USF2000: Cape Motorsports Adds Petri Suvanto for 2011

Cape Motorsports adds Petri Suvanto to their driver line-up for the 2011 US F2000 National Championship season. Suvanto competed with Josef Kaufmann Racing as the 2010 Formula BMW scholarship winner. In the 2010 season, he had eight top-ten finishes and ended up eleventh in points. Not bad for his first time running cars instead of karts. Prior to his Formula BMW experience, he raced karts in Europe and in his home country of Finland where he won the championship in the ICA Junior class in 2006.

“Everyone at Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing is delighted to have Petri in our USF2000 program. He is a young very talented driver who competed right at the front of a very competitive European Karting Championship over the past several years. He has also shown great ability adapting to the USF2000 car which immediately suited his driving style. He has impressed everyone on the team over the course of the test days with his natural ability his determination and desire to succeed. We are very confident he will be competing for the championship, and we believe it will be a breakthrough year for him in the Road to Indy Program.” — Dominic Cape, Team Principal

Certainly, the US F2000 National Championship as part of the Mazda Road to Indy provides a very clear structure with incentives and support for progressing through the ranks of American open-wheel racing, and that fact was not lost on the young Mr. Suvanto.

“I’m very excited about the chance to be racing with such a successful team as Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. I stayed with the team for two weeks, and I was impressed with their mentality and professionalism right from the start. After 12 years’ experience in European karting and a year in car racing, it was time to make the next step. It was four months ago when I heard about USF2000 and Road to Indy Program for the first time ,and since then, I’ve been working towards what now can finally be confirmed. It was a big decision for my career in racing as well as for my whole life but now that it’s been done, I’m more motivated than ever before. I can’t wait for the first race at Sebring, but between now and then, I need to work hard in order to be fully prepared for the season.” — Petri Suvanto

What is impressive to me is the draw that the Mazda Road to Indy program is beginning to have on young drivers. Now that there’s a clear path from one series to the next all the way up to the IZOD IndyCar Series, there’s seems to be more interest by young talent in American open-wheel. Petri Suvanto and Josef Newgarden are both prime examples that IndyCar racing is on the path to being a draw once again for both American drivers and drivers from around the world.

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