TRISTAN VAUTIER CLAIMS HIS SECOND VICTORY OF THE SEASON IN ROUND 3 OF THE STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP VISITFLORIDA CUP AT NEW JERS


By Star Mazda

June 27, 2010

New Jersey Motorsports Park (June 27, 2010) – Frenchman Tristan Vautier claimed his second victory of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear driving the #38 Andersen Racing / Moulin TP / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda in Round 3 of the VISITFLORIDA Cup at New Jersey Raceway Park.    Starting from the outside of the second row, he took the lead from pole-sitter Conor Daly's #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda on the opening lap and led all the way to the checkered.  Finishing 2nd - his third podium of the season -- after starting 8th in the #18 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda was Brazilian Joao Victory Horto.  Rounding out the top-3 was Norwegian racer Anders 'The Viking' Krohn, scoring his third podium of the season in the #47 Andersen Racing / Norse Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda.  Krohn was holding tight to second place until the final lap when his gearbox stuck in 6th and Horto was able to pass.

"It’s the end of a long nightmare for me and the Andersen Racing team with a win in the first race and then so much bad luck in one race after another," says the young driver from Grenoble, France who won the season-opener at Sebring.  "I was able to make a four second gap over Conor by about halfway, but then his tires went off toward the end and I finished seven seconds ahead of Joao.  I has so much emotion crossing the finish line that I almost broke my steering wheel becaue I was so happy.  The Andersen Racing team has worked so hard for this, and all my sponsors who helped make it happen.  And to hold this VISITFLORIDA trophy again makes me feel like we have turned a corner and we can show what a good team we are during the rest of the season."

In the Expert Series (drivers aged 30-44) Californian Patrick O'Neill crossed the finish line first in class and 15th overall in the #64 JDC Motorsports / O'Neill Construction Mazda.  Leading the Master Series (driver 44 and older) was Puerto Rico native Carlos Conde with an 18th-place finish in his #31 Team GDT / Pronto-GMT / Olympus Securities Mazda.  This is the second in-class victory for both O'Neill and Conde, both of whom won their respective classes in Round 2 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Rounding out the top-5 was Horto's Team Apex teammate, Venezuelan racer Jorge Goncalves in the #9 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda.  Brazilian Caio Lara, winner of yesterday's Race 1 / Round 6, brought his #19 JDC Motorsports / MLD / ATW Mazda home in 6th. MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder scholarship winner (and 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series Champion) Connor De Phillippi, finished 8th in the #11 JDC Motorsports / MAZDASPEED Motorsports / Skip Barber Mazda.  The lone female racer in the field, colombian Tatiana Calderon, matched her best finish so far this year, scoring a 9th-place finish in the #25 Juncos Racing / Kia Motors Mazda.  Another drive of note came from Ohio native Larry Pegram, a top rider in the AMA SuperBike class making his first-ever start in a Star Mazda Championship race.  After qualifying 21st in the #72 AIM Autosport / Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery / Foremost Insurance Mazda, he moved up to finish 16th overall.

The hard luck award of the day goes to Quebec racer Mikael Grenier who qualified 3rd in the #17 Andersen Racing / Slow Cow / April Super Flow / NAPA Auto Parts / HS Telecom / Desharnais Mazda, but finished 21st, four laps down.

Pos

No.

Name

Laps

Diff

Sponsor

1

38

Tristan Vautier

35

Moulin TP, Cecibon, Circuit du Laquais, Fontanel

2

18

Joao Horto

35

7.057

Wabash Capital Investments

3

47

Anders Krohn

35

9.575

Norse Cutting and Abandonment, Trallfa Industries, Colosseum

4

22

Conor Daly

35

14.193

INDECK, The College Network, Merchant Services Ltd.

5

9

Jorge Goncalvez

35

16.848

Wabash Capital Investments

6

19

Caio Lara

35

19.308

MLD/ATW/Molecule

7

16

David Ostella

35

29.336

GP Global Precast

8

11

Connor De Phillippi

35

35.256

Mazdaspeed Motorsports, Skip Barber

9

25

Tatiana Calderon

35

35.367

JAC Motors

10

66

Rusty Mitchell

35

53.034

Motorola, Petro Comm.

