As an educator, I completely approve of this fantastic move by the Mazda Road to Indy program to help young aspiring racers to learn more about the profession, business, and craft of motorsports. So many of us fans forget that there’s far more to being a successful professional racing driver these days that simply being fearless and fast. There’s so much more that today’s drivers need to understand about the business of motorsports, and business in general. Drivers have to be not only fast on the track, but also public…
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news and commentary on the Pro Mazda Championship racing series in the Mazda Road to Indy
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 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 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 MoreStar Mazda – Barber Testing: Day 2 Wrap-Up
Well, apparently there was an afternoon practice session! I was away on errands and wasn’t able to watch the timing and scoring develop, although after looking at the results, it looks like business as usual for Tristan Vautier. The young Frenchman claimed the fast time of the session once again for JDC MotorSports and really looks to be the easy favourite come St. Petersburg. The Juncos racing squad found their way back to the top portion of the time sheet with Joao Horta and Martin Scuncio slotting up in P2…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Barber Test Day 2: Second Session Times
The IZOD IndyCar Series teams and drivers were supposed to have a test from 1000-1200 CDT this morning, but the cold, wet track that the Star Mazda Championship drivers braved earlier this morning, proved too intimidating for them. The track went green as scheduled at 1000, but no one wanted to go out. Absolutely EVERYONE stayed in the pits! As a result, the testing schedule was hastily revised and the Star Mazda teams, which were originally slated to go out from 1300-1400 CDT, went out for a second morning session…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Barber Test Day 2: Morning Times
Day 2 of Star Mazda testing started this morning under very different conditions that Day 1 and the differences were reflected in the times posted today. Heavy rain hit the Birmingham area last night and the teams and drivers woke to find a much colder and very wet track. Tristen Vautier once again proved that he’s the driver to beat in his JDC MotorSports machine posting a best time that was a full second faster than anyone else on the grid. Andretti Autosport and Sage Karam seem to be coming…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Barber Testing Results
The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear held its first open test today at Barber Motorsports Park in preparation for the season opener on the Streets of St. Petersburg later this month. For many of the drivers, it was the first time being out in traffic in the Star Mazda cars. The testing results weren’t too surprising. JDC MotorSports is a strong team, especially in Star Mazda where they’ve won the championship with Dane Cameron in 2007 and with Adam Christodoulou in 2009, and they’ve shown that they’re serious about…
Read MoreMazda Road to Indy Weekly Wrapup: 2/13-2/19
There’s not been a whole lot going on this past week in the Mazda Road to Indy Program, but we did get a couple of big driver announcements late in the week. The fields are starting to fill up, so in the coming weeks, we’ll be putting together a preview of the 2011 seasons for the Cooper Tires presents the US F2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, and the Firestone Indy Lights Series including a summary of driver/team combinations. For now, though, let’s…
Read MoreStarMazda – Nick Mancuso Joins JDC MotorSports for a Partial Season
The driver announcements keep coming! As we approach the open test for the Star Mazda Series down at Barber Motorsports Park, teams and drivers are rapidly finding accommodation and signing contracts. JDC MotorSports is back at it again this week with another driver signing with young sports car racer Nick Mancuso. Although he’s tested with JDC MotorSports previously, this season will be his first competitive run in a single-seater formula car. “Things have been coming together nicely for our team in the last few weeks and we are very excited…
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