Latest Releases . . .
BATAVIA, Ohio, May 16 - Madison Snow was in a class by himself at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, Calif. last weekend.
Snow not only dominated both 45-minute IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama races on Friday and Saturday, he had a perfect weekend that most drivers only see in their dreams.
Driving the No. 62 UIS Porsche 997 fielded by Wright Motorsports and Snow Racing, Snow won the BBS pole for both races, led every lap of both races and set the fastest race lap in both races to boot.
It was a stunning performance by both the 17-year-old from Lehi, Utah and Wright Motorsports, the Batavia, Ohio-based defending team champion of this IMSA development series for Porsche 997s. "Read more"
NÜRBURG, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, April 22 — American rookie Ryan Tveter finished a solid 11th in a field of 33Sunday in Round 5 of the 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup at the world-famous Nürburgring. It was a terrific showing for the 18-year-old rookie from Oyster Bay, N.Y. and Zurich, Switzerland, especially considering that the doubleheader attracted many competitors from the series directly above it, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.
“If there hadn’t been any Eurocup drivers in the race I could have been on the podium!” noted Tveter, who is competing in his first full season after two partial seasons in North America. “On the other hand, it was a really good experience to race alongside and battle with them,” he added.
Driving the Fortec Competition No. 36 Tatuus, on Saturday Tveter qualified 15th for both of Sunday’s races, just 0.947 of a second off the pole.
He had advanced six positions to ninth place in the first race when he was involved in a racing accident around the mid-point while he was in the middle of a three-wide onslaught for the same piece of real estate going into Turn 1. His car, which advertises the Autobau Automotive Museum and Convention Center in Romanshorn, Switzerland, received damage to its front wing and he wasn’t able to finish that race, but the Fortec crew had it back in excellent shape for the second race less than two hours later.
"Read more"
DALLAS, March 5 — Juan Camilo Acosta of M1 Racing got the 2013 season of the Pro MazdaChampionshippresented by Cooper Tires off to an exciting and very successful start on Friday when he finished fourth in the first half of a season-openingdoubleheader at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.
Driving the Dallas, Texas-based team’s immaculate white and yellow No. 11 sponsored by Studio F and Ela, the 22-year-oldrookiefrom Cali, Colombia took thecheckered flag just a tick after the podium finishers - Diego Ferreira, Spencer Pigot and MatthewBrabham - while holding off a hard-charging Petri Suvanto in the 12-lap event.
Acosta’s excellent finish followed a superb qualifying effort earlier Friday afternoon that saw him earn thefifth-place starting position with a time of 2:03.666 and an average speed of 98.976 miles per hour for the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course that is used for the United States Grand Prix Formula 1 race. That was only 0.545 of a second off the pole.
The start of Friday’s race was a wild affair in which three drivers went off course. Luckily Acosta wasn’t one of them. The driver who started fourth wasn’t as lucky, however, which vaulted Acosta into third position when the first lap was scored."Read more"
CRESSON, Texas, Feb. 26- It’s been a busy 16 weeks for M1 Racing owner Paul Mata and his rookie driver, Juan Camilo Acosta.
Mata, of Dallas, formed M1 Racing on Nov. 4 when the team he managed closed its formula car operations.
Since then he has not only organized his new team from the ground up, but he has spent 33 days testing with Acosta in preparation for the season-opening doubleheader of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires this Friday and Saturday at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.
Acosta, 22, of Cali, Colombia, will drive the Cresson, Texas-based team’s beautiful yellow and white No. 11. It is sponsored by Studio F and Ela, two young women’s clothing lines."Read more"
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Feb. 8 - Linares Racing announced today that one of Latin America’s most promising rising stars will drive one of its cars at the first official series test for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires this weekend at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Fla.
Linares Racing’s Carlos and Gustavo Linares chose Francisco Cerullo for this opportunity only a month after Cerullo was presented with a prestigious American Award by the FIA in recognition of his spectacular 2012 season.
Cerullo, 27, of Caracas, Venezuela, won the LATAM Formula 2000 Challenge championship last year and he finished second in the Panam GP Series."Read more"
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 30 - Wright Motorsports/Snow Racing’s UIS Porsche GT3 Cup No. 62 led the Grand Touring (GT) division two different times and went on to finish 11th out of 34 cars in the division Sunday at the 51st annual Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We had a great first half of the race, as we were able to race into the lead by sheer speed and run in the top three,” said Wright Motorsports owner John Wright. “We had two slight mechanical issues in the second half of the race that got us, but the drivers did a phenomenal job and the crew was outstanding. Our Porsche engine ran flawlessly, and we were able to finish. We want to thank UIS, Porsche Motorsports North America, Bilstein and also BMC&G for their great driveline service.”
