Star Mazda Championship Story Hooks

2011 PUTS ZOOM-ZOOM ON THE ROAD TO INDY

• The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is the college varsity of IndyCar racing and a major step on the new Mazda Road to Indy that provides scholarship funding for the champion in each series to move up and compete in the next level.  Series include the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, the Firestone Indy Lights series and the IZOD IndyCar series. 

• Five drivers in the 2010 Star Mazda Championship have tested Indy Lights cars and two (Norwegian racer Anders 'The Viking' Krohn and Canadian David Ostella) have announced full-season Indy Lights programs for 2012.

• Andretti Autosport has become the first organization with teams and drivers operating at every level of the Mazda Road to Indy, including USF2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights and IndyCar.  The Andretti Autosport Star Mazda driver for 2011 will be 2010 USF2000 champion Sage Karam.

• Juncos Racing, the Florida-based team that fielded the car for 2010 Star Mazda champion Conor Daly has announced their four-driver lineup for 2011, including 17 year-old second-year Colombian driver Tatiana Calderon, 19 year-old Argentine racer Martin Scuncio, second-year Brazilian racer Joao Horto and 16 year-old American karting champion Gustavo Menezes.

•  The 2009 Expert Series champion, 51 year-old racer Mike Guasch, will return to compete in several Star Mazda Championship races in 2011.  He clinched the title driving the #91 JDC Motorsports / Molecule Labs / MG4 Manufacturing Mazda to a total of six in-class wins.  He competed in Europe during the 2010 season, racing in the FIA GT3 series. 

• Star Mazda graduate and Indy Lights standout James Hinchcliffe turned the fastest time in a recent test at Sebring with the Newman-Haas IndyCar team.  His lap of 52.8-sec was 2/10ths quicker than IndyCar veteran Oriol Servia who also participated in the test.  Hinchcliffe finished third in the 2005 Star Mazda Championship with a record of three poles, three wins and nine podium finishes.  Current IndyCar racer Raphael Matos won the 2005 Star Mazda Championship.
  
  
  
• A year-long global competition on iRacing.com, the Intel GP Series, utilized the most popular 'sim' race car in the iRacing stable – a Star Mazda – and competed on one of the most popular tracks, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  The World Finals will be held at the CeBit 'digital world' trade show in Hanover, Germany in March of 2011.

• For further information, photos, interviews, etc., please contact Star Mazda Communications Director Peter Frey at (818) 398—5733 or StarMazdaPR@aol.com.