Brazilian driver to graduate from FIA F4 NACAM series to Mazda Road to Indy in 2018

SASKATOON, SK (February 24, 2018) – Exclusive Autosport is excited to announce that Igor Fraga will join the team for the 2018 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The 18-year-old Japanese-born Brazilian will make his Mazda Road to Indy debut this season after starting the year in the FIA Formula 4 NACAM Championship, in which he has already produced two wins. Fraga comes to Exclusive Autosport with an impressive open wheel resume that includes being crowned the 2017 Brazilian F3 Academy Champion.

“We’ve been able to test with Igor a couple times and he’s provided exceptional feedback and was very quick on-track,” enthused Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “He is very calm and methodical in and out of the car. I feel that he has the speed to be a race winner and challenge for a championship.”

Fraga started his competition career at the young age of five, racing karts all over Asia. In 2007, he represented Brazil in the ROK Cup International Final in Italy, where he placed 13th in a field of almost 100 drivers. After a long and successful karting career, Igor graduated into open wheel cars in 2014, racing the Formula 3 Brazil Light and FIA Formula NACAM Championship, earning an impressive 17 wins. He was eventually crowned the Formula 3 Brazil Light champion in 2017. In the testing that Fraga has completed with Exclusive Autosport, he has shown great speed and interaction with the crew. Igor is very focused on quickly learning everything he needs to know about the USF2000 car and the program, and his target will be consistency, race wins and the championship.

“I am very pleased to be part of Exclusive Autosport,” Fraga enthused. “Since I had my first contact with the team, I felt very comfortable working with them. I’ll do my best to have a great season. The goal is to be champion.”

The team is ready and the cars are prepped for the official MRTI Spring Training test at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend (February 24-25). The season opener for the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires in St. Petersburg is just two weeks away (March 9-11), and the entire Exclusive Autosport staff is motivated to begin their second season of MRTI competition on a positive note.

Exclusive Autosport is pleased to be able to partner with great companies, such as AERO™ Advanced Paint Technology (www.rethinkpaint.com), which is used on all their race cars.