As too bad they won't be on the Telie, or Will
they?
Although All eyes will be focused upon the
B-I-G BOYZ', as Thy late Awntie' Harriet likened them, this Sunday. Don't
forget that the final rung on Mazda's Road To Indy, (MRTI) the Indy Lights
series season Kicks Off with Race One of its Double Header weekend Saturday, March
10th - when the aspiring IndyCar racers begin their charge for a prized ride in
next year's 2019 Indianapolis 500.
As what seems to becoming tradition, when I
began snooping round for info upon this year's Lights competitors. Wayback upon
Valentine's Day; "HUggy-Huggy! Thar were only three teams known, with
varying amounts 'o Drivers listed.
the only Lights squad with their full lineups
announced were Mikey A's two pronged Mikeylesha! Andretti's attack same as last
year with the exception of Mexico's Patricio O'Ward taking Nico
Jamin's seat.
Juncos Racing had its full brace 'O two
Lights Contendahs' listed, reputedly with Nicolas Dapero returning
for a second season, and Victor
Franzoni, the reigning Pro Mazda champion returning
with Juncos to make his Lights series debut. But Y's car number wasn't listed.
Although one day before Spring Training, Racer
magazine reported that Franzoni was Juncos Racing's first confirmed Lights driver,
albeit the team was planning a total of three Lights entries this season...
And the third and final team with a lone
driver listed was Belardi Auto Racing with Aaron Telitz returning for his
sophomore season, with other seats denoted as TBA.
As last year's grid was contested by the
following teams: Andretti Autosport, (3) Andretti Steinbrenner Racing, (1)
Belardi Auto Racing, (3) Carlin, (4) Juncos Racing (2) and Team Pelfrey. (2)
For a total of 15 entries, albeit Team Pelfrey ran just one car at various
times...
As perhaps it's
just Mwah, but I found the following "Fluff" piece pretty pathetic,
especially since Lucy', my ARSE-STEAMED! Screen Reader couldn't read
Racer.com's PDF Indy Lights entry list!
Yet I did learn that apparently Santiago "
Santi" Urrutia
was tipped to be testing for Belardi at
Homestead. And if so, will be entering his third season in Lights., a la Kyle
Kiser last year.
Then upon Spring Training's Opening Day,
Juncos announced that former World Series Formula V-8 3.5 series competitor,
and past Sahara
Force India
F1Team's reserve Driver Alfonso
Celis Jr. had been confirmed as its second Lights
driver this season.
Then in the words
'O arlo Guthrie... "We're just waitin' for It to Come Back round." SinceYuhs
can get Anything Yuhs Want, but a detailed, complete Spring Training recap of the entire Lights
attendees. Other than another Fluff piece upon how Colton Herta's getting up to
speed, Whatever!
Or were they just
afraid to let us know how few cars are racing?
As I'd Hoped that we'd have a similar number
of entrants to last year's field taking the green flag at St Pete. Or even
better yet. An increased grid featuring more than 15 cars when the green flag
flies Saturday morning, March 10th for which Y'all can catch thou action via Zed
Internetz on Indycar.com's Live Timing & Scoring Race Control Webpage.
UPDATE
Actually now, less than a Fortnight out, it appears
that Saturday's Race-1 is at 10:05AM Pacific & Sunday's Race-2 is at 7:45AM
Pacific, both available via Indycar.com's website. But DON'T forget to Spring
Forward 1hr Saturday Night!
As Always; CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS!