|
2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear - Round 7 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event Information and Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Please note: Some US and Canadian Customs procedures have been changed. More information on this subject will be posted in the next few days. It is not too complicated, but will require some time for the application process. Please do not wait until the last minute to start. Once you have properly signed up, the border crossings to and from Canada should be easier than before. Gary Rodrigues To all teams competing at Toronto: On 15 Jun 07, we published a proposal for an alternate system to conduct Series qualifying at the Toronto event, due to the unusual schedule and other circumstance peculiar to the venue. We requested comments and feedback to be sure we were clear how it would work, and so that everyone involved would be comfortable with the program and certain that the result would be fair. In the final analysis, it was the consensus of the teams that it would be better to leave the schedule as originally published, with one 35 minute session for all cars to qualify on Saturday morning. That is how it will be done. We are looking forward to an exciting event on the famous Toronto street circuit. See you there. Gary Rodrigues Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear 28 June 2007 New - VP Fuel Information - Toronto
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Toronoto Event Reports | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CALIFORNIAN CAMERON WINS, CANADIAN CUNNINGHAM SECOND Toronto, Ontario, Canada (July 7, 2007) – Dane Cameron continued his domination of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with a hat trick in round Seven at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto – fastest in every practice session, won the pole in qualifying, led every lap on the way to his third win of the season in the #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Mazda. Cameron’s record includes four poles so far this season, and he scored an identical hat trick on his way to victory in Round Two at the Reliant Park street circuit in Houston. Finishing second in a 45-minute race interrupted every few laps by no less than five full-course yellows was Quebec racer Devin Cunningham, driver of the #33 Discovery Channel/AIM Autosport Mazda. Cunningham won the 2006 Discovery Channel ‘Star Racer’ competition and is making the most of the full-season sponsored ride in the Star Mazda series that was his prize. He won a rainy Round Five at Portland. Completing the top-3 in his first-ever Star Mazda podium finish was Alex Ardoin of Lafayette, Louisiana. Ardoin, who’s previous best finish was 6th at Round 6 in Cleveland, qualified the #51 Oral & Facial Surgery Center/Mundill Racing Mazda in 16th and drove up through the field to finish 3rd. Also putting in a notable drive was Tyson Sy of Manila, Philippines, who suffered a blown engine in the first few laps of qualifying, forcing him to start the #68 Popsy/Team G.FRO Mazda from the very back of the 22-car field. He sliced his way up the order in a manner that had the track announcers nicknaming him the “Thrilla from Manila”, running third for several laps before finally bringing the car home in 4th-place. Cameron pulled out to a 2-second lead in the opening laps of the race until an accident at the 4-minute mark brought out the first full-course yellow. He resumed pulling away from the field when the race went green again with 35 minutes to go, only to run into another full-course yellow at the 31 minute mark. And so it went throughout the race, allowing only one or two green flag laps in between cautions until the closing minutes. “It wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked,” said the 18 year-old native of Sonoma, California. “The tires on my car took three laps to come fully back up to race temperatures, so I was driving the wheels of it and holding on for dear life on every re-start trying to keep Devin behind me. That aside, the JDC team gave me a really good car and I’m happy to score my third win and extend my lead in the championship.” Cunningham qualified 5th on the grid and moved up to second on the re-start after the second full-course caution. He challenged Cameron hard on several subsequent re-starts, running within inches, but eventually opted for a more conservative approach and an assured podium finish. “I though I would be nerve-wracking to race in front of this big a Canadian crowd, but it was just amazing,” said Cunningham. “Like Dane’s car, my tires took several laps to come up to temperature and it was tricky with all the track surface changes from asphalt to concrete in the turns and then back again. I got a good run on Dane during one of the re-starts, but it was clear that he had the faster car so I settled down and made sure to protect my position and make it to the finish.” Ardoin, the 2006 Skip Barber Shootout Award winner and 7-year veteran of national karting competition, ran a ‘stealth race’ until, on a yellow-flag re-start with twelve minutes left in the race, he executed a bold, side-by-side pass, taking over 3rd-place from Tyson Sy. “I’ve only run two street circuits so far, Houston and here, but I love them because they bring out a whole different aspect of driving,” he says. “What made the difference here was an adjustment I made to my racecraft after looking at some tapes of previous races. It was apparent that I wasn’t being nearly aggressive enough, especially under braking, so I worked on that and it paid off here in Toronto.” And here’s the story on what they’re all fighting for; forty years ago, on May 31, 1967, Mazda introduced the first street car with a rotary engine, the Cosmo Sport. Since then, they’ve built two million rotary-engined vehicles and the company has built its very identity on the idea of Zoom-Zoom and every vehicle they produce having the soul of a sports car. In pursuit of that ideal, Mazda has created a unique, company-sponsored ‘motorsports ladder’ that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car. This year’s Star Mazda series champion will receive a Mazda-sponsored full-season drive for 2008 in the next series up the ladder, the Cooper Tires Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. And the 2008 winner of the Atlantic Championship gets a $2 million sponsorship to help them move up to Champ Car. Toronto is the seventh round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule and the first of three Star Mazda races in Canada over the next two months, including Trois Rivierès, Quebec (where Star Mazda is the feature race) on August 18-19, and at Mosport in Bowmanville with the American Le Mans Series on August 24-25. Star Mazda races are broadcast tape-delayed on SPEED TV. Date and time (all times stated are Eastern and subject to change) for the one-hour broadcast is available at www.speedtv.com/programs. The Toronto race is scheduled to air on Saturday, July 21 at 12:00 pm with a re-broadcast on Monday, July 23 at 3:00 pm. The next event on the Star Mazda schedule is at Road America, with the American Le Mans Series, on August 10 – 11. For additional information please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.
