DEMPSEY ON POLE FOR STAR MAZDA RACE 2 AT AUTOBAHN


By Star Mazda

July 25, 2009

-- DEMPSEY ON POLE FOR STAR MAZDA RACE 2 AT AUTOBAHN –

Fresh off a win from the pole in Race 1 earlier today, The Irish Steamroller puts in a flier in the closing laps of Race 2 qualifying at the  Star Mazda Championship double-header at the Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix of Mazda

 

Autobahn Country Club / Joliet, IL (July 25, 2009) – At the end of a long, long day, Irish racer Peter Dempsey is still all smiles and confident energy, and with good reason; after qualifying on the pole for Race 1 this morning, he proceeded to lead every lap and score his third victory of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear 2009 season. 

With a couple of hours to work with his Juncos Racing engineers to get the car re-tuned for a much cooler early evening final qualifying for tomorrow's Race 2, Dempsey waited until the final seven minutes of the session before putting in a lap more than a second quicker than anything he had done before… and secure his second pole of the weekend with a Star Mazda lap record of 2:10.546-sec. (98.172 mph) in the #3 Juncos Racing / HOOTERS / Motorsport Ireland / Queyside.ie Mazda.

"It's incredible how we're going this weekend; the Juncos team keeps giving me the tools to do the job, and I'm getting the job done," said Dempsey who adds a point for pole and extends his championship lead to 15 points over the man who will be starting next to him on the front row, Adam Christodoulou.  "And I'm really happy to see my teammate, Michael Furfari get his head back up after a rough patch at the last two oval races and qualify in the top-5.  It just goes to show how the team is really working like a well-oiled machine.  As for the fast lap, we definitely made some changes between the race and the final qualifying, and the conditions are just perfect for these Mazda-powered cars; it's cool, low humidity, just the right conditions to go really quick. Now we just have to translate that to results tomorrow at 1pm in the heat of the day and we'll really have accomplished something special this weekend.  I'm confident we can do it, and the team really deserves it."

As with Race 1, staring alongside Dempsey will be Englishman Adam Christodoulou, who both started and finished second in the #11 JDC Motorsports / Molecule Mazda. Christodoulou, who has won two races so far this season and stands second in the championship with 283 points, turned a lap of 2:11.113-sec. 97.748 mph).  In the first change from the Race 1 lineup, the third spot on the grid will be occupied by another Englishman, Richard Kent, who has already won once this season, at the first double-header weekend of the season at New Jersey Motorsports Park. He turned a lap of 2:11.931-sec. (97.141 mph) in the (#33 Andersen Racing / Traka / Lafarge / Allied Interior Products Mazda.

Starting fourth will be American Joel Miller, the 2007 Skip Barber champion, 2008 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder scholarship winner and now in his second season of Star Mazda Championship competition; he stands fourth in the championship.  He turned a lap of 2:12.003-sec. (97.089 mph) in the #2 Andersen Racing / Fader Higher Productions / eSoles / DougMockett & Co. Mazda.  And rounding out the top-5 is Dempsey's Juncos Racing teammate, the youngest driver in the Star Mazda Championship, 16 year-old Michael Furfari.  Qualifying in the first of the two groups during the split qualifying session, Furfari cracked off two quick laps in his#13 Juncos Racing / Furfari Paving Mazda that had observers rubbing their eyes in Timing and Scoring, the quickest being a 2:12.048-sec. (97.056 mph).  This was the quickest time until the closing minutes of the session and represents the best qualifying effort so far this season for the young native of Toronto, Canada.

 Results of Star Mazda Championship - Star Mazda Championship Sunday Qualifying

Pos

No.

Name

Best Tm

Diff

Best Spd

In Lap

Team

Sponsor

1

3

Peter Dempsey

2:10.546

  

98.172

8

Juncos Racing

Hooters / Juncos Racing / Motorsports Ireland

2

11

Adam Christodoulou

2:11.113

0.567

97.748

9

JDC Motorsports

Molecule/AlpineStars/Miller Milling Co

3

33

Richard Kent

2:11.932

1.386

97.141

9

Andersen Racing

Traka/Allied Interior Products

4

2

Joel Miller

2:12.003

1.457

97.089

9

Andersen Racing

Fader High Productions/eSoles/Doug Mockett & Co

5

13

Michael Furfari

2:12.048

1.502

97.056

9

Juncos Racing

Furfari Paving

6

22

Conor Daly

2:12.324

1.778

96.853

7

Andersen Racing

Indeck/Cytomax/Merchant Services/College Network

7

66

Rusty Mitchell

2:12.384

1.838

96.809

10

Mitchell Motorsports

Motorola

8

27

Anders Krohn

2:12.415

1.869

96.787

9

Mundill

Trallfa/Colosseum

9

51

Alex Ardoin

2:12.511

1.965

96.716

6

JDC Motorsports

Oral & Facial Surgery Center/Twister Trailer

10

72

Jorge Goncalvez

2:12.833

2.287

96.482

8

Aim Autosport

  

11

30

Rick Rosin

2:13.094

2.548

96.293

5

Team GDT

FundeSporte/Governo Do ESTADO SANTA Catarina

12

19

Caio Lara

2:13.172

2.626

96.236

10

JDC Motorsports

MLD/ATW/Molecule

13

71

David Ostella

2:13.338

2.792

96.117

5

Aim Autosport

GP Global Precast

14

21

Denis Navarro

2:13.420

2.874

96.058

7

Andersen Racing

Navarro Medicines Distribution/Allied

15

91

Michael Guasch

2:13.815

3.269

95.774

10

JDC Motorsports

Molecule

16

16

Chris Cumming

2:14.329

3.783

95.408

10

World Speed Motorsports

Texas World Speedway/Motul Oil/K&N Filters +

17

57

Robert Kaminsky

2:14.699

4.153

95.145

10

Team Apex

  

18

61

Sean Burstyn

2:14.849

4.303

95.040

2

Juncos Racing

The Collection

19

65

Ashley Freiberg

2:15.585

5.039

94.524

5

Team GDT

C+D Supply, AKZO NOBEL, AGA Glass

20

31

Carlos Conde

2:16.978

6.432

93.562

8

ASF

MIO.TV

21



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