Tag: INDYCAR

Star Mazda – St. Pete Offers a Mix at the Top

Doug Patterson

Unlike the USF2000 races which saw the same two drivers, Pigot and Brabham, battle for the race wins clear and away from the rest of the field, the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear offered quite a variety at the front during it’s opening two races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The car counts for this first race weekend of 2012 were pretty good with twenty-one racers taking to the hybrid airport/street circuit. Race #1 Connor De Phillippi picked up where he left off at last year’s St. Petersburg…

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USF2000 – Pigot Sweeps St. Pete Weekend

Doug Patterson

The car count was again huge for the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda. Thirty-four cars took to the Streets of St. Petersburg for Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2012 season, and again race fans were treated to great action on track in both the Championship and National Classes. It really seems that the series has the balance between the FC and FE cars spot on, although there’s a definite performance differential between the NAT an CHP class cars. Race #1: It was a good…

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Episode 131 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Shaun

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadThis week we welcome Jenna Fryer to talk about the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. She talks not only about the weekend, but some of the things IndyCar should be thinking about going forward. Doug is here this week as well and we talk Mazda Road to indy, Formula 1, and this weekend’s round of the WRC in Portugal. Thank you for the download and we really hope you enjoy the show!

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IndyCar – Lotus Can Supply for 2012, Compete Though?

Shaun

The off season was rich with speculation that Lotus may or may not make the 2012 season with its Judd engine. Think back to late December when there was little to no contact between Lotus or really any of the teams that were in the market for an engine. Autosport.com featured an article this morning that indicated Lotus was in fact capable of supplying the teams they had signed for the entire season. That includes bonus parts and support for HVM, Herta, DRR, and Dragon. The recent change in ownership…

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IndyCar – Stunning in St. Pete

Shaun

This weekend’s opening round of the IZOD IndyCar Series had a lot of questions around it. Had Randy Bernard fixed some of the credibility issues, would the new cars and engines be competitive, would the field of talent be as good as what they were predicting? The answer to all of these questions (at least after the first round) was a resounding yes. St. Petersburg lived up to everything we had hoped for and then some. Great story lines, great drivers through the field, and the cars looked very competitive in…

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MRTI – St. Pete Qualifications Summary

Doug Patterson

As Mr. Bob Varsha is famous for saying during the Formula 1 broadcasts on SpeedTV, “Before you can race, you must qualify!” As of this morning, all three of the Mazda Road to Indy series have qualified for their respective races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. The USF2000 National Championship and the Star Mazda Championship both qualified yesterday afternoon, and the Firestone Indy Lights series just finished their qualifying session this morning. Let’s take a look at the results series-by-series. Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by…

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Indy Lights – St. Pete Entry List and Preview

Doug Patterson

Not too long ago, we were looking at a mere seven confirmed car-driver combinations for the 2012 Firestone Indy Lights grid. When we talked with the King of the Mazda Road to Indy, Jason Penix, he reassured us that there would be at least 16 cars by time the first race on the Streets of St. Petersburg came around, and he turns out to have been absolutely right. Seventeen cars have been entered for this weekend’s race, including some cars from familiar teams and some from some newcomers. The juggernaut…

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Star Mazda – St. Petersburg Starting Grid and Preview

Doug Patterson

The Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear begins its 2012 season on the Streets of St. Petersburg this weekend, and it looks like they will start with a pretty healthy grid. While not the 30+ cars they used to have, its still nice to see that 21 cars will take laps in anger around the hybrid airport/street circuit in St. Petersburg, Florida for two races this Saturday and Sunday. Juncos Racing looks to be very strong this season with the addition of Connor Di Philippi and the resigning of Martin…

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