2017 Pro Mazda Championship

The 2017 Pro Mazda Championship was the 19th season in series history. A 12-race schedule was announced in September 2016.^[1]

2017 Pro Mazda Championship

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2016

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2018

This was the final season using the Star chassis and Mazda rotary engine combination. In 2018, the Tatuus-designed PM18 chassis would be the specified car, mated to a Mazda MZR piston engine.

Brazilian Victor Franzoni, who secured his ride in Pro Mazda with Juncos Racing the week before the season started, prevailed in a season-long back-and-forth championship battle with 2016 U.S. F2000 National Championship winner Anthony Martin. Franzoni held a small lead heading into the series' final double-header at Watkins Glen International. Franzoni won both races to clinch the championship. Franzoni finished first or second in every race and finished with seven wins from six poles. Martin won five races from six poles. Carlos Cunha captured podium finishes in the last five races (for six total) to capture third in the championship ahead of TJ Fischer who finished on the podium in the first four races but faded down the stretch. Every race was won by either Franzoni or Martin and every pole but one was captured by them, with Cunha sitting on the pole for the first race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The less-expensive National Class was more hotly contested than usual on an individual race basis, with some races seeing as many as five entries. However, only one driver Brendan Puderbach contested all twelve rounds of the championship and by virtue of that captured the National Class title. Bob Kaminsky captured a class-best five class wins and finished second in the championship.

Drivers and teams

Team No. Drivers Rounds ArmsUp Motorsports 3 Matt Machiko 3–4, 11–12 6 Max Hanratty[2] 1–2, 5–9 Cape Motorsports 8 Anthony Martin[3] All FatBoy Racing 3 Matt Machiko[2] 1–2 31 Brendan Puderbach[4] (N) All 83 Charles Finelli[4] (N) 1–6, 11–12 JDC MotorSports 12 Kris Wright 5–9, 11–12 Juncos Racing 23 Victor Franzoni[5] All 60 Jeff Green[5] All Kaminsky Racing 57 Bob Kaminsky (N) 3–9 Kevin Davis Racing 44 Kevin Davis[2] (N) 1–4 Team Pelfrey 80 Nikita Lastochkin[6] All 81 Carlos Cunha[7] All 82 TJ Fischer[8] All 84 Robert Megennis[9] 11–12 Unfair Advantage Motorsports 2 Dave Zavelson (N) 5–9 5 Kevin Bury (N) 5–9 World Speed Motorsports 2 Steven Ford (N) 3–4 13 Bobby Eberle[10] All 14 Sting Ray Robb[11] All 15 Phillippe Denes[12] 1–4

Icon Class (N) National Class

Race calendar and results

Rnd	Circuit	Location	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Most laps led	Winning driver	Winning team
1	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	March 11	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports
2			March 12	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports
3	Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course	Speedway, Indiana	May 12	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
4			May 13	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
5	Grand Prix of Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	June 25	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
6			June 26	Anthony Martin	TJ Fischer	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports
7	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio	July 28	Carlos Cunha	Victor Franzoni	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports
8			July 29	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
9			July 30	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Anthony Martin	Cape Motorsports
10	Gateway Motorsports Park	Madison, Illinois	August 25	Anthony Martin	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
11	Watkins Glen International	Watkins Glen, New York	September 2	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Anthony Martin	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing
12			September 3	Victor Franzoni	Carlos Cunha	Victor Franzoni	Victor Franzoni	Juncos Racing

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Pos Driver STP IMS ROA MOH GMP WGL Points Championship class 1 Victor Franzoni 2 2 1* 1* 1* 2 2 1 2 1* 1* 1* 351 2 Anthony Martin 1* 1* 2 4 2 1* 1* 2* 1* 2 2 3 333 3 Carlos Cunha 4 12 4 3 9 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 237 4 TJ Fischer 3 3 3 2 15 12 3 4 4 4 10 5 224 5 Nikita Lastochkin 5 5 6 5 3 3 5 5 6 6 13 4 203 6 Sting Ray Robb 7 4 7 7 4 11 10 6 5 7 4 6 185 7 Bobby Eberle 10 8 8 8 8 6 9 11 7 9 7 9 157 8 Jeff Green 13 9 10 13 6 5 13 13 10 5 11 10 151 9 Max Hanratty 8 6 5 15 6 10 8 97 10 Kris Wright 13 9 7 8 11 5 8 95 11 Matt Machiko 9 13 11 9 6 7 74 12 Phillippe Denes 6 7 5 6 61 13 Robert Megennis 12 DNS 21 National class 1 Brendan Puderbach 12 14 DNS 11 10 14 14 12 13 8 8 DNS 187 2 Bob Kaminsky 9 14 7 13 8 7 9 134 3 Charles Finelli 14 10 14 DNS 12 8 9 DNS 115 4 Dave Zavelson 11 7 11 9 12 91 5 Kevin Davis 11 11 12 10 80 6 Kevin Bury 14 10 12 14 14 64 7 Steven Ford 13 12 30 Pos Driver STP IMS ROA MOH GMP WGL Points

Color Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green 4th & 5th place Light Blue 6th–10th place Dark Blue Finished (Outside Top 10) Purple Did not finish Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Brown Withdrawn (Wth) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate In-line notation Bold Pole position (1 point) Italics Ran fastest race lap (1 point) * Led most race laps (1 point) Not awarded if more than one driver leads most laps Rookie

Teams' championship

Pos	Team	Points
1	Team Pelfrey	381
2	Juncos Racing	372
3	World Speed Motorsports	267

See also

2017 IndyCar Series season
2017 Indy Lights championship