CALIFORNIAN, CANADIAN ON FRONT ROW FOR START OF ROUND 7 In racing’s version of the United Nations, a Californian, a Canadian and an Australian – all series rookies -- make up the top-3 starters for Saturday afternoon’s Round 7 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, July 6 – 8. Scoring his fourth pole of the year, series points leader Dane Cameron capped a dominant performance in practice, where he led every session, by taking the Toronto pole with a lap of 1:08.755 (94.248 mph) in his #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Mazda. Cameron has won two races so far this year (VIR and Houston) and leads the Star Mazda championship with 218 points. Cameron brings some experience to this track, having raced here in a Formula Ford 2000 ‘double header’ in 2006, finishing 2nd in both races. “Having some experience with the track was a big help in getting up to speed quickly, and in steadily improving the car during practice,” says the 18 year-old native of Sonoma, California. “Having won on the street circuit in Houston is also a big psychological advantage because I now know how to attack a street circuit lined with concrete walls. I’m looking forward to the race because the new Goodyear racing tires we’re using for the first time here this weekend should allow us to run hard for the full race distance rather than playing a tire conservation game.” Sitting beside Cameron on the front row will be Toronto’s own Marco Di Leo, driver of the #21 Maxwell Paper Products Mazda. Di Leo, who won the season opener in Sebring, qualified second with a lap of 1:09.280 (93.533 mph). Di Leo was the 2006 Skip Barber National Championship runner-up, 2005 Skip Barber Scholarship winner, Team Sunoco Ultra 94 member and F2000 Bridgestone Series champion. He won the Star Mazda season-opener in Sebring and is currently third in the championship battle with 190 points. “Being a single car team and never having raced here before, we’ve been playing catch-up all weekend,” says Di Leo. “The team did a great job overnight to produce the best car we’ve had all weekend for the qualifying session, and I think it will be a good car for the race conditions this afternoon.” Starting third, directly behind Cameron on the grid, will be Australian racer James Davison, driver of the #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda. Davison has scored two poles so far this season and is 5th in the championship with 184 points. He set his 3rd-place time, a 1:09.326 (93.326 mph) on his first flying lap in the qualifying session, before brushing the wall with the rear tire. “The contact upset the handling and I wasn’t able to improve my time during the session, so I finally parked it early to save the tires for the race,” says the Melbourne native. “I raced here last year in the Atlantic series, and the experience was useful from the standpoint of knowing the circuit layout, but the cars are so different that there really wasn’t anything in the setup or driving style that translates. I’m feeling confident about my chances in this afternoon’s race because I know I have a good car and tires with less laps on them than any of the other front runners.” Starting 4th will be Ron White of Santa Clara, California. He turned a lap of 1:09.388 in the #69 Team G.FRO/Wunder-Bar Mazda. White has scored two podium finishes so far this season and is 4th in the championship with 187 points. In fifth is the next Canadian in the field, Devin Cunningham of Saint-Bruno, Quebec, driving the #33 Discovery Channel/AIM Autosport Mazda. Cunningham, who won Round Five at Portland and is 8th in the championship with 163 points, turned a lap of 1:09.411. Rounding out the Canadian contingent in the 22-car starting field are Vancouver’s Lorenzo Mandarino, driver of the #23 Newway Forming/Team G.FRO Mazda and race winner at Round Four in Salt Lake City. Mandarino will start from the 8th position on the grid with a lap of 1:09.785. He is currently 6th in the Star Mazda Championship with 165 points. Making his first start in the Star Mazda series is young Kyle Marcelli of Barrie, Ontario. With just one day of testing in a Star Mazda pro car under his belt, Marcelli qualified 10th with a lap of 1:09.856 in the #43 Trudel & Sons Roofing/John Walko Racing Mazda. And here’s the story on what they’re all fighting for; forty years ago, on May 31, 1967, Mazda introduced the first street car with a rotary engine, the Cosmo Sport. Since then, they’ve built two million rotary-engined vehicles and the company has built its very identity on the idea of Zoom-Zoom and every vehicle they produce having the soul of a sports car. In pursuit of that ideal, Mazda has created a unique, company-sponsored ‘motorsports ladder’ that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car. This