Chris Griffis Memorial Test – Pro Mazda (Update 5)

UPDATE #5

Pato O'Ward

The parity that had been evident yesterday among the Pro Mazda field was duplicated today with Pato O'Ward (Team Pelfrey) and Nico Jamin (Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing) trading fastest times in the trio of test sessions.

Jamin, 19, from Rouen, France, who is stepping up to Pro Mazda with a Mazda Scholarship after winning this year's USF2000 championship, set the pace in two of the 45-minute periods, but it was O'Ward, 16, from Monterrey, Mexico, who this morning secured the honors with the fastest time of the weekend at 2:04.7677 (98.012 mph).

"The weekend has been great," said O'Ward, who finished sixth in this year's Pro Mazda championship as a rookie. "It is a beautiful track and this was a great opportunity for me to test here to get ready for next season. The hopes are to do Pro Mazda again. I love working with Team Pelfrey. They have been a second family to me. These have been a very productive two days and we had a lot of time to test a lot of things. It has been great and I am very pleased for this opportunity that they gave me and I'll keep pushing for 2016 and hopefully win the championship."

Jamin ended the weekend second fastest at 2:05.0171, just a couple of tenths ahead of fellow Pro Mazda rookie Jake Parsons, from Melbourne, Australia, who exhibited strong pace and consistency for Juncos Racing.

"We spent the two days really dialing in the car," said Parsons. "Every session I was getting more comfortable with the car, and the guys and I are working better and better. It's a good start and hopefully we can keep this going into next year. This is definitely one of the coolest tracks that I have been to. It is just so fast through the middle and the Esses with a lot of runoff areas and colors everywhere. I had a blast driving it and I am really glad the series came here."

Juncos teammate Will Owen completed the two days with the fourth fastest time, followed by 2014 Canadian F1600 champion Tristan DeGrand, from Eureka, Mo., who made an impressive return to the cockpit with M1 Racing.

Jay Horak, from Mesa, Ariz., was quickest of the Expert (over 30 years of age) contingent, also driving for M1 Racing, besting reigning Expert champion Bobby Eberle (World Speed Motorsports)..

11/22/15 O'Ward tops session 4…

11/22/15

Nico Jamin

Three different drivers from three different teams topped the charts in today's three Pro Mazda sessions. Sixteen-year-old Patricio "Pato" O'Ward, who attends school in San Antonio, Texas, and is a native of Monterrey, Mexico, was quickest out of the box this morning for Team Pelfrey, posting a time of 2:07.849. Juncos Racing's Will Owen, a student at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Texas, upped the ante in session two, after lunch, at 2:05.807, while Frenchman Nico Jamin, who won this year's USF2000 Championship as well as a Mazda Scholarship prize to graduate to Pro Mazda in 2016, eclipsed both of them in the final session with a time of 2:05.224 (97.745 mph) for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing.

"It was my first time here at COTA and it is probably one of my favorite tracks," said Jamin. "It is an F1 track and so much fun and very fast. It was my first official test day in Pro Mazda; I did some private testing before. It is good now to see how my pace is compared to the others. I worked all day with Cape Motorsports to try to figure out how to set up the car for this track. It was a bit of a struggle at the beginning of the day but now we figured out the setup and finished with the best lap with quite a big gap so it was a great day. For sure, my target for 2016 is to win the championship. It is the only thing I have in my mind so I will work on it and try to get it."

Owen ended the day second fastest at 2:06.110, followed by Juncos Racing teammates Nicolas Dapero, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Jake Parsons, from Melbourne, Australia. All three were covered by less than one tenth of a second.

11/21/15 Session 3 results…

11/21/15 Session 2 times

11/21/15 Team Pelfrey's Pato O'Ward clocked not only the fastest time in the opening Pro Mazda session of the Fifth Annual Chris Griffis Memorial Test, but the second fast time as well.

After posting a lap time of 2:07.85 in the #81 Team Pelfrey entry, O'Ward posted six tenths slower in the #82 Pelfrey entry at the end of the session. 2015 U.S. F2000 champion Nico Jamin posted the third quick time a distant 1.3 seconds behind O'Ward's fast time. The Juncos Racing pair of Will Owen and Jake Parsons rounded out the top-five.

The Pro Mazda cars will be back on track at 12:30 p.m. Austin time for the second of six sessions during the two-day test. Session 1 results below.