Star Mazda – Returning Drivers and a Spring Training Recap
The season-opener for the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear takes place this weekend on the Streets of St. Petersburg, but before we get to the race, there’s still some business to settle and shake out first. Drivers are still being added to the grid, and it looks like the field is shaping up quite nicely. Twenty-two drivers set times during the two-day Spring Training open test at Barber Motorsports Park including the two newest... [Read More...]
IndyCar – Devolping Talent vs. Quick Fix
The season opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is a mere 30 days out give or take. The first time that we will see the DW12 in action and new drivers in new places. Oriol Servia and James Hinchcliffe are two big names that have wound up in new cars, but there are a large crop of up and coming drivers that are still searching for rides. Names like Plowman and Mann are big fan favorites. The big news at the moment is the fate of Formula 1 names like... [Read More...]
Star Mazda – Vautier Cruises to Victory in Baltimore, Clinches Championship
JDC MotorSports driver, Tristan Vautier, cruised to an easy win on the Streets of Baltimore this morning after qualifying on pole and leading every lap of the 21-lap event. Team Pelfrey’s Connor De Phillipi ran about a second behind Vautier during the first half of the race, but was never able to close the gap. A mistake would send De Phillipi to the lower half of the grid, one lap down, and taking him out of contention for the race... [Read More...]
Star Mazda Wrap-up – Iowa Results, and a Mid-Season Summary
Its been an eventful week for the Mazda Road to Indy, for both good and bad reasons. Before we get into the drama filled soap opera that has suddenly surrounded the Firestone Indy Lights series, let’s first focus on the outstanding racing we saw at the Iowa Speedway this past weekend and amid-season new-driver announcement from Jensen MotorSport and Andretti Autosport. Racing at the Iowa Speedway The Star Mazda race at the Iowa Speedway... [Read More...]
Mazda Road to Indy – Preparing for the Ovals
All of the various series that are part of INDYCAR and the Mazda Road to Indy program have opened their seasons with road and street courses. Beginning next weekend, though, everyone switches to oval tracks! Racing on an oval is not as easy as going fast and turning left as those who attended the USF2000 Oval Clinic earlier this month learned. This past weekend, the Star Mazda Championship, in preparation for their coming sequence of three oval... [Read More...]
Star Mazda – Barber Testing: Day 2 Wrap-Up
Well, apparently there was an afternoon practice session! I was away on errands and wasn’t able to watch the timing and scoring develop, although after looking at the results, it looks like business as usual for Tristan Vautier. The young Frenchman claimed the fast time of the session once again for JDC MotorSports and really looks to be the easy favourite come St. Petersburg. The Juncos racing squad found their way back to the top portion... [Read More...]
Star Mazda – Barber Testing Results
The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear held its first open test today at Barber Motorsports Park in preparation for the season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg later this month. For many of the drivers, it was the first time being out in traffic in the Star Mazda cars. The testing results weren’t too surprising. JDC MotorSports is a strong team, especially in Star Mazda where they’ve won the championship with Dane... [Read More...]
Road to Indy – Weekly Wrap-up 11/29-12/3
Given the blossoming of weekly features we’ve seen here at OpenPaddock.net with Spike’s Indy Hump Day Report, and Shaun’s Sunday Service Park, I’ve decided to join in the fun. Every Friday (or Saturday morning) I will try to have a wrap-up of the weeks headlines from the Road to Indy. There’s been a lot of things happening so far this off-season, which is rather surprising given that a lot of driver/team combinations... [Read More...]
Star Mazda – Sage Karam Brings the Andretti Team to Star Mazda
Andretti Autosport announced today that it would compete in the 2011 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear with Sage Karam. Sage competed in the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda for Andretti Autosport along with his teammate Zach Veach and won the series championship in strong fashion winning nine of the twelve races. Zach will continue running the US F2000 series for Andretti in 2011. “Andretti... [Read More...]
Road2Indy – Congratulations to our 2010 Champions
OpenPaddock.net wishes to extend our congratulations to the 2010 champions of the USF2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires powered by Mazda and the Star Mazda Championship powered by Mazda. Both series are official parts of the new Road to Indy program designed to produce a clear path for young drivers to advance through the ranks and eventually race at the top level of American open-wheel racing, the IZOD IndyCar Series. US F2000 Sage... [Read More...]