The entry was a combined effort of Wright Motorsports of Batavia, Ohio, near Cincinnati, and Snow Racing of Pleasant Grove, Utah. Its driver line-up included the first mother and son co-drivers in the event's history: Melanie Snow of Lehi, Utah and her son Madison, who at 17 was the youngest driver in the race. Their teammates were Porsche veterans Sascha Maassen of Lontzen, Belgium and Marco Seefried of Wemding, Germany and Porsche junior driver Klaus Bachler of Unzmarkt, Austria."Read more"
DAVENTRY, Northamptonshire, U.K., Jan. 23 
- American racer Ryan Tveter is excited to announce that he will contest the 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup (NEC) with Fortec Motorsport, the team that won both the team and driver championships in that series last season.
The 18-year-old from Oyster Bay, N.Y., who has lived in Europe extensively, will be based in Zurich, Switzerland as he undertakes his first full season of single-seater racing. He advances to NEC after contesting a partial season in North America’s Star Mazda Championship in 2012, during which he scored a top-five finish and three top 10s and was awarded the Quarter Master Clutch Performer award.
Tveter is an engineering student at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., where he was selected for its Honors Integrated Degree in Engineering and Arts and Sciences (IDEAS) program. The university has granted him a leave of absence so he can compete in Europe. "Read more"
BATAVIA, Ohio, Jan. 12 - Wright Motorsports of Batavia, Ohio and Snow Racing of Pleasant Grove, Utah, have combined forces for a history-making entry in the 51st Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Jan. 24-27.
The entry marks the first time a mother and son will compete in this storied race, as Melanie Snow and her 17-year-old son Madison are two of five drivers of the Wright Motorsports/Snow Racing Porsche GT3 Cup No. 62 sponsored by Universal Industrial Sales (UIS) and Bilstein Shocks. Headquartered in Lindon, Utah, UIS is among the largest suppliers of overhead sign structures and fabricated highway products in the country.
The other three drivers in the very strong line-up are veteran Porsche factory driver Sascha Maassen, 43, of Lontzen, Belgium; Porsche junior driver Klaus Bachler, 21, of Unzmarkt, Austria, who has been competing in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup; and top Porsche driver and instructor Marco Seefried of Wemding, Germany, 36. He’ll compete in two 24-hour races this month, as he is driving a Porsche 911 in the 24 Hours at Dubai Autodrome at press time. "Read more"
SIOUX FALLS, S.D., Jan. 4- Popular sprint car driver Justin Henderson is available to join another top sprint car team for the 2013 season, as he and Blazin Racin parted ways on Thursday.
“I want to thank Todd, Susan and Larissa LaHaise for everything they’ve done for me in the past six months,” Henderson said. “I also want to thank my crew chief/team manager, Greg McCormick, and give special thanks to Dean, Andrea and everyone else from Blazin Racin who helped out along the way.
“I also want to thank my product sponsors for always standing behind me,” he added. “They include Hinchman Racewear, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Bell Helmets, Rod End Supply, Winters Performance, KSE Racing Products, Saldana Racing Products, Weld Wheels, Outerwears, Oakley and Restart Communications."Read more"
CRESSON, Texas, Dec. 19- Paul Mata, who served as team manager for Team GDT in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear for six years, has formed a new, multi-car team called M1 Racing that has all the ingredients of a championship contender.
He has already signed Juan Camilo Acosta as one of M1 Racing’s drivers for 2013 in the series, which was recently renamed the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.
Although M1 Racing is new it has the makings of a powerhouse team. It consists of many open-wheel veterans, including not only Mata but also noted engineers Eric Purcell and Remi Lanteigne, all of whom worked together on Team GDT this year. (Team GDT’s Star Mazda operation was disbanded at the end of the season and its owner, multi-time Expert Series champion J.W. Roberts, is pursuing other motorsports interests.)
M1 Racing purchased the bulk of the Star Mazda equipment previously owned by Team GDT and AIM Autosport."Read more"
WILMINGTON, Del., Oct. 30 - North American racing fans now have the opportunity to take a ride in a Formula 1 car with sports car champion Didier Theys thanks to a new company called theFormula GP Experience.
