Many of you probably watched the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona this past weekend, or as much of it as SpeedTV was able to broadcast. What you may not know is how well the Star Mazda alums did in the endurance race. As we mentioned earlier in the week, there were twenty four alumni of the Star Mazda Championship competing in both DP and the GT classes at the epic 24 hour race. As it turns out, two of the four drivers in the race-winning #01 Telmex Chip Ganassi With…
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Star 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 MoreMazda Road to Indy Wrapup: 1/15 – 1/28
Not a lot has happened since my last update. Not much until this week, that is. A lot of things have started coming together for a variety of teams and drivers, and I’m expecting February to be extremely busy for US F2000, Star Mazda, and Firestone Indy Lights news. Also, in the coming weeks, we plan on having some chats with a variety of drivers and teams about their 2011 plans beginning early next week with Anders Krohn of Belardi Auto Racing. Anders has a very remarkable story, and I…
Read MoreStar Mazda – 24 for the 24
Its not just the IZOD IndyCar Drivers going down to Daytona to represent. As if you needed any more reason to watch the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 drivers who have previously competed in the Star Mazda Championship are down at Daytona now to compete in both the DP and GT classes. Here’s the full release from the Star Mazda Championship: Two dozen alumni of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear – including seven past champions and two defending Rolex 24 winners – will be competing in this…
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…
Read MoreStar Mazda – Junco Racing Announces Its Four-Driver Lineup for 2011.
Who said anything about an off-season? There’s been no off-season this year, there’s just been no cars on track. The business of motorsport, and especially everything open-wheel, has been running at full-steam lately. Its been hard to keep up with all of the positive news and announcements. Carrying on with that theme, Juncos Racing announced the drivers for its four-car effort in the Star Mazda Championship today. Some names are familiar to those who followed Star Mazda last year, others are new, but here they all are: Tatiana Calderon, Martin…
Read MoreStarMazda – April Date Announced: Barber!
The Mazda Road to Indy program continues to gain strength! On Sunday of this week, the Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear revealed that the April TBD slot on their previously released 2011 schedule will be an event on the 10th at the Barber Motorsports Park along with the IZOD IndyCar Series, and the Firestone Indy Lights. Any time that a feeder series can compete on the same weekends and at the same venues as the teams higher up on the ladder, its a good thing. Drivers, engineers, sponsors, and…
Read MoreRoad to Indy – Weekly Wrapup: 12/6-12/10
Once again, we had a jam packed week of mostly cool news for the now Mazda Road to Indy program. Yes, I said MAZDA. They’re now the official title sponsor of the program, and they bring some other benefits as well. However, I say mostly cool news because there was one downer for the week. Dan Andersen’s racing operations via Andersen Racing will cease in 2011. Andersen Racing had fielded entries in both the Star Mazda Championship and the Firestone Indy Lights series. Andersen will still run the US F2000…
Read MoreRoad to Indy – Mazda Sponsors the Road to Indy Program
Yes, you read the title right! The Road to Indy program now has a title sponsor, Mazda. Late last off-season, INDYCAR put the final pieces together for a four-tier development system which clearly marked out a path for young open-wheel drivers to the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. The US F2000 National Championship presented by Cooper Tires and powered by Mazda was the last element to come into place. Dan Andersen of Andersen Racing revived the old F2000-based series with sanction from INDYCAR. Drivers would then graduate to the Star Mazda…
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