HOMESTEAD, Florida – The annual Mazda Road to Indy spring training at Homestead-Miami Speedway concluded on Monday with drivers and teams of Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires putting on a strong display of gamesmanship around the 2.21-mile road course.

Despite not testing on the oval on Friday, Belardi Auto Racing got acclimated quickly as Aaron Telitz put the No. 9 Mazda/Dallara IL-15 on top with a time of 1 minute, 16.0400 seconds (104.629 mph), which was enough to edge out Pato O’Ward’s No. 27 Andretti Autosport entry by a slim 0.0181 of a second.

“It felt great,” said Telitz, when summarizing the day.

“I mean, this is my first year ever being with a team two years in a row. So we already have that repertoire built up. We worked really well together building up what we did last year. Basically, it’s just like we got done at Watkins Glen winning; we brought that right into preseason testing, which has been good. Then this is our first official test of the year for us and right out of the gate we were quick this morning and even this afternoon.

“I think we had my car working a little bit better than (teammate Santi Urrutia) had his working early, but we even called it a day early. We were done before 3 p.m. this afternoon. Just because we felt we tested everything we needed to test and wanted to give the guys a little head start on setting up St. Pete.

“So we’re going to be coming out swinging at St. Pete. It’s going to be good.”

The second session saw every driver better the pace set in the first and as the test neared its end, the real show began.

Ryan Norman, who paced the oval on Friday, appeared poised to make it a sweep as his No. 48 Andretti Autosport entry led with less than five minutes remaining. At that point, everyone was within 0.300 of a second within each other, with Norman pacing at 1minute, 14.9442 seconds (106.159 mph).

However, all that changed when Urrutia went out. The pilot of the No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing entry put down a jolting flyer around the 14-turn road course on the final lap of testing and crossed the line at 1minute, 14.5024 seconds (106.789 mph), nearly a half second better than the next best time.

“I mean, it was a good lap, but it was under push-to-pass,” said the 21-year-old Uruguayan, who returns for a third season after finishing championship runner-up in back-to-back seasons.

“Honestly, we’re struggling all day long to try a lot of things, but I think we have a good car for St. Pete. We learned a lot from today. Aaron (Telitz) was good. We basically worked in different ways, so he got a good setup and I got a good setup for me. So I think we’re going to be strong at St. Pete. It’s real important to start the season strong and I think we have everything to start strong.”

Overall, all seven drivers that took part completed 553 total laps between the two sessions. Notably, both O’Ward and Victor Franzoni completed the most laps with 91 apiece, with O’Ward scoring the third quickest overall time at 1minute, 15.0077 seconds (106.069 mph).

The official season for the Mazda Road to Indy kicks off on the streets of St. Petersberg March 9-11.