The cars are actual F1 cars that have been modified, not replicas.
Specifically they are modified Jordan F1 race cars with Judd V10 engines. They can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 1.8 seconds and reach speeds of over 200 miles per hour on some courses.
In an interesting twist they have been modified to include three seats, not one or two, which gives the participant the opportunity to share the ride with a friend or loved one. The passengers’ seats are on each side of the driver’s seat. Photo of the cars can be seen on the company’s Web site at FormulaGPExperience.com."Read more" "Watch Video"
OYSTER BAY, N.Y., Oct. 22 - Ryan Tveter made the most of the opportunity to be coached by the 2012 Star Mazda champion, Jack Hawksworth, and to drive his car during the season finale of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear last Friday at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.
It was a great learning experience for Tveter, 18, a resident of Oyster Bay, N.Y. and Zurich, Switzerland who has been running a limited schedule this year in this Mazda Road to Indy series.
In addition to the tips and encouragement he received from Hawksworth and other members of Team Pelfrey, Tveter was very pleased to learn that he’d been chosen as the 2012 recipient of the Quarter Master Clutch Performer Award at the series’ year-end celebration on Saturday. The award recognizes the driver who gains the most positions during the second half of the season."Read more"
n etched glass top, plus a set of four BBS racing or BBS passenger car wheels, is valued at $5,000."Read more"
BRASELTON, Ga., Oct. 21 - Andres Méndez concluded his rookie year in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear andJuan Camilo Acosta dipped his toes into the water for a possible campaign in 2013 as Team GDT participated in the series’ season
finale Friday afternoon at Road Atlanta.
Méndez, of Bogotá, Colombia, finished 15th in the race, but moreimportantly on Saturday morning he was awarded the series’ BBSHard Charger Award at the series’ year-end celebration at the Chateau Elan Winery and Resort. He ended up 14th in the final point standings for his work this year behind the wheel of the No. 53, which is sponsored by DataFile Internacional S.A. and Grupo Kriterion. His best finish in 2012 was a sixth at Trois-Riviéres, Quebec in August.
The BBS Hard Charger Award was determined from all 17 races during the season and was presented to the driver who gains the most places in total from the beginning to the end of the races. The prize, a custom-made coffee table made from a polished BBS wheel and an etched glass top, plus a set of four BBS racing or BBS passenger car wheels, is valued at $5,000."Read more"
COVINA, Calif., Oct. 15 - Paul Brown, the 2011 GTS champion of the SCCA Pro Racing Pirelli World Challenge Series, died Saturday at his home here of metastatic melanoma (skin cancer). He was 43.
Brown’s team, Paul Brown/Tiger Racing, also won the team championship in the same series last year and secured the manufacturer’s championship for Ford. That nameplate has always been very important to Brown, whose father is Mustang legend Kenny Brown of Kenny Brown Performance.
Paul Brown was unexpectedly diagnosed with skin cancer in March, just two weeks before the 2012 World Challenge season opener. Justin Bell drove his eBay Motors/Kenny Brown Performance Ford Mustang Boss 302S in most of the races this season. Brown had full knowledge of his prognosis but he was determined to try to drive in the doubleheader at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario in June despite his illness so he could experience the thrills of competition and the camaraderie of his team and fellow competitors one more time.
Showing his intense love of the sport, he found the strength not only to compete in that event but he finished third in the first half of the doubleheader even though he hadn’t driven in competition in eight months. He was dicing for second place when time ran out and the checkered flag dropped, but it was one more podium finish in his illustrious but far too short career."Read more"
COVINA, Calif., Oct. 15 - A celebration of the life of Paul Brown will be held Saturday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1800 South 84th St., Lincoln, Neb."Read more"
DALLAS, Oct. 14 - Two young drivers from Colombia - Andres Méndez and Juan Camilo Acosta - will represent Team GDT in the season finale for the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear this coming Friday, Oct. 19, at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.
Mendez, 18, of Bogotá, Colombia, will be concluding his rookie season in Star Mazda with his Team GDT No. 53, which is sponsoredby DataFile Internacional S.A. and Grupo Kriterion. He will try to surpass his best finish in the series to date, which is currently a sixthat Trois-Riviéres, Quebec in August.
Acosta, 22, of Cali, Columbia, will be making his first Star Mazda start ever after testing with the team on the road course at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway Oct. 10-11. He set the team’s fastest lap of that test and he was fourth and fifth overall in the two practice sessions held during his first day ever driving a Star Mazda car.
