After an all-night rainstorm that thoroughly scoured the 17-turn, 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course, it was again French racer Tristan Vautier who set the pace in Day 2 of Star Mazda Championship testing at IndyCar's Open Test – first on the wet track of the morning session and later on the dry and fast track in the afternoon. His 120.397 (102.989mph) lap in the No. 5 JDC Motorsports/Cecibon/Circuit du Laquais Mazda came on the 10th of 13 laps turned in the 30-minute final session.
In the wet morning session, Vautier turned a 1:27.969 (94.124mph) in his No. 5 JDC Motorsports/Cecibon/Circuit du Laquais Mazda vs. a quick time of 1:20.831 (102.436mph) in the yesterday's morning session. In the wet, Sage Karam was second-quick with a lap of 1:29.093 (92.937mph) in the No. 88 Andretti Autosport/Comfort Revolution Mazda, followed by Nick Mancuso at 1:29.527 992.476mph) in the No. 27 JDC Motorsports/Indeck/Lake Forest Sportscars/F.A.S.T. Race Products. Mancuso provided something of a surprise since, although he has substantial experience in sports cars and sedans, this is his first go at open-wheel racing.
The original schedule called for two sessions, one morning and one afternoon. However a sudden, unexplained schedule change split the single afternoon session into two and drivers and teams were only alerted 15 minutes before the start of the second session, newly scheduled to run from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. Several teams were already deep into dismantling their cars and were unable to make the session, while others quickly buttoned their cars up, pried their drivers away from their cell phones and sent them out for a truncated, impromptu session.
Once again Vautier was quickest with a lap of 1:21.000 (102.222mph), followed by Sage Karam at 1:21.406 (101.712mph) and Martin Scuncio – who was actually quickest in the second, slower afternoon session yesterday. The young Chilean racer turned a 1:21.745 (101.291mph) in the No. 60 Juncos Racing/Fuerza Chile Mazda. Holding his place near the sharp end of the field as he had done in every previous session was Brazilian second-year Star Mazda racer Joao Victor Horto with a 1:21.851 (101.159mph) in the No. 18 Juncos Racing/Programa Leilões Mazda.
In the final session of the day, the quickest so far of the test, it was Vautier setting the pace, followed by Martin Scuncio at 1:21.364 (101.765) on lap 12, his last of the session. In third, was Horto with a 1:21.555 (101.527mph) on lap 8 and showing some strength after languishing in the bottom half of the top-10 on Monday was Nick Andries with a 1:21.974 (101.008mph) in his No. 81 Team Pelfrey Mazda. Also flexing his muscles in the final session was second-year Star Mazda racer Chris Miller, who rounded out the top-5 with a 1:22.128 (100.818mph) in his No. 85 JDC Motorsports/Miller Milling/Red Line Oil Mazda. Less than two second separated the top-8 runners during the final session, with positions 5-8 separated by less than half a second.
The final session of the Star Mazda Championship test takes place Wednesday morning.