Today was the first on-track activity at St. Petersburg for all of the series racing there this weekend: US F2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights, IndyCar, and the SCCA World Challenge. I’ll talk about the World Challenge and other action later, but let me talk here about the US F2000 National Championship. You know that preview that I wrote yesterday? …yeah, chuck it out the window! The grid is ALL jumbled up, and that’s a great thing! The US F2000 grid increased by in size by a driver this weekend as…
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The latest news from the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Pro Mazda, and USF2000!
MRTI – Mazda Road to Indy St. Pete Preview
This is a rare race weekend. All three elements of the Mazda Road to Indy are going to be racing on the Streets of St. Petersburg on the same weekend. This will be rounds three and four for the US F2000 National Championship, and the opening rounds for the Star Mazda Championship and Firestone Indy Lights. Driver assignments are pretty much settled now, so lets take a look at the grids and preview this weekend’s Mazda Road to Indy races! You can download this weekend’s schedule for all of the…
Read MoreINDYCAR – ORECA Aero Kit for 2012?
See what happens when you win the 12 Hours of Sebring? Ok, maybe that is not entirely true, but there is very strong speculation that ORECA will join the growing list of companies that will produce an aero kit for the 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series. The French company has already discussed the plan with INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard and remains very interested in producing the components. The kits if produced will of course be available to all of the teams for use on the new generation car. ORECA has been…
Read MoreIndy Hump Day Report: Live from St. Pete
A very brief “Hump Day Report” since I have spent the last two days driving to the St. Pete area. First, glad to see Tony Kanaan will have a full time ride for 2011, and glad he will be teammate to bot Viso and Sato. (I suspect he will work out better than “First lap wreck” Mario) Next, it is cool that Paul Tracy will at least have a ride for Indy with Dreyer & Reinbold. Last season at Watkins Glen PT and Justin Wilson seemed to enjoy…
Read MoreBREAKING NEWS: KANAAN with KV for 2011
Tony Kanaan is finally announced as the third driver for KV Racing Technology. Kanaan will drive the #82 Lotus sponsored entry for the team owned by Jimmy Vasser (1996 CART Champion) and Kevin Kalkhoven. According to Curt Cavin the paint scheme for TK will be a tribute to the Indy 500 winning entry of Jim Clark. Kanaan will now be teammate/coach for E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato, replacing Mario Moraes as the third driver for KV. A growing rumor also has Geico as sponsoring Kanaan for several races this year.…
Read MoreMazda Road to Indy – Weekly Wrap-up: 3/11-3/18
This week was a busy week for the Mazda Road to Indy program! The Firestone Indy Lights series and the Star Mazda Championship series both had their pre-season “Spring Training” open tests at Barber Motorsports Park, and the US F2000 National Championship had both their final testing session, and their first two races at Sebring International Raceway. Along with the testing, we also had some late driver announcements, although I suspect we’re not finished hearing about those. Testing US F2000 The Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship held…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Sebring Practice Summary
The off-season is over for the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda. They tested earlier in the week at Sebring International Raceway, but today was their first practice session before their race at Sebring later in the week. In testing earlier in the week, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver Petri Suvanto was a mild surprise, posting a session best time of 2:05.146 and besting the presumed front-runners Andretti Autosports drivers Sage Karam and Spencer Pigot who posted times of 2:05.174 and 2:05.951, respectively.…
Read MoreIndy Hump Day Report: Barber, Streams,and Seats
Normally I leave the sad parts to end my column, but my heart is so heavy this week I have to begin with a few words on Japan first. I was up when the 8.9 hit Japan, being the ultimate Gaijin I tend to read the news from Japan many days after midnight ET. First the footage of the quake broke my heart, but then the Hollywood like aftermath with the Tsunami just made it ache with pain. On behalf of everyone not just at Open Paddock; but the entire…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Barber Testing: Final Session
Today, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear wraps up its three days of pre-season testing at the Barber Motorsports Park. In their final session early this morning, JDC MotorSports’ Tristan Vautier picked up where he left off yesterday, posting blazingly fast times. Today, however, he didn’t start out with the breathing room he had during the previous sessions. Over the previous two day’s Vautier was the only racer to break into the 1:20 range. This morning, all three of the Juncos Racing drivers present for the test, Joao Horta,…
Read MoreIndy Lights – Éirinn go Brách
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, O2 Racing Technology announces that they have signed the winningest driver in Star Mazda Championship history, Dubliner Peter Dempsey. Dempsey competed in the Star Mazda Championship for Andersen Racing in 2008 and scored wins at Road America, Trois-Rivières, Mosport, and the New Jersey Motorsports Park against the likes of John Edwards, Alex Ardoin, and Joel Miller. He would finish 3rd in the championship that year. In 2009, Peter raced for AIM Autosport and improved on his results scoring five race wins at Iowa…
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