Category: Pro Mazda

news and commentary on the Pro Mazda Championship racing series in the Mazda Road to Indy

Star Mazda – Open Practice at Iowa Speedway

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear started off the competitive laps at the Iowa Speedway this afternoon with a four-hour open test/practice session. The two Juncos racing drivers Martin Scuncio in the #60 and Gustavo Menezes in the #28 topped the charts this afternoon, but not by much, after putting up times of 22.028s and 22.044s, respectively. The Team Pelfrey duo of Connor De Phillippi (#11) and Nick Andries (#81) weren’t too far back falling short of Scuncio’s time by 0.016s and 0.050s, respectively. Good enough for P3 and…

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Star Mazda – Milwaukee Wrap-Up

Doug Patterson

Like the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear ran their second oval event of the season at the Milwaukee Mile in front of the Firestone Indy Lights and IZOD IndyCar Series team owners that are the potential future employers of the young drivers in Star Mazda. Unfortunately, and enormous downpour mid-morning on Sunday delayed the start time until after the IZOD IndyCar Series race (about 6pm local). That late start made for an extremely diminished crowd of fans. In…

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Mazda Road to Indy – Looking Forward to Milwaukee

Doug Patterson

On Memorial Day Weekend, the Mazda Road to Indy drivers all ran for the first time on ovals, albeit different ones. The Firestone Indy Lights series ran the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Carburetion Day, while the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear, and the Mopar USAC Midget Series raced on the Night Before the 500 at the newly renamed Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. This weekend all four series will again compete on…

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Mazda Road to Indy – 2011 Night Before the 500

Doug Patterson

I know this is rather tardy, but give a fella a break. Last weekend was extremely busy!! Keep in mind that first and foremost, we’re fans. Perhaps we have delusions of being media-types, but we do all have real jobs and real families and friends. We love what we’re able to do here at OpenPaddock, but on a holiday weekend such as Memorial Day, you’ll forgive us if we put our family and friends at the top of the schedule priority. Getting back to business, the Mazda Road to Indy…

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Mazda Road to Indy – Preparing for the Ovals

Doug Patterson

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 races, held an open test at the Milwaukee Mile. For many drivers in…

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Star Mazda – Familiar Teams, New Faces on the Podium

Doug Patterson

The second round of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear was contested this past Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. The race on Sunday morning turned out to be an indicator of things to come as all three races this weekend, Star Mazda, Indy Lights, and IndyCar, would all follow the same pattern. Tristan Vautier started from pole and never looked back, leading all 33 laps of the race and taking the checkers a whopping 39.586 seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher, Nick Andries. “We knew that…

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Star Mazda – Barber Qualifying Results and Analysis

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is going to have a hard time of it for their race on Sunday. The drivers qualified on Thursday afternoon and will have to wait until Sunday before their race. On Race Day morning, they will get a 15-min warm-up which is just long enough to check for fluid leaks and not much else. The conditions between when they practiced and qualified on Thursday certainly won’t be any where near the same as they will be on Sunday when temperatures are to be…

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Mazda Road to Indy – Barber Preview

Doug Patterson

Sorry for the lack of a MRTI Weekly Update this past weekend, but there really hasn’t been much happening. I’m sure that I could have found something to blather on about, I usually can. Just ask my students! #rimshot But seriously, its been pretty quiet since the three races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. There was no on-track action this past weekend, and there were no new driver announcements, so the news and PR feeds have been pretty quiet. This coming weekend, however, is the second round for both…

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Star Mazda – Connor Di Phillipi Picks Up Where He Left Off

Doug Patterson

Although the testing at Barber Motorsports Park and the early practice sessions on the Streets of St. Petersburg belonged to JDC MotorSports’ Tristan Vautier, today belonged to Team Pelfrey’s Connor Di Phillipi. Connor won the 2010 season finale at Road Atlanta, but as a member of a brand new team to the Star Mazda Championship it wasn’t surprising to see him and his team struggle for pace during testing. Apparently, it didn’t take them long as although Juncos Racing’s Martin Scuncio took the pole positions for today’s race, Connor won…

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