Cape Motorsports adds Petri Suvanto to their driver line-up for the 2011 US F2000 National Championship season. Suvanto competed with Josef Kaufmann Racing as the 2010 Formula BMW scholarship winner. In the 2010 season, he had eight top-ten finishes and ended up eleventh in points. Not bad for his first time running cars instead of karts. Prior to his Formula BMW experience, he raced karts in Europe and in his home country of Finland where he won the championship in the ICA Junior class in 2006. “Everyone at Cape Motorsports…
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Mazda Road to Indy Wrapup: 1/29-2/5
There’s not been much in the way of announcements this past week from the Mazda Road to Indy teams and series, but there has been a lot of testing! Winning top prize for “Most Grueling Testing Program” is Juncos Racing which took their four-driver team on a three-week boot camp tour, testing at three very different tracks in three consecutive weeks. Not only does the non-stop testing give the engineers a lot of data and the drivers a lot of seat time, but it also, and more importantly, gives the…
Read MoreGarage 36 – Liza Markle and the New INDYCAR Nation Fan Club
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Liza Markle, INDYCAR’s new Director of Fan Engagement, joins us for our third episode of Garage 36 where we bring you the news and happening of the INDYCAR Nation, The official fan club of the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, and the Mazda Road to Indy. 2011 brings some significant changes and new personnel to the fan club formally known as Indy Downforce. For this up coming season, all members will enjoy exclusive access to news, videos, photos, and interviews throughout the…
Read MoreIndy Lights – Ostella Completes Test with Jensen MotorSport
Toronto native, David Ostella, signed on wtih Jensen MotorSport last November to run in the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Series after competing for two years in the Star Mazda Championship with the AIM Autosport team. Ostella got his first opportunity to test a Firestone Indy Lights car down at Sebring International Raceway around the short course and laid down a best time of 58.4 s. “It was a really productive test for David and for our team. This was David’s first time driving the Indy Lights car on a road…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Juncos Racing’s Grueling Pre-Season Testing
The Juncos Racing quartet of Tatiana Calderon, Joao Horto, Gustavo Menezes, and Martin Scuncio completed a program of pre-season testing sessions in their 2011 Star Mazda machines at three very diverse tracks: Sebring International Raceway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Roebling Road. The testing session was done “boot camp” style where the team went from one track to the next in rapid succession without respite for the four young drivers. This forced the four drivers not only to become more focused on their own race craft, but also gave them the opportunity…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Team GDT Adds Eric Purcell as Top Engineer
As it continues to prepare for the coming 2011 Star Mazda Championship season, Team GDT added a big gun to its engineering arsenal when they hired Eric Purcell as their new Chief Engineer. Purcell has been involved in motorsports engineering for the past 30 years and was Johnathan Edwards’ engineer during their 2008 championship winning season in Star Mazda with AIM Autosport. “Team GDT has really stepped up their game for 2011 and I’m excited to be a part of it,” says Purcell. “J.W. Roberts, who is both the owner…
Read MoreMazda Road to Indy – Weekly Wrapup: 1/1-1/15
First an apology. This has been a busy and rough holiday season, and although I very much enjoy following and writing about motorsports, especially the Mazda Road to Indy, family does and will always come first. So now I’m back and getting caught up with the happenings at Winterfest, the State of the Series, and all the other news and events that have been going on since the beginning of the year. This year, our newest member of the OpenPaddock crew, Kristi (aka IAIndyFan on Twitter) will be taking over…
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