Proving yet again that the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is a steppingstone to many forms of top-level motorsports, series graduate Connor de Phillippi has been selected as one of two new Porsche Juniors for the 2013 racing season. The former Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race winner, title contender, and Rookie of the Year will contest the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland in 2013.
Recent Star Mazda graduates currently competing in sports car and prototype racing in the ALMS and Grand-Am series include Adam Christodoulou, John Edwards, Dane Cameron, Guy Cosmo, etc.)
After an extensive selection process, De Phillippi and Spaniard Alex Riberas Bou came out on top against young pilots from all over the world to be chosen as the newest Porsche Juniors. The duo in addition to returning racers Austrian Klaus Bachler and Dane Michael Christensen will receive support from Porsche, getting the bulk of their budget and providing coaching on and off the track.
Factors taken into account during the selection process were fitness, mental strength, and technical understanding. At the finale at the Autodromo Vallelunga in Italy, the best six candidates had to prove they could work alongside engineers, drive consistent times over a race distance, as well as underline their speed in qualifying laps on fresh tires.
"The decision was a very exciting one," said Porsche Head of Racing, Hartmut Kristen. "The finalists were all on an impressive level. In order to select the two candidates with the greatest potential, our engineers carefully examined every single lap."
Both Alex Riberas Bou and Connor De Phillippi have the talent necessary to be successful in the sports car scene, and to follow in the footsteps of Klaus Bachler and Michael Christensen.
Our current Porsche works drivers have shown that the Carrera Cup is an excellent platform for a professional international career."
The Porsche Juniors themselves will choose the teams with whom they want to contest the Carrera Cup Deutschland. On and off the track, the pilots receive assistance similar to the internationally successful Porsche factory drivers. Fitness tests with constantly adapted training plans, as well as media coaching, and sponsor obligations are also part of the program.
De Phillippi lives in the Californian town of San Clemente south of Los Angeles. He began racing karts at the age of five, and over the course of the next nine years he notched up 21 national championships. In 2008 he made the jump to formula racing. Straightaway, