Chris Griffis Memorial Test – Indy Lights (Update 6)

UPDATE #6

Shelby Blackstock

The fifth annual Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy Test concluded today at Circuit of The Americas with drivers from all three levels of the acclaimed development ladder – the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires – enjoying three sessions in near-perfect cool, dry conditions.

No major incidents were reported during the two days as 38 drivers representing 12 different nationalities turned a total of 3,009 laps around the challenging 3.4-mile, 20-turn road course.

Shelby Blackstock was quickest today among the Indy Lights contingent for Andretti Autosport, while Pato O'Ward (Team Pelfrey) set the pace in Pro Mazda and Nikita Lastochkin maintained his dominance in the USF2000 division for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing.

All seven Indy Lights drivers were separated by just 1.6 seconds, and although no one was able to eclipse the mark set yesterday by Kyle Kaiser, who drove just the one day for Juncos Racing, Blackstock came within a scant 0.0494 seconds this afternoon at 1:54.2235 (107.158 mph).

"We were working through our test plan pretty aggressively," said Blackstock. "We were P1 in the first two sessions today and making good progress with the car. These two days have been massively beneficial especially from where we were last year. We are going through a big test plan and the car is definitely responding in the right way. Mike (Reggio, engineer) and I are working really well together and have a good communication down. The test plan is coming along nicely."

Car racing rookie Zachary Claman DeMelo, from Montreal, Que., Canada, who has competed only in a handful of Formula Renault 2.0 events this year, as well as a few F3 club races, impressed with Juncos Racing by posting the third fastest time – and quickest of the final session this afternoon – at 1:54.3398.

"I am really happy with the weekend," said DeMelo, who yesterday drove Spencer Pigot's championship-winning car before switching over today to the car with which Kaiser set the fastest time on Saturday. "The team was really good and I learned a lot from them and hopefully I can keep progressing from this test. I think it went really well and I am happy with myself."

Mexican teammate Jose Gutierrez improved to 1:54.6187 late in the final session, ahead of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian's James French, who also posted his best time, 1:55.2570, in the final period. Canadian Dalton Kellett (Andretti Autosport) and Korean Heamin Choi (Schmidt Peterson) also made steady progress during the two days.

11/22/15 Blackstock on top in session 4…

11/12/15

Kyle Kaiser

Kyle Kaiser, driving for defending champion team Juncos Racing, was quickest among eight contenders from Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, while Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing stable-mates Nico Jamin and Nikita Lastochkin were the respective pacesetters in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.

Kaiser, 19, from Santa Clara, Calif., jumped to the top in the closing minutes of the final session, taking advantage of a fresh set of Cooper tires on Juncos Racing's No. 18 InterVision/NetApp/Juniper Networks Dallara-Mazda IL-15 to post a time of 1:54.224 (107.158 mph).

"We are not racing here [in 2016] so it is not super crucial to be fastest but it's fun," said Kaiser, who finished sixth in the 2015 Indy Lights title-chase. "I'm just working with the team and trying to get fast for next season. I am working with some new teammates so the team chemistry is a little different. Overall, it was a really good day. This is one of my favorite tracks and that's the main reason I am here. I just wanted to drive this track in an Indy Lights car. It was a blast."

Shelby Blackstock ended the day second fastest on 1:54.710 for Andretti Autosport having proven fastest in the two earlier test sessions.

"The day started off good and the car is good," said Blackstock. "Everything we have tried in testing has been pretty fantastic so far. We are going through a long test plan list, going through things one by one, and hopefully we can find some good things that will work even better. Obviously we are going to hit some speed bumps on the way but hopefully we can keep up the speed we have right now, carry it on to the next test and get closer and closer to next season."

Canadian rookie Zachary Claman DeMelo impressed for Juncos Racing with the third fastest time at 1:54.864, followed by teammate and Pro Mazda graduate Jose Gutierrez on 1:55.212 and James French (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with Curb-Agajanian) on 1:55.571.

11/21/15 Session 3…

11/21/15 Session 2

11/21/15

Shelby Blackstock

With a lap time of 1:55.695, Andretti Autosport's Shelby Blackstock put the #51 entry atop the time sheets in the opening Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires session of the fifth annual Chris Griffis Memorial Test at Circuit of the Americas. Juncos Racing's Kyle Kaiser was second a full 1.1 secs. behind Blackstock, with Dalton Kellett third.

Results below…