The Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout will return to the Valley of the Sun as the Bondurant Racing School near Phoenix, Arizona, will host the third annual event December 8-9.

At stake for the 20 champions of junior open-wheel series from around the globe is a $200,000 scholarship from Mazda to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship in 2019 — the first step on the world-renowned driver development ladder system.

The Bondurant Racing School main track, a 1.6-mile, 15-turn road course located at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, will provide the playing field for drivers to showcase their skills during an intense two days of competition aboard Formula Mazda cars powered by Mazda rotary engines on Cooper tires.

Perhaps just as important as the talent behind the wheel will be the off-track presence as well as the application of coaching feedback as an illustrious panel of judges will once again be faced with a formidable task in determining the winner.

“The Bondurant Racing School provides an excellent platform for the Shootout and was a great host last year,” Mazda Motorsports Director John Doonan said. “We look forward to welcoming our international line-up of champions there in December. We have an outstanding panel of judges on board who, based on the standings in all of the feeder series I have been following, are set for some extremely tough decisions again this year.”