Keith Donegan, 20, from Dublin, Ireland, was announced as the winner of the second annual Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout following two days of evaluations at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park (Arizona). A total of 17 young drivers representing nine different nations and drawn from a variety of feeder series from around the world were put through their paces aboard the Bondurant Racing School Formula Mazda cars.
After each of the 17 candidates was assessed during three sessions on Saturday and one more on Sunday, each time at the wheel of a different car, Donegan was selected along with Jake Craig, 20, from Mission Viejo, Calif., Olin Galli, 21, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aaron Jeansonne, 19, from Sulphur, La. and Liam Lawson, 15, from Pukekohe, New Zealand, to participate in a final qualifying session and 30-minute race simulation. The final decision was made following well over 90 minutes of consideration among the accomplished panel of judges.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be,” commented Lawson! “I’m absolutely gutted to miss out on the Road to Indy Scholarship today, I gave it my all! I had the fastest and most consistent laps in the mock race, proud that for 30 minutes I put in the drive of my career so far but it obviously wasn’t enough.
“Well done to Keith Donegan (20) from Northern Ireland on receiving the scholarship. A big thanks to BG World Wheels, Cumulo 9 and Pukekohe Toyota and everyone else who helped get me to the USA so I could compete. This certainly is not the end and we now look forward to raising a budget for 2018.”
After commencing his career in karts at age 10, Donegan made the move into cars in the 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship in the UK, finishing eighth in the points chase and then placing second in 2014 before spending two years away from the sport while he concentrated on his academic studies. He immediately turned heads this year during his initial campaign in open-wheel cars and earned his position at the Shootout as an At-Large Nomination after finishing a close second at the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch to cap an impressive debut season in the BRSCC British Formula Ford 1600 Championship.
“It really hasn’t hit me yet to be honest,” said Donegan, who earned a check for $200,000 to assist in his graduation into USF2000, the first rung of the Mazda Road to Indy, in 2018. “The weekend was really good and I really enjoyed it. I have to say a huge thanks to Mazda and Cooper Tires and everyone at the Mazda Road to Indy. I enjoyed every moment. Throughout the weekend we were consistent and I kept the small things in check. I didn’t make any stupid mistakes and kept my head cool and that really paid off in the end.
“You see all these champions here today that will go on to great things in the future and I’m sure the names you see here today aren’t going to disappear. They will be back up there and I’m sure I will be racing them again some day. It is an unbelievable opportunity to be given and for Mazda to provide that for any young driver, it just gives them that bit of motivation that you need because the States is where you need to go to become a professional these days. It is such a boost to my career.”
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