11

20

Carlos Linares

35

1:10.226

Instituto Nacional De Deportes

12

81

Nick Andries

35

1:16.032

Indy 500/ American Icon Team Pelfrey

13

28

Juan Piedrahita

35

1:18.410

Petro Sur, GFK Motors

14

85

Chris Miller

34

1 Lap

Miller Milling, Red Line Oil

15

64

Patrick O'Neill

34

1 Lap

O'Neill Construction

16

72

Larry Pegram

34

1 Lap

Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery / Foremost Insurance

17

65

J.W. Roberts

34

1 Lap

General Data Tech

18

31

Carlos Conde

34

1 Lap

Pronto-GMT, Olympus Securities

19

37

Dom Bastien

34

1 Lap

Andersen Race Park

20

55

Gerry Kraut

33

2 Laps

Dougherty and Co./Dougherty Funding LLC.

21

17

Mikael Grenier

31

4 Laps

Slow Cow, April Super Flow, NAPA Auto Parts, HS Telecom, Desharnais

22

23

Walt Bowlin

28

7 Laps

Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery

 

All the racing action this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park, including the Star Mazda Championship, the USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda and Mazda MX-5 Cup was broadcast live on HDnet as part of the VISITFLORIDA Cup.  In addition to the live broadcast, one of the Star Mazda Championship races will be cable syndicated across the USA, Canada and worldwide and aired in the next few weeks.

Drivers in the Star Mazda Championship are contending two championships at stake this season, the overall Series championship and the VISITFLORIDA Cup, which will go to the driver scoring the most points in the seven televised races during the 2010 season.  VISITFLORIDA races include the season-opener at Sebring, the double-headers at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Autobahn Country Club (broadcast live on HDnet) as well as Mosport and the season finale at Road Atlanta.

Daly leads the Series championship with four wins, five poles and 289 points, followed by Anders Krohn with a pole, three podiums and six top-5 finishes for 248 points.  Horto's podium finish moves him up in to 3rd in the championship with 234 points (making him also the leading contender for 'Rookie of the Year' honors).  Tristan Vautier is 4th with 226 points with Caio Lara rounding out the top-5 with 223 points.  Texan J.W. Roberts, who won the Expert Series yesterday driving the #65 Team GDT / General Data Tech Mazda and finished third in class today leads the category with 110 points while Master Series driver Gerry Kraut, who also won yesterday and finished 3rd today in his #55 JDC Motorsports / Dougherty & Co. / Dougherty Funding LLC Mazda also leads his class.

The lead in the VISITFLORIDA battle changed hands between yesterday and today.  With victories in two of the three VISITFLORIDA races held so far, Tristan Vautier leads with 118 points over Anders Krohn and Conor Daly, tied with 110. 

About Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear

For 2010, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will feature an 11-weekend, 13-race schedule, most on major race weekends with American Le Mans and the Indy Racing League. Rising stars from around the world will compete for prizes valued at $1.5 million and benefit from two driver development programs, including the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder and the Indy Racing League's 'Road to Indy' program.  Series alumni include Indy Car stars Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and Raphael Matos, rising NASCAR drivers Michael McDowell, Scott Speed and Colin Braun and prototype racers Dane Cameron and Guy Cosmo.  Drivers 16 and older are welcome to compete and the Star Mazda Championship also features Expert (30 to 44) and Master (45 and older) classes for more mature racers. The Star Mazda Championship features standing starts, wheel-to-wheel racing at 150 mph and budgets a fraction of other top open-wheel ladder series. For more information on the Star Mazda Championship please visit www.starmazda.com.  Selected Star Mazda Championship races are broadcast on HDnet and syndicated through a variety of international, national and regional networks.  Information on the TV schedule can be found at www.MazdaRacing.tv.  Additional information, including search links and affiliates, can be found at the 'TV Information' link on the Series web site.

________________________________

For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.   For information, interviews and photos, contact Star Mazda Communications Director Peter Frey at (818) 398-5733 or StarMazdaPR@aol.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.usf2000.com                        www.skipbarber.com              www.mx-5cup.com

Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports

(310) 318-4582 / E-mail: MAZDASPEED@MazdaUSA.com

Keywords: star mazda

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