Pigot Quick on Day 1 of Star Mazda Testing at IMS

Pigot at Indy

In a back-and-forth battle that saw first Spencer Pigot, then Shelby Blackstock – and then the other way around – turning the quick time in the second session of today's Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear testing at IMS, it was ultimately Pigot who turned the quick lap of 1:25.603 of the day in his Team Pelfrey machine. Not only was he the quickest driver on the track, by slightly less than half a second, but he was the only driver to break into the 25s, and wound up just 2/10ths off the unofficial Star Mazda lap record of 1.25.431 turned by 2012 Star Mazda champion Jack Hawksworth on day two of last year's Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy Open Test on the IMS F1 circuit.

Hot on his heels, as he was in the morning session, was Shelby Blackstock, driving for Andretti Autosport, who held the top spot several times during the session, but ultimately came second with a 1:26.062. The surprise of the session was Kyle Kaiser, who made his Star Mazda debut two weeks ago at Mazda Raceway driving for World Speed Motorsports. His transponder was not working during the first session so he posted no official times, though he was well into the top half of the field. In the afternoon, he turned up the wick and put in the third-fast time of 1:26.293.