‘s charges.

While the Frenchman initially the championship leader, he started to rapidly close in on Tan but yet another caution interrupted the race.

There was only one lap left after the restart which Tan controlled to secure the win. Buret collected his third podium in the past four races while Alberico completed the podium.

Santiago Urrutia lost eight positions at the start but swiftly recovered to claim fourth, ahead of Garret Grist, who passed Patricio O’Ward on the final lap.

Last year’s runner-up Scott Hargrove, who has returned to Pro Mazda for a one-off weekend, took seventh after starting 16th. He was followed by Will Owen, Daniel Burkett and Victor Franzoni, who has made a surprise mid-season move from USF2000 to Pro Mazda.

Race on results

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Pro Mazda championship leader Neil Alberico added his third win of the season in the second race of the Barber Motorsports Park round.

Starting in fourth, Alberico was up to second early on and, after inheriting the lead, would prove unstoppable, surviving two restarts along the way to the checkered flag.

Race one winner Weiron Tan kept the lead from pole on the opening lap, but not before forcing off Timothe Buret at the start-finish line, with the Frenchman ending up down in P12.

When the full-course yellow came out for pitlane entry cones knocked onto the track, Tan was swiftly penalised and sent to the back of the grid.

Alberico, who passed Santiago Urrutia at the start, was into first and comfortably led the short first green flag period, which was over when Expert class driver Jay Horak went off.

The race restarted again at halfway point and saw Alberico storm off into the distance. He quickly built up a solid lead over Urrutia and eventually was four seconds in the clear.

Within the pack, Buret was up to eighth, passing teammate Jose Gutierrez. Tan was shortly on the Mexican’s rear wing and soon ended up hitting Gutierrez out of the race.

The subsequent safety car ended the race, with Alberico taking the win ahead of Urrutia and last year’s race winner Garrett Grist, who claimed his first podium of the 2015 regular season.

Grist’s teammate Will Owen took fourth, while reigning USF2000 champion Florian Latorre passed Dalton Kellett to claim fifth.

Patricio O’Ward finished seventh ahead of Buret, Kyle Connery and Daniel Burkett.

Race results

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Andretti Autosport’s?Weiron Tan?took a commanding flag-to-flag victory in the first Pro Mazda Championship race from Barber Motorsports Park on Saturday, leading all 20 laps in the first 30-minute sprint race of two to be held this weekend.

An ugly first attempt at a race start was aborted, as a result,?Kyle Connery was eliminated from the race in the fracas after spinning off track and suffering terminal damage. The?second start attempt was then aborted when?Timothe Buret jumped ahead of Tan at the start.

Finally, the third attempt produced a clean start, as Tan controlled the pace ahead of Buret, with Santiago Urrutia?leading a three-car pack of?Neil Alberico and?Patricio O’Ward.

Further back, Tan’s teammate?Dalton Kellett?and Jose Gutierrez?suffered separate incidents on the first lap, with Kellett veering off course after a puncture sustained from Gutierrez, who spun off later in the lap and eventually retired due to suspension failure after just five laps.

The most compelling battle of the race was for sixth, headed by?Raoul Owens who moved all the way up from 13th on the grid to sixth place, ahead of Juncos Racing’s?Garett Grist. Outgoing USF2000 champion?Florian Latorre was motivated to move up the field, making one of the few passes of the race on lap 12 when he got around?Will Owen.

He then put the pressure on Grist, as Grist himself put the pressure on Owens for sixth – but they eventually finished where they ran for the last eight laps – Owens sixth, ahead of Grist, Latorre, and Owen.?Daniel Burkett began to reel in that group as they battled, but ultimately finished in tenth place.

As they battled, Tan was unchallenged at the front, opening up his lead over Buret to as much as 2.5 seconds and never looking back as Tan became the first Malaysian driver to win a race at any step of the Mazda Road to Indy.

Buret claimed the fastest lap bonus point with a 1m21.548s set on lap 17.?Urrutia did enough to resist early pressure from Alberico and held onto third place to complete an all-rookie podium. The Uruguayan recorded his fourth straight top-5 finish to open the season – and moved to within two points of Alberico for the championship lead. 15-year-old O’Ward rounded out the top five finishers.

Jay Horak beat out?Patrick Eberle for bragging rights in the Expert class, finishing 13th overall behind?Alessandro Latif, who was passed by?Parker Nicklin on lap 17.

Race results

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