Le Mans – ALMS Reaches Multi-Year TV, Digital Deal with ESPN and ABC

FROM: American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón announced today a ground-breaking, multi-year broadcast and digital agreement with ESPN that ALMS President/CEO Scott Atherton is calling “a game changer.” The innovative deal involves televising the world’s premier sports car series over several ESPN programming and media platforms, including ABC, ESPN2 and ESPN3.com. Intersport, an award-winning media and marketing agency, represented the Series in the new television and digital agreement with ESPN. The core of the ALMS’ new innovative broadcast and digital package will deliver…

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Road to Indy – Weekly Wrapup: 12/6-12/10

Once again, we had a jam packed week of mostly cool news for the now Mazda Road to Indy program. Yes, I said MAZDA. They’re now the official title sponsor of the program, and they bring some other benefits as well. However, I say mostly cool news because there was one downer for the week. Dan Andersen’s racing operations via Andersen Racing will cease in 2011. Andersen Racing had fielded entries in both the Star Mazda Championship and the Firestone Indy Lights series. Andersen will still run the US F2000…

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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 Karam dominated the reborn US F2000 National Championship from start to finish, including dominating wins at…

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ALMS – Friday Practice and Qualifying Photos

These certainly aren’t all of the pics from today, but I only have my netbook with me and my photo editing resources are very limited. …ok, that’s an excuse. Real reason is that I’m completely beat and worn out! More ALMS photos tomorrow, and a lot of IndyCar photos as well as the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights Series have their qualifications. ALMS Practice and Qualifying from Friday

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ALMS – Drayson Racing Grabs P1

Drayson Racing has secured pole position for tomorrow’s race at Mid-Ohio. The Lola hit a top time of 1:10.034 with Jonny Cocker at the wheel. The team would take top honors by 0.932 seconds over the Dyson Mazda. Current championship leaders Highcroft Racing was able to secure the third position after being one of the quickest cars on track all weekend. Simon Pagenaud was the driver of the car that will look to just put up solid points as their main contender Cytosport will be out due to heavy damage…

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Episode 31 – Open Paddock Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin myself and Mike as we get into the lack of news this week. We wrap-up Sebring and get into a small portion of rally news. We talk about the IndyCar 2012 panel as well as some news regarding the potential Baltimore Grand Prix. F1 is on tap and we preview both St. Pete and Melbourne. McLaren “snorkel” debate is heated!!! Grab your favorite adult beverage, sit down and enjoy! Be sure to post your opinion on the McLaren “snorkel” debate…we are going to…

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ALMS – Marino Franchitti Joins Highcroft, Bummer for Mazda.

Autoweek Magazine announced today that Marino Franchitti has signed with Highcroft Racing and joins David Brabham and Simon Pagenaud as their third LMP driver for 2010. Marino had been with the Dyson team driving the Mazda powered Lola coupe for the past two seasons, but with Dyson’s 2010 plans still not completed with regards to running a second car and the 12 Hours of Sebring not too far away, Franchitti opted for a part-time ride with Highcroft as a third driver in the longer endurance races on the ALMS calender,…

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IndyCar – The Road To Indy

There have been many things fans, teams, drivers, and sponsors have all been requesting/begging/demanding from the Indy Racing League. We asked for better racing than we were getting at the beginning of 2009, and we got it. We asked for multiple manufacturers for both the engines and the chassis, and it looks like we might get those. We asked for a title sponsor, and we got that, too. One big thing that people have been asking for that will do more to improve the influx of new talent and hopefully…

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Star Mazda – 2009 Season Review – Battle for the Championship

Star Mazda Series – 2009 Season Review Battle for the Championship: Circuit Trois-Rivières Headed into the home stretch for the 2009 Star Mazda Championship, rookie Adam Christodoulou and Peter “The Irish Steamroller” Dempsey were locked in a battle for the lead. Coming to Quebec, Dempsey had a slight edge on Christodoulou, but with four races left Peter’s 19-point lead was tenuous at best. The first weekend for the series north of the border wouldn’t turn out great for either contender, but especially not for Peter. He and his team missed…

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