The future is there for the taking as 20 drivers hailing from nine different countries battle it out for the third annual Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Shootout on Saturday and Sunday at Bondurant Racing School in Chandler, Arizona.

The winner of the two-day event will be awarded a $200,000 Mazda scholarship, which provides the recipient an opportunity to compete in the 2019 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship – the first rung of the Mazda Road to Indy, sanctioned by INDYCAR.

Introduced in 2016, the contest has set the standard in providing opportunity for young hopefuls in junior formula and karting ranks from around the world as a path to the Verizon IndyCar Series. For this year, the qualifying talents came from a crop of nearly 400 drivers across 25 series.

As a result, the finalists will take the wheel of Formula Mazda cars equipped with Cooper racing tires and look to impress as they navigate the 1.6-mile, 15-turn road course located at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

“While this will be the final Mazda Road to Indy Shootout, we are excited to see such a talented crowd of drivers taking part,” said John Doonan, director of Mazda Motorsports, which ends its run sponsoring the Road to Indy after 2018, though the shootout will continue beyond this year.

“The Mazda Road to Indy has launched the careers of so many great talents," Doonan added, "and it’s a real privilege for us to meet these young drivers – many of whom have traveled an extremely long way to take part – as they begin their careers in North America.”

A collective panel of judges will grade driver performances on and off the track. The weekend will feature three on-track outings on Saturday and a final session on Sunday morning, after which the field will be narrowed and the finalists will compete in two qualifying rounds followed by a mock race. The winner will be announced at approximately 6 pm ET Sunday.

The experienced group of judges includes Mazda representatives Andrew Carbonell and Tom Long, Indy Lights race winner and 2017 Pro Mazda champion Victor Franzoni, and inaugural shootout winner and 2017 USF2000 champion Oliver Askew. The shootout also returns event director Scott Elkins, who is currently deputy race director for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, race director of the FIA Formula E Championship and COO of the Motorsport Safety Foundation.

While bittersweet as the last official event with partner Mazda, Dan Andersen, the owner and CEO of Andersen Promotions that operates the Road to Indy, offered his appreciation for Mazda’s nine-year backing.

“I want to thank Mazda for all they have done to assist drivers in their careers and for their support of this program since its inception,” Andersen said. “We have a great platform to build from, great partners at Cooper tires and with our official feeder series, and we look forward to continuing the shootout program for many years to come.”

Of the list of 20 entrants this year, only Jake Craig and Ross Martin return after competing in the 2017 shootout. The full list of scholarship shootout contestants (with age, hometown and series affiliation) is:

· Guillaume Archambault, 24, Granby, Que., Canada – Formula Tour 1600 (Canada)

· Dario Cangialosi, 18, Chester, N.J. – F1600 Formula F Championship Series

· Bryce Cornet, 25, Norman, Okla. – SCCA National Championship Runoffs (Formula Mazda)

· Jake Craig, 21, Mission Viejo, Calif. – Team USA Scholarship

· Allan Croce, 21, Jau, Brazil – Brazil Kart Open

· Courtney Crone, 17, Corona, Calif. – Formula Car Challenge (FormulaSPEED) Presented by Goodyear

· Michael Eastwell, 22, Southampton, England – Formula Ford Super Series Shootout (UK)

· Braden Eves, 19, New Albany, Ohio – Team USA Scholarship

· Flinn Lazier, 19, Vail, Colo. – SCCA National Championship Runoffs (Formula Enterprises 2)

· Ross Martin, 19, Kilmarnock, Scotland – SMRC Scottish Formula Ford 1600 Championship

· Hunter McElrea, 19, Gold Coast, Australia – Australian Formula Ford Championship

· Matt Round-Garrido, 18, Stourbridge, England – Northern Ireland Formula Ford Championship

· Colin Mullan, 16, Danville, Calif. – Team USA Scholarship

· Tyler O’Connor, 21, New Hartford, Conn. – F1600 Formula F Championship Series

· Ryan Norberg, 20, Orlando, Fla. – Entry selected by eKartingNews.com

· Raghul Rangasamy, 25, Mahabalipuram, India – MMSC MRF F1600 Championship (India)

· Jason Reichert, 19, Henderson, Nev. – Pacific F2000 Championship

· Kellen Ritter, 17, N. Vancouver, B.C., Canada – Toyo Tires F1600 Championship (Canada)

· James Roe Jr., 20, Naas, Ireland – F2000 Championship Series

· Stuart White, 17, Bloemfontein, South Africa – Investchem Formula 1600 Championship (South Africa)