This morning, Chip Ganassi Racing announced both their plans for the 2013 season as well as the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Returning to the 01 Telmex BMW-Riley are Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, who are making a run at their fourth consecutive Grand-Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototype championship. Pruett and Rojas have essentially been on top of the DP Series since 2008, only missing out on the championship in 2009 to the Alex Gurney/Jon Fogarty duo at Gainsco/Stallings Racing. Pruett has five DP Series championships while his co-driver Memo Rojas…
Read MoreMonth: December 2012
Pro Mazda – Brabham Signs With Andretti Autosport for 2013
The 2012 Copper Tires Presents the USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda Championship Class champion (that’s a lot of championing!), Matthew “Matty Brabs” Brabham, has signed with Andretti Autosport to drive the #27 machine in the 2013 Cooper Tires Presents the Pro Mazda Championship. In 2012, Brabham raced Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s #83 Van Diemen in the USF2000 Championship Class, narrowly beating out his teammate, Spencer Pigot, by only seven points. 2012 was Brabham’s first season of racing in the United States after starting his career back in 2001…
Read MoreOp-Ed – A Pro Mazda Carol: Part 3, The Future of Pro Mazda
Finally, we come to last in our trio of articles on the new Pro Mazda Series which will succeed the Star Mazda Series as the second stage of the Mazda Road to Indy. We’ve seen the story behind the rise and fall of Star Mazda, and the phoenixal story of USF2000, now let’s put all the pieces together and see where Andersen Promotion may steer Pro Mazda in the coming seasons. Let me start with the caveat that the following speculations are solely my own based on the observations delineated…
Read MoreF1- Romain Grosjean Takes Race of Champions
In what turned out to be a shocking event, Lotus Renault F1 driver Romain Grosjean was able to beat the world’s best at the annual Race of Champions. The event was held in Bangkok Thailand this year and featured the best racing talent from around the globe. Names like Vettel, Schumacher, Ogier, Hunter-Reay and Kristensen were all there to compete and find out who the best of the best is. Grosjean defeated 2012 IZOD IndyCar Champion Ryan Hunter-Reay in group D competition early on. His next challenge was fellow Formula…
Read MoreF1 – How Much is Enough?
There is no offseason for Bernie Ecclestone and his constant running at the mouth. With news that HRT is all but done heading into 2013, Bernie has made some statements in regards to the number of teams involved. Ecclestone would rather there be 10 teams on the grid versus 11. “It’s just that 10 is easier to handle, for the promoters, for transport,” he said. “We’d rather have 10, so long as we don’t lose Ferrari.” – Bernie Ecclestone comments from BBC F1 The news of HRT folding up shop…
Read MoreQatar M-Sport World Rally Team from Trio to Quartet
This weekend the newly created Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team announced the rest of their driver lineup for 2013. As we already knew, Mads Østberg was picked as the number one driver, and Nasser Al-Attiyah will of course be on board but only attend some of the championship rounds while also competing in the Middle East Rally Championship. The surprise announcement was a decision to draft both Evgeny Novikov and Thierry Neuville to attend all 13 rounds of the 2013 World Rally Championship under the Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team banner.…
Read MoreOp-Ed – A Pro Mazda Carol: Part 2, The Present USF2000
Part Two of my three-part series looking at the future of the new Pro Mazda Series focuses on the success the new owners of Pro Mazda, Andersen Promotions, has had with the revived Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. I feel safe in assuming that the leadership philosophy that has lead to a strong first step on the Mazda Road to Indy, the USF2000 series, will also be applied to the Pro Mazda Series in the coming seasons. The Evolution of USF2000 My thoughts on where the…
Read MoreOp-Ed – A Pro Mazda Carol: Part I, History of Star Mazda
Ok, I know the new Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires is barely a week old, but given who has taken over the old Star Mazda series, I’m willing to offer some speculation on how the new series will evolve over the next few seasons. All of my speculation hinges upon observations of how Dan Andersen and his company Andersen Promotions have managed the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda over the past few seasons. This is a long article, so bear with me as I…
Read MorePro Mazda – Cooper Tire Replaces Goodyear for 2013
Dan Andersen’s influence is already being felt in the new Pro Mazda Championship as Cooper Tire replaces Goodyear as the official tire and presenting sponsor for the second step on the Mazda Road to Indy. Cooper Tire has been the official tire and presenting sponsor for the USF2000 National Championship since its return in 2010, and Andersen Promotions’ recent acquisition of the Star Mazda Championship has convinced the tire manufacturer to expand it’s involvement in INDYCAR’s Mazda Road to Indy development program. Cooper Tire has been a strong partner for…
Read MoreVideo – INDYCAR’s #TheOffseason: Episode 1
INDYCAR is producing a series of fun videos over the winter “#TheOffseason”. Here’s the first episode with James “The Mayor: Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball, Will Power, and Josef Newgarden manning the front desk at the INDYCAR offices. [youtube_sc url=http://youtu.be/hHqQ5De7gjM]
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