year’s Star Mazda series champion will receive a Mazda-sponsored full-season drive for 2008 in the next series up the ladder, the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. And the 2008 winner of the Atlantic Championship gets a $2 million sponsorship to help them move up to Champ Car. So… they’re racing for their dream, and for the opportunity of a lifetime. And it all comes to a head in the 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race scheduled to take the green flag at 3:30 pm Saturday, July 7. Toronto is the seventh round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule and the first of three Star Mazda races in Canada over the next two months, including Trois Rivierès, Quebec (where Star Mazda is the feature race) on August 18-19, and at Mosport in Bowmanville with the American Le Mans Series on August 24-25. Star Mazda races are broadcast tape-delayed on SPEED TV. Date and time (all times stated are Eastern and subject to change) for the one-hour broadcast is available at www.speedtv.com/programs. The Toronto race is scheduled to air on Saturday, July 21 at 12:00 pm with a re-broadcast on Monday, July 23 at 3:00 pm. The next event on the Star Mazda schedule is at Road America, with the American Le Mans Series, on August 10 – 11. For additional information please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com. _____________________________________ On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas on the road-race tracks of America than any other brand of vehicle. At the track, you’ll see MX-5 Miata, RX-8, MAZDA3, MAZDA6, RX-7 and other vintage Mazda models competing, because every Mazda has the Soul of a Sports Car. For more information on the various Mazda spec series, visit www.champcaratlantic.com www.starmazda.com For more information on the Mazda Motorsports Ladder, please visit: Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports
Dane Cameron Continues Out Front at Toronto In a final late-afternoon practice session on a much hotter race track with an assortment of slips, slides and trips down the escape road, but no red flags, Dane Cameron… despite a last-lap spin… maintained his position at the top of the time sheet right from the first lap. Driving the #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Mazda, he improved from his 1:09.519 lap in morning practice to set a time of 1:09.334. As in the morning session, Australian racer James Davison, driver of the #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda retained the 2nd slot on the time sheet. He turned a lap of 1:09.772 in the morning, but was just a few thousandths slower in the afternoon, turning a 1:09.779. Improving markedly from his morning ranking, Quebec’s Devin Cunningham improved from 8th with a lap of 1:10.865 to 3rd in the afternoon, turning a 1:09.792 in the #33 AIM Autosport/Discovery Channel Mazda. Slipping in a fast lap late in the session, Jonathan Goring of Norfolk, CT moved up from 9th in the morning with a lap of 1:10.882 to 4th on the time sheet with a lap of 1:09.829. Goring drives the #14 Andersen Racing/Skip Barber Racing Mazda. Toronto’s Marco Di Leo, driver of the #21 Maxwell Paper Racing Mazda, also improved in the second session. His morning time was a 1:10.669, which he lowered to a 1:09.859 in the afternoon, moving up from 6th to 5th. The final Canadian in the field, Lorenzo Mandarino of Vancouver suffered in the afternoon session, dropping from fourth-fast in the morning to 13th in the second session. His a.m. time of 1:10.508 slipped to 1:10.696 in the p.m. Mandarino drives the #23 Team G.FRO/Newway Forming Mazda. The lone female racer in the series, Natacha Gachnang of Saint-Gingolph, Switzerland, was 11th in both sessions – despite improving from a 1:11.183 in the morning to a 1:10.656 in the afternoon. Gachnand drives the #35 AIM Autosport Mazda and has made Star Mazda series history by finishing on the podium in the last two races. The next on-track action is at 8:00 am Saturday morning, a 35-minute qualifying session to set the starting grid for the 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race scheduled to take the green flag at 3:30 pm Saturday, July 7. Toronto is the seventh round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule. Star Mazda races are broadcast tape-delayed on SPEED TV. Date and time (all times stated are Eastern and subject to change) for the one-hour broadcast is available at www.speedtv.com/programs. The Toronto race is scheduled to air on Saturday, July 21 at 12:00 pm with a re-broadcast on Monday, July 23 at 3:00 pm. The next event on the Star Mazda schedule is at Road America, with the American Le Mans Series, on August 10 – 11. For additional information please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.
