THE CONSISTENT ENGLISHMAN -- ADAM CHRISTODOULOU WINS ROUND ONE OF THE 2009 STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP AT SEBRING

Sebring (March 20, 2009) – A trio of European rookies took the top three spots in this afternoon's Round One of the 2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the 57th Annual 12 Hours of Sebring. Adam Christodoulou, the Formula Renault racer from Milton Keynes, England, started from the outside of the front row and drove twenty flawless laps to victory at the wheel of the #11 JDC Motorsports Mazda. Finishing second by a margin of 0.504 sec. was fellow Englishman and long-time rival, pole-sitter Richard Kent of Birmingham, driving the #33 Andersen Racing / Traka / Allied Interior Products Mazda. Rounding out the top-3 was Conor Daly, son of racing legend Derek Daly, a former F1 and Indy car racer as well as two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Daly, the 2008 Skip Barber Pro Series champion, is racing the #22 Andersen Racing / College Network / Indeck / Cytomax Mazda with sponsorship from the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder.

"We struggled through some mechanical problems during the week and even missed a session on Wednesday, which was tough with qualifying on Thursday, but the team did an awesome job and it all came right in the end," said Christodoulou. "Even though Richard was on the pole, I seemed to get an extremely good start and passed him going into the first corner, but then I looked over and saw Alex Ardoin next to me and he led the first couple of laps until he had a drive through penalty and I got the lead of the race. I'm used to twenty-five minute races in much colder climates, so it felt like a really long event, and Richard actually passed me on one of the final re-starts but went a bit deep into corner ten and I was able to get by and hold the lead for the rest of the race."

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PROVING HIS PACE – RICHARD KENT ON POLE FOR ROUND ONE
OF STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP AT 12 HOURS OF SEBRING

Sebring (March 19, 2009) – Proving that his pace in testing earlier in the week was a true measure of his capabilities, Englishman Richard Kent put the #33 Andersen Racing / Traka / Allied Interior Products Mazda on the pole for tomorrow's Round One of the 2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. His time of 2:00.286 was well shy of the unofficial track record he set in testing earlier in the week, but still put him well clear of Adam Christodoulou, who will share the front-row for tomorrow's standing start thanks to a lap of 2:00.426 in the #11 JDC Motorsports Mazda.

"It seems to me that the track has gone quite a lot slower; when we go out right after the ALMS alms cars, we seem to lose a lot of grip and I don't know exactly if it’s the rubber on the track or just a coincidence with the heat," says the racer from Milton Keynes, England. "Whatever, there certainly wasn't as much grip on offer, so we had to use the second set of tires, but its all good; we did what we wanted to do with winning the pole, now we've got to focus on winning the race. Conditions tomorrow in the late afternoon should actually be a bit better, qualifying was at 1:30 right in the heat of the day, but we set our unofficial track record in the heat earlier in the week, so we've got a fast car for whatever the conditions are and we'll just be ready for whatever comes. One thing I can tell you, it's going to be a long race."

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ONE SMALL STEP TOWARD TRADITION – CONOR DALY
TOPS THE TIME SHEETS IN FIRST OFFICIAL PRACTICE
FOR STAR MAZDA 2009 SEASON-OPENER AT SEBRING

Sebring (March 18, 2009) – Conor Daly, son of racing legend and two-time 12 Hours of Sebring winner Derek Daly took one small step toward tradition today, posting the fastest time in the first official practice session for Round One of the 2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.

Under partly cloudy skies and with temperatures in the low 80s, the rookie
from Noblesville, Indiana posted a time of 1:59.743 (111.238 mph) in the #22
Andersen Racing / College Network / Indeck / Cytomax Mazda. In second, after holding the fastest lap for most of the session, was 2008 Sebring winner Joel Miller with a lap of 1:59.891 (111.101 mph) in the #22 JDC Motorsports Mazda. Rounding out the top-3 was Miller's JDC teammate, Brazilian Ciao Lara, with a time of 2.00.039 (110.964 mph) in the #19 JDC Motorsports Mazda.

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