STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVERS CONTINUE THEIR BATTLE FOR THE
VISITFLORIDA CUP WITH A DOUBLE-HEADER LIVE ON HDnet AT THE HARRAH'S
AUTOBAHN GRAND PRIX PRESENTED BY MAZDA
Autobahn Country Club / Joliet, IL (July 27, 1010 ) -- The battle for the
2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear roars into the second
half of the 13-race season with Rounds 8 & 9 at this weekend's HARRAH'S
Autobahn Grand Prix presented by MAZDA. Fans can watch the action live
on HDnet as drivers battle for the inaugural VISITFLORIDA Cup a 7-race
championship-within-a-championship sponsored by Florida's official
tourism corporation. The broadcast, airing both Saturday, July 31 and
Sunday August 1, begins with a half-hour pre-race show beginning at 12:30
pm Central / 1:30 pm Eastern, followed by three hours of live racing,
including the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, the USF2000
National Championship Powered by Mazda and the Playboy MX-5 Cup. The two
45-minute Star Mazda Championship races are both scheduled to start at
3:05 pm Central / 4:05 pm Eastern.
There are a variety of intriguing story lines among the ranks of Star
Mazda Championship drivers. Three different drivers have won the last
three races, including Frenchman Tristan Vautier (#38 Andersen Racing /
Moulin TP / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda) in Race 7 / Round 2 at
New Jersey Motorsports park on June 27, Brazilian Caio Lara (#19 JDC
Motorsports / MLD / ATW Mazda) in Race 6 / Round 1 at NJMP and Conor Daly
(#22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services
Ltd. Mazda) in Round 5 at 7/8ths mile Iowa Speedway on June 19.
Of course, Daly also won the three races prior to that (including the
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and O'Reilly
Raceway Park), becoming one of only four drivers in the 20 year history
of the Star Mazda Championship to have won four races in a row (Joey Hand
in 1999, Michael McDowell in 2004 and Raphael Matos in 2005). As a
result, he currently leads the championship battle with 289 points, 41
points ahead of his nearest competitor.... and he did finish 3rd and 5th
in this event last year.
Given, however, that Star Mazda awards 44 points to the winner of a race,
and six races remain in the season, Daly's string of wins is a
substantial accomplishment, but his lead in the championship points
battle is scarcely commanding.
Currently second in the championship is Norwegian racer Anders 'The
Viking' Krohn (Anders 'The Viking' Krohn (#47 Andersen Racing / Norse
Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda) with 248 points.
Krohn has yet to win a race this season, but he started from the pole in
the season-opener at Sebring and has put together a record of three
podium finishes and seven top-5s. Driving for a different team in 2009,
Krohn finished 10th and 12th at Autobahn.
Also well-placed in the points battle, though this is his rookie year and
he, too, has yet to win a race, is Brazilian racer Joao Victor Horto (#18
Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda). With four podiums and six
finishes in the top-7, Horto has 234 points and is making the most of the
excellent equipment given him by Team Apex, also in its first season of
Star Mazda competition. Frenchman Tristan Vautier, the only driver other
than Daly to have won more than one race this season, is 4th in the
championship with 226 points. He won the season-opener at Sebring, and
the most recent Race 2 / Round 7 at New Jersey, but suffered a mechancial
problem while leading Round 3 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca that relegated
him to 13th, and his other finishes include a pair of 6ths, an 8th and a
9th. That said, he is always fast in practice and the race, and must be
considered a serious contender at Autobahn. Fifth in the championship
with his breakthrough win in Race 1 / Round 6 at New Jersey is the
likeable young Brazilian racer Caio Lara, a third-year driver in the Star
Mazda Championship.
Also keep an eye on a hungry young driver named Connor De Phillippi,
driving the #11 JDC Motorsports / MAZDASPEED Motorsports / Skip Barber
Mazda. He won the 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series and is driving in the 2010
Star Mazda championship with backing from the MAZDASPEED Motorsports
Driver Development Ladder, the unique and prestigious automaker-backed
program that helps champions at each level of open-wheel racing move up
the ladder. He has four top-5s and has finished in the top-8 at every
race so far this year; he is currently 6th in the championship with 220
points.
Three reigning champions from open-wheel 'ladder series' will be part of
the 23+ car Star Mazda Championship field at the Autobahn Grand Prix.
Included are 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series winner Connor De Phillippi, 2009
F2000 champion Chris Miller(#85 JDC Motorsports / Miller Milling / Red
Line Oil) and 2009 Venezuelan FF1600 champion Carlos Linares (#20 Linares
Racing / Instituto Nacional De Deportes).