Dane Cameron Leads Opening Practice at Toronto Star Mazda points leader Dane Cameron continued his domination of pre-race practice sessions Friday morning at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, and the three Canadians in the race were all in the top-10. Drivers, in addition to learning a circuit unfamiliar to most of them, were also learning the on-track characteristics of a new, medium-compound Goodyear racing tire making its competition debut this weekend. Cameron, intelligently sitting out the first ten minutes of the session while other cars dried out the morning wet patches on the track, quickly came up to speed once on track and set the fast time of 1:09.519 around the 1.755-mile Exhibition Place street circuit. Cameron had the advantage of having raced this circuit last year, finishing 2nd in both Formula Ford 2000 support races. “The track was fairly good once it got dried off and we had a very productive session,” said the 18 year-old native of Sonoma, California. “The new Goodyears are a big step forward in on-track consistency and they don’t ‘grow’ in diameter like the previous generation of tire did, which makes for easier and more consistent setups on the car.” Second-fastest was Australian racer James Davison in the #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda with a lap of 1:09.772. Third was Eric Freiberg of Homer Glen, Illinois in the #3 Northwest Autosport/CDE Collision Damage Experts Mazda with a lap of 1:10.276. Fastest among the Canadian drivers was Vancouver native Lorenzo Mandarino, who turned a lap of 1:10.508 in his #23 Team G.FRO/Newway Forming Mazda. Rounding out the Canadian contingent were Toronto’s Marco Di Leo in the #21 Maxwell Paper Racing Mazda with a lap of 1:10.669 and Quebec racer Devin Cunningham, who turned a lap of 1:10.865 in the #33 AIM Autosport/Discovery Channel Mazda. The lone female racer in the series, Natacha Gachnang of Saint-Gingolph, Switzerland, was 11th in the #35 AIM Autosport Mazda, recording a lap of 1:11.183. Gachnang has made Star Mazda series history by finishing on the podium in the last two races. Racers will also have a 30-minute practice session starting at 5:00 pm. The 35-minute qualifying session to set the starting grid for the race takes place at 8:00 am Saturday morning. The 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:30 pm Saturday, July 7. Toronto is the seventh round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule. Star Mazda races are broadcast tape-delayed on SPEED TV. Date and time (all times stated are Eastern and subject to change) for the one-hour broadcast is available at www.speedtv.com/programs. The Toronto race is scheduled to air on Saturday, July 21 at 12:00 pm with a re-broadcast on Monday, July 23 at 3:00 pm. The next event on the Star Mazda schedule is at Road America, with the American Le Mans Series, on August 10 – 11. For additional information please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.
