PIGOT SWEEPS ALL FOUR SESSIONS OF STAR MAZDA TEST ON F1 CIRCUIT AT IMS - FOUR DRIVERS, ALL WITH DIFFERENT TEAMS, UNDER THE TRACK RECORD With temperatures rising in the afternoon session - all the way up to 59 degrees - lap times for drivers participating in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear portion of the second annual Chris Griffis Memorial Mazda Road to Indy Open Test on the IMS F1 circuit, were on average half a second slower than in the morning where four drivers - Spencer Pigot, Renan Guerra, Matt Brabham and Kyle Kaiser were under the Star Mazda IMS track record set at this test last year by 2012 series champion Jack Hawksworth.That said, even on a slipperier track, it was again USF2000 standout Pigot who set the quick time, a 1:25.295, just over 3/10ths quicker than West Coast Formula Car Challenge racer Kaiser. Rounding out the top-5 were South American GT racer Guerra, 2012 USF2000 champion Brabham and Finnish racer Antti Buri, the 2012 UK Formula Ford champion who won his test as part of the Mazda Road to Indy scholarship program.Without ever-lowering lap times to talk about, it's still worth noting that all of the top-5 drivers were driving for different teams; Team Pelfrey, World Speed Motorsports, Juncos Racing and Andretti Autosport. It seem clear that, despite the seeming dominance of Team Pelfrey and Jack Hawksworth in the 2012 season, Star Mazda's equivalency formula has produced a number of top teams capable of running fast with the right driver at the wheel."I can't really talk about my plans for next season in Star Mazda right now, but this was a tremendous learning experience for me and obviously the Andretti Autosport team is an impressive team," says Brabham, who will be joining the Star Mazda Championship grid in 2013 with scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy. "I wasn't expecting the Star Mazda to be so powerful in comparison to my USF2000 car, and the sequential shifting took a bit of getting used to, but I felt comfortable in the car and with some more seat time, I'm sure Spencer, my teammate from last year, and I will take up our head-to-head battle again at the first race."
In addition to the rookies getting their first taste of a Star Mazda race car, it was instructive to watch the drivers testing in the Indy Light category. Nine of the twelve drivers are either current Star Mazda competitors or recent graduates of the series. Current driver Zach Veach was waging a battle royal with graduates Peter Dempsey and Mikael Grenier for the top time, with Sage Karam and Gabby Chaves filling out the top-5 in the final session. Martin Scuncio and Diego Ferreria are also current Star Mazda racers, and graduates include David Ostella and Jorge Goncalvez.With the pot thoroughly stirred for the beginning of next season, there still remains the season finale of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear to be run. Teams will be packing up and leaving Indianapolis and driving to Road Atlanta where the drivers will perform on one of the biggest stages in all of racing, the Petit Le Mans. On-track action begins with a promoter test day on Tuesday, and the final Star Mazda race of the 2012 season will take place on Friday, Oct. 19, 3:45-4:35 pm. The race will be broadcast as part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour on the Velocity channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. Click here for information about air dates and times.
