Tag: Toronto

USF2000 – Three Races for Your Money!

Doug Patterson

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda will once again hold a triple-header on the lovely Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend in Lexington, OH. Mr. Whitesell and I will be on hand to enjoy all the action, and perhaps we should have brought a Belgian-style Tripel with us. …hindsight. RC Enerson dominated the early rounds of the championship, but the wheels began falling off when the series went to Indianapolis. The Cape Motorsports duo of Florian Latorre and Jake Eidson quickly closed the gap and overtook Enerson in…

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ProMazda – MattyBrabs Continues His Domination

Doug Patterson

Just give the man his trophy now and be done with it. Andretti Autosport’s Matthew Brabham sweeps the weekend’s two races. …again! After finishing as low as third in the opening race of the season at the Circuit of the Americas, Matthew “Matty Brabs” Brabham hasn’t lost a race since, and in the last four races he’s been absolutely perfect. As he did at Lucas Oil Raceway on the Night Before the 500 and again at the Milwaukee Mile, Brabham won the pole for both races on the Streets of…

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From the Cockpit – Danilo Estrela at the Analytic Systems USF2000 Grand Prix of Toronto

Doug Patterson

Editor’s Note: In our continuing From the Cockpit series, Belardi Auto Racing’s Danilo Estrela offers the following recap of his race weekend on the narrow and challenging Streets of Toronto. We thank Belardi Auto Racing and their drivers for their support and the excellent insights their drivers have offered us through this series of articles. At the end of the article, you’ll find links to Belardi Auto Racing’s and Danilo’s social media connections. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. I had never been to Canada before so…

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Episode 196 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast

Doug Patterson

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadShaun and Kevin lead us through the IndyCar 2inTO. Barnhart is back & there’s drama in Race Control. Coincidence? The Mazda Road to Indy is back in full swing, and Doug has a recap of this weekends races and championships. We discuss Andersen’s vision for the future of Indy Lights. Shaw takes us through the world of Global Rallycross as they come back to the states after a long stint overseas, the FIA looks into the mess that is timing and scoring in the…

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USF2000 – Two-fer in Toronto

Doug Patterson

The Mazda Road to Indy was fully represented in Toronto this weekend with the USF2000 National Championship back in action for the first time since the Night Before the 500 in May, and the Pro Mazda Championship racing after it’s last event in Milwaukee. They shared the weekend with the Firestone Indy Lights series and of course the IZOD IndyCar Series with everyone except Lights doing a double-header. After five events, Cape Motorsports driver and championship leader, Scott Hargrove had accumulated three poles, four podiums, three fastest race laps, and…

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USF2000 and Pirelli World Challenge Are Solid with Green-Savoree

Doug Patterson

While I thoroughly enjoy the IZOD IndyCar Series and American Le Mans Series races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, I must admit that my favourite parts of the weekend are the USF2000 and World Challenge races. The USF2000 races this year have seen a huge increase in participation level, with grid sizes routinely in the high 20s and sometimes in the 30s. The SCCA World Challenge has also seen a high level of participation in its three classes. The variety of machines, Championship, Formula Continental, and Formula Enterprise cars…

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Indy Lights – Championship Tightens Up After Toronto

Doug Patterson

The Firestone Indy Lights race on Saturday was just as chaotic and messy as the Star Mazda race on Sunday, even though there were only eleven drivers this past weekend. Four of the eleven would end up parked with broken equipment, on Lap 1 and the other two late in the race on Lap 30. A driver that we mentioned at the beginning of the season would be coming into strong form this season, Victor Carbone, put his #3 Sam Schmidt Motorsports machine on pole during a qualifying session where…

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Star Mazda – Beginning the Canadian Swing

Doug Patterson

The IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, and Star Mazda Championship began their three-race Canadian stint on the streets of Toronto this weekend. Sage Karam was fastest during Friday practice with a 1:08.793 and nearly eclipsed Dane Cameron’s 1:08.755 track record, falling a mere 0.038 sec short. Sage’s hope for Canada is to close the gap on the championship leaders riding the momentum of his great results on the two ovals races at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis and the Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA. “The track picked up a…

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INDYCAR – Probation Continues Lack of Credability Trend

Shaun

Well it looks as the INDYCAR series has answered whether contact is good for the sport or not. Yesterday the governing body handed out some probation rulings against Mike Conway, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Alex Tagliani for avoidable contact issues. The rulings mostly cite the Canadian leg of the championship but in Hunter-Reay’s case, it goes all the way back to Barber. I was baffled yet again to see the fans of the series try and make sense of the calls. It is impossible to make sense of something that never…

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IndyLights – Andretti Autosport Strikes Back

Doug Patterson

So far the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights Championship has been dominated by Sam Schmidt Motorsports. In past years, Andretti Autosport, when they were in partnership with AFS Racing, had fielded back-to-back championship winners with Raphael Matos (2008) and J.R. Hildebrand (2009). Up until the Toronto race, SSM drivers had won five of the six races, only losing the Barber race to Team Moore’s Victor Garcia (who may have been running with an illegal suspension). While there’s no doubt that the SSM staff is extremely talented, and they have been working…

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