CANADIAN RISING STARS ON EXHIBIT IN EXHIBITION PLACE
_______________________________
Three Canadian drivers, all rookies, each with one win so far this season, will be among the rising stars of open wheel racing competing in Round Seven of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, July 6 – 8. This will be the first of three Star Mazda races in Canada over the next two months, including Trois Rivierès, Quebec (where Star Mazda is the feature race) on August 18-19, and at Mosport in Bowmanville with the American Le Mans Series on August 24-25. Heading the list is Toronto’s own Marco Di Leo, driver of the #21 Maxwell Paper Products Mazda. Di Leo was the 2006 Skip Barber National Championship runner-up, 2005 Skip Barber Scholarship winner, Team Sunoco Ultra 94 member and F2000 Bridgestone Series champion. He won the Star Mazda season-opener in Sebring and is currently third in the championship battle with 190 points. He finished 7th in Round Six two weeks ago at Cleveland. Second is Burnaby B.C.’s Lorenzo Mandarino, driver of the #23 Newway Forming/Team G.FRO Mazda and race winner at Round Four in Salt Lake City. Mandarino had a tough weekend in Cleveland, finishing 18th, but is currently 6th in the Star Mazda Championship with 165 points. Mandarino was the 2005 SKUSA (Super Karts USA) Supernational Winner in the Super Pro class and an 11-time karting champion since 1996. Devin Cunningham of St. Bruno, Quebec, won the 2006 Discovery Channel competition, called ‘Star Racer,’ designed to find the next great Canadian racing driver. The 8-part docu-reality series aired last fall and Cunningham is now making the most of his prize, a full-season sponsorship in the 2007 Star Mazda Championship. He won Round Five of the Star Mazda Championship in Portland driving the #33 Discovery Channel/AIM Autosport Mazda and is currently 8th in the championship with 163 points. Also of note in the Star Mazda field is Natacha Gachnang, a native of St. Gingolph, Switzerland currently living in Toronto. She is Devin Cunningham’s teammate on the AIM Autosport team, driving the #35 AIM Autosport Mazda. Gachnang is the lone female driver in the Star Mazda Championship and has made series history by finishing on the podium in the last two races (2nd at Portland and 3rd at Cleveland). Gachnang was the 2001 Swiss junior karting champion and raced in the European Formula BMW series 2002 – 2005, moving up to Formula 3 in 2006. She joined the Star Mazda series at Salt Lake City and Toronto will be her fourth Star Mazda race. It should be noted that Toronto-based AIM Autosport is the home of Team A.I.M. (Apprenticeship In Motorsport), a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of Canadian youth in the motorsport industry and works to nurture the motorsport industry, find partnership opportunities for young racing apprentices and to grow the pool of apprentices in Canada. AIM alumni include Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish, Champ Car racer Andrew Ranger. Also a prime contender for victory in Toronto will be current championship points leader Dane Cameron of Sonoma, California. Cameron has won two races and scored three pole positions so far this season and leads the championship with 218 points. Cameron started from the pole and finished 2nd in Cleveland. In 2006, Cameron drove in the Formula Ford 2000 series and finished second in both Toronto races (all FF2000 events were ‘double headers’) on his way to finishing 2nd in the championship and being ‘Rookie of the Year.’ As a Team USA Scholarship driver, he won the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship in Europe. In 2005 Cameron was the SCCA Formula Jim Russell Series champion and Rookie of the Year. An interesting side note is that the Star Mazda Championship is something of a ‘United Nations of Racing’ with drivers not only from around the U.S. and Canada, but also, Venezuela, Switzerland, Pakistan, England and the Philippines. And the series demonstrates another aspect of democracy with special categories for drivers who don’t fit the ‘young lion’ category. The Expert Series is for drivers in the 30 to 44 age range, and the current points leader is Tony Rivera with 92. In the Masters Series category for racers 45 and older, Steve Hickham leads with 86 points. And here’s the story on what they’re all fighting for; forty years ago, on May 31, 1967, Mazda introduced the first street car with a rotary engine, the Cosmo Sport. Since then, they’ve built two million rotary-engined vehicles and the company has built its very identity on the idea of Zoom-Zoom and every vehicle they produce having the soul of a sports car. In pursuit of that ideal, Mazda has created a unique, company-sponsored ‘motorsports ladder’ that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car. This year’s Star Mazda series champion will receive a Mazda-sponsored full-season drive for 2008 in the next series up the ladder, the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. And the 2008 winner of the Atlantic Championship gets a $2 million sponsorship to help them move up to Champ Car. So… they’re racing for their dream, and for the opportunity of a lifetime. And it all begins on Friday, July 6 with a 70-minute practice session starting at 8:00 am. Racers will also have a 30-minute practice session starting at 5:00 pm. The 35-minute qualifying session to set the starting grid for the race takes place at 8:00 am Saturday morning. The 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:30 pm Saturday, July 7. Toronto is the seventh round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule. Star Mazda races are broadcast tape-delayed on SPEED TV. Date and time (all times stated are Eastern and subject to change) for the one-hour broadcast is available at www.speedtv.com/programs. The Toronto race is scheduled to air on Saturday, July 21 at 12:00 pm with a re-broadcast on Monday, July 23 at 3:00 pm. The next event on the Star Mazda schedule is at Road America, with the American Le Mans Series, on August 10 – 11. For additional information please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com. On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas on the road-race tracks of America than any other brand of vehicle. At the track, you’ll see MX-5 Miata, RX-8, MAZDA3, MAZDA6, RX-7 and other vintage Mazda models competing, because every Mazda has the Soul of a Sports Car. For more information on the various Mazda spec series, visit For more information on the Mazda Motorsports Ladder, please visit: Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||