Nico Jamin takes his first podium in Pro Mazda

Road America is a track that has marked the history of American motorsport, often being cited as “the most beautiful permanent circuit in North America”. Located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, this race returned to the calendar.IndyCar Series and the Mazda Road to Indy.

The sole representative of Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in the Pro Mazda Championship, Nico Jamin was facing new challenges. The young Frenchman had to face, alone, two top teams each entering three drivers.

In this configuration, the reigning USF2000 champion had to be even more meticulous during free practice. On a track that he was discovering, he was the author of the third time from the first session. He continued to work on the settings of his car with a 260 horsepower Mazda rotary engine to place fifth in the second session, just 0,3 seconds behind the reference time.

Thanks to the work done with the entire Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing team around him, Nico Jamin set a remarkable third time during the qualifying session, less than a tenth of a second from the front row.

In the first corner of the first race, contact damaged the front wing of the No. 2 Pro Mazda with the Soul Red livery. Forced to go through his pit, the Norman was then the fastest on the track. Tenth, Nico Jamin nevertheless finished this first race with the best lap, a first this season.

A few hours later, Nico Jamin returned to third place on the starting grid for Race 2. First stuck behind Jake Parsons, the Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver managed to find the opening to take second place behind Aaron Telitz. Until the end, he defended his position to reach his first podium in the Pro Mazda Championship.

Thanks to this second place, Nico Jamin signs his best result in the category. Record holder for the number of victories in a season in USF2000 last year, the young Frenchman is progressing a little further in the Mazda Road to Indy program, of which he is one of the headliners with a scholarship granted by Mazda and its partners to reward him for his previous results.

After nine of the sixteen races of this 2016 season, Nico Jamin occupies fourth place in the Pro Mazda Championship, just nine points from the provisional podium. He is also in second place in the Rookie rankings.

Next meeting on July 9 and 10 at Iowa Speedway for the second oval race of the season.

Pro Mazda Championship (9/16)

1 Patricio O'Ward (Team Pelfrey) 259 points
2 Aaron Telitz (Team Pelfrey) 231 points (Rookie)
3 Will Owen (Juncos Racing) 169 points
4 Nico Jamin (Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing) 160 points (Rookie)
5 Nicolas Dapero (Juncos Racing) 140 points (Rookie)
6 Jake Parsons (Juncos Racing) 138 points (Rookie)
7 Garrett Grist (Juncos Racing) 133 points
8 Jake Eidson (Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing) 106 points (Rookie)
9 Weiron Tan (Team Pelfrey) 69 points
10 Jorge Cevallos (JDC Motorsports) 51 points (Rookie)…