Acosta is sponsored by two young women’s clothing lines: Studio F and Ela. He has only competed in one event in the Panam GP Series so far this year, but he won the second half of that doubleheader Sept. 23 at Autódromo Tocancipá, Colombia. He qualified fourth and finished fourth in the first half of that doubleheader."Read more"
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 13 - Andres Méndez, Juan Camilo Acosta and two drivers from Mexico’s LATAM Challenge Formula 2000 Series - Francisco Cerullo and André Solano - recorded a combined total of 374 laps in Team GDT’s three Star Mazda cars Wednesday and Thursday on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear was one of three Mazda Road to Indy series showcased at the second annual Chris Griffis Memorial Open Test.
None of the four had ever driven at the Brickyard before this test, and only Méndez had ever driven a Star Mazda car before Wednesday morning. Méndez, of Bogotá, Colombia, is in his rookie season of Star Mazda this year with Team GDT. The 18-year-old is sponsored by DataFile Internacional S.A. and Grupo Kriterion.
Acosta, the winner of the most recent Panam GP series race, turned the Dallas-based team’s fastest lap in three of the four sessions and set its fastest lap of the test. The 22-year-old from Cali, Colombia had a top time of 1:26.295 on his 28th lap of 32 laps in the morning session on Thursday. That works out to an average speed of 104.877 miles per hour for the 2.534-mile, 13-turn road course. He was fourth and fifth overall in Wednesday’s sessions. Acosta is sponsored by two young women’s clothing lines: Studio F and Ela."Read more"
INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 9 - Team GDT will be looking for “velocidad” (speed in Spanish) as the Dallas-based team takes a decidedlyHispanic approach to the second annual Chris Griffis Memorial Testtomorrow and Thursday on the road course at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway.
It will be the first time the team has fielded cars in any event at the Brickyard, and the first time any of the four drivers it will test there have driven at IMS, one of the most famous racetracks in the world.
The team’s full-season driver in the Star MazdaChampionshippresentedby Goodyear, Andres Méndez of Bogotá,Colombia, will be there with hisNo.53 sponsored by DataFile Internacional S.A. and GrupoKriterion. He’ll be joined by two drivers from Mexico’s LATAMChallenge Formula 2000 Series Powered by Volkswagen: point leader Francisco Cerullo of Venezuela and second-place driver (and2009champion) André Solano of Costa Rica. Rounding out the team’s driver roster at the test will be Juan Camilo Acosta of Cali, Colombia, who competes in the Panam GP series and even won that series’ most recent race.
Cerullo and Solano received their opportunity to test one of Team GDT’s Star Mazda cars as part of a new partnership between the Mazda Road to Indy and the LATAM Challenge Series. So far this year Cerullo and Solano each have two LATAM victories. Cerullo has two poles and Solano has one. Cerullohas three fastest race laps, and Solano set the fastest lap in one race."Read more"
SALINAS, Calif., Sept. 11 - While other 18-year-olds went to football games last weekend, Ryan Tveter tackled one of North America’s most challenging road courses. The Lehigh University freshman, a resident of Oyster Bay, N.Y. and Zurich, Switzerland, finished 16th and 14th in a doubleheader Saturday and Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The races were part of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, an official step in the Mazda Road to Indy program designed to train up-and-coming open-wheel race car drivers for international competition.
Tveter was making his first series start on a permanent road course after posting impressive results during the series’ street-circuit races, including a top-five finish in Edmonton, Alberta in July. Unlike several of his more experienced rivals he finished both races on the challenging, 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course near Monterey, Calif., and improved on his starting position in both events.
Tveter started 17th in Saturday’s race with his Team GDT No. 33, which is sponsored by CIMIER Swiss Watches and Motorola Mobility, LLC, and finished 16th. He was 15th until the very last lap, when he spun in Turn 6 and continued on.
He started 18th in Sunday’s race and worked his way through the field to tenth place by lap 14 after a wild four-car battle. Unfortunately his car was hit in the rear by another competitor in Turn 5 working lap 17 and suffered suspension damage due to the contact. Tveter was forced to drop back to 16th place, but after another battle with Kyle Kaiser he was 14th when the checkered waved on lap 31."Read more"
SALINAS, Calif., Sept. 11 - Team GDT’s rookies, Andres Méndez and Ryan Tveter, gained a wealth of experience last weekend as they both made their first starts ever at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, considered by many to be among the most challenging road courses in North America. They were both very respectful of the demands posed by the elevation changes and the technical aspects of the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course as well as cognizant of their learning curve. That attitude paid off when they both finished Saturday’s 30-minute race and Sunday’s 45-minute contest in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.