The Star Mazda Championship also features a race-within-a-race for Expert
(ages 30 -44) and Master (45 and older) Series drivers; company
presidents and entrepreneurs in high-speed, wheel-to-wheel battles with
top young drivers from around the world. Top Expert Series drivers
include Texan J.W. Roberts (#65 Team GDT / General Data Tech Mazda) who
leads the points battle with four in-class wins. Top Master Series
racers include points leader Gerry Kraut (#55 JDC Motorsports / Dougherty
& Co. / Dougherty Funding LLC Mazda, as well as Walt Bowlin (#23 AIM
Autosport / Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery Mazda). Leading the Master Series is
Gerry Kraut (#55) from North Oaks, Minnesota; other competitors include
Puerto Rican racer Carlos Conde (#31 Team GDT / Pronto-GMT / Olympus
Securities Mazda), Dom Bastien (#37 Andersen Racing Mazda) of West Palm
Beach, Florida and, from Tarpon Springs, Florida, Walt Bowlin (#23 AIM
Autosport / Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery Mazda).
Unique local racers competing this weekend span the spectrum from a 19
year-old female champion to a 50 year-old former competition acrobatic
pilot and soybean meal trader from the Chicago Board of Trade. Ashley
Freiberg of Homer Glen, Illinois, is a 19 year-old rising star who has
already made history as the first female driver to win both a regional
Skip Barber Championship and a Skip Barber Championship national race.
She has also driven midgets and stock cars and was an instructor at the
AMG Driving Academy teaching female Olympic Silver Medalists and X-Games
World Champions how to drive.
Jeff Garibotti, 50, is a Chicago native, soybean meal trader at the
Chicago Board of Trade and former competitive acrobatic pilot who will be
making his professional racing debut in the Star Mazda Championship race
at Autobahn. A member at Autobahn since it opened in 2004, Garibotti
will be competing in the 'Master Series,' a race-within-a-race for
drivers aged 45 and older who battle wheel-to-wheel battle at 160 mph
with top young racers from around the world. Drivers aged 30 -- 44
compete in the Expert Series.
Bob Kaminsky of Homer Glen, IL (#28 Team Apex / Air Tigers, Inc.) is
competing in the Master Series category with the hot new Team Apex. He
is a highly-experienced racer with over 42 national championship race
victories to his credit and holds professional racing licenses with SCCA
(Sports Car Club of America), IMSA (International Motor Sports
Association), Champ Car, and the Indy Racing League. In 1997, after
racing eight or nine years, he won a Formula Mazda championship, which
got him an Indy car test where he earned his Indy car license. Kaminsky
is the owner of Air tigers, Inc. a heating and air conditioning company
that features a fleet of service vehicles painted in tiger stripes.
This weekend's venue is just like a country club, but with a racetrack
instead of a golf course. Located in Joliet, IL, the Autobahn country
Club is a membership facility that offers enthusiasts the opportunity to
drive their high-performance cars at high speeds an environment that is
safe, scenic and challenging. Also offered are driving instruction and
corporate events, as well as race weekends like the HARRAH'S Autobahn
Grand Prix presented by MAZDA. Five different racing series will be on
the program for the HARRAH'S Autobahn Grand Prix presented by MAZDA,
including the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup and the USF2000 National
Championship presented buy Mazda. There will be two 45-minute Star Mazda
Championship races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Both will get the
green light for the Series' traditional Formula 1-style 'standing start'
at 3:05 pm. Drivers and teams will start arriving in the Chicago/Joliet
area on Wednesday, July 28. There is a 'test day' on Thursday, July 29,
with official practice beginning on Friday, July 30.
Star Mazda Championship drivers benefit from two separate but
complimentary development programs. The MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver
Development Ladder will provide financial backing for the Star Mazda
champion to move up to a funded drive in a Mazda-powered race car in
2011. And the IndyCar's 'Road to Indy' program is designed to provide a
clearly-defined path for drivers whose goal is to race in IndyCars and
the Indy 500. The 2011 prize package includes an Indy Lights test for
the series champion with a top team in the series.
Star Mazda drivers are competing for $1.5 million in prizes, including a
MAZDA-backed drive for the 2011 season in the next step up the
motorsports ladder, $100,000 in cash, a test with a top team in the Indy
Lights series and the VISIT FLORIDA Cups, a 5-weekend, 7-race
championship-within-a-championship in which the driver scoring the most
points wins a personalized Florida dream vacation.