The series hasn’t been on a permanent road course since its visit to Barber Motorsports Park five months ago, and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca makes different demands on drivers than the two oval tracks and four street courses the series has appeared at since it was in Alabama this spring. It was especially challenging for Tveter, since he’s only doing a partial schedule this season and he was competing on a permanent road course in Star Mazda for the first time.
Despite the challenges, both drivers bettered their starting positions in each race.
Méndez, of Bogotá, Colombia, started 18th on Saturday in the No. 53 sponsored by DataFile Internacional S.A. and Grupo Kriterion and finished 15th. He started one spot further back on Sunday but got the same result, as he again placed 15th in that race."Read more"
SALINAS, Calif., Sept. 6 - Team GDT’s rookies in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear took their first laps of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during a test day Thursday in preparation for a doubleheader there on Saturday and Sunday.
Andres Méndez of Bogotá, Colombia, and Ryan Tveter, of Oyster Bay, N.Y., are representing the Dallas-based team at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course this year. They’re depending on the team’s engineers, veterans Eric Purcell and Remi Lanteigne, and its driver coach, Chuck West, to help them get acclimated to the track as quickly as possible.
Méndez drives the No. 53 sponsored by DataFile Internacional S.A. and Grupo Kriterion. Tveter drives the No. 33 sponsored by CIMIER Swiss Watches and Motorola Mobility, LLC.
“Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is very demanding and challenging, but it's an incredible thrill to drive,” said Tveter Thursday after his first 30-minute test session. “The steep elevation changes and very fast turns require a lot more rhythm than the street circuits, where the surface changes slow you down."Read more"
BALTIMORE, Sept. 3 - Ryan Tveter, a rookie in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, strives for a top-10 finish or better in each of his races. Despite a host of challenges he accomplished that benchmark on Saturday in the first half of a doubleheader at the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT, and he was only two positions off that goal in the second half of the doubleheader on Sunday with a 12th-place finish.
Tveter, of Oyster Bay, N.Y., had one of the nicest-looking cars in the paddock with CIMIER Swiss Watches joining another one of his partners, Motorola Mobility LLC, for the livery on his Team GDT No. 33.
The already-crammed weekend schedule — and several race cars — took a beating when some light rail tracks caused problems on the temporary street circuit in practice. Grinding the pavement’s surface was attempted and then a chicane was added to slow the cars down before they approached the tracks, but the Star Mazda practice session on Friday resulted in very little actual laps run. Friday’s qualifying session was turned into an additional practice session due to the problems too.
The grid for Saturday’s 30-minute race was established by the current point standings, which put Tveter 18th since he is not competing in all 17 races this year. The lost time also meant that set-ups were more of an educated guess rather than one based on the usual data collection, interpretation and collaboration."Read more" Star Mazda photos by Eric McCombs
BALTIMORE, Sept. 3 - Rounds 13 and 14 of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear on Saturday and Sunday were challenging for a number of reasons, and Team GDT?left the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT with mixed results.
Ryan Tveter of Oyster Bay, N.Y. posted the best finish for the Dallas-based team this weekend when he turned an 18th-place starting spot into a tenth-place finish in Saturday’s race on the temporary street course at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
Both Tveter and his teammate, Andres Méndez, also had 12th-place finishes here, as Méndez finished 12th on Saturday and Tveter placed 12th on Sunday.
Méndez, of Bogotá, Colombia, only completed one lap of Sunday’s race bcfore he was hit in the rear by another competitor in the chicane and was launched into the wall. He ended up 18th in the final rundown for that race."Read more" Photo by Eric McCombs
TORONTO, Ontario, July 5 - As the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear approaches the mid-point of its2012season, Team GDT will be in full force for Rounds 7 and 8 this weekend at Honda Indy Toronto.
The Dallas-based team will field cars for three rookies in the doubleheader on the streets around Exhibition Place this Saturday and Sunday.
Andrés Méndez of Bogotá, Colombia, who is scheduled to compete in all 17 events this year, will be in the No. 53 sponsored by DataFile Internacional S.A. and Grupo Kriterion.
Ryan Tveter of Oyster Bay, N.Y. will make his third and fourth start ever in the series in the No. 33, which is advertising Rogers TV and Motorola Mobility Canada here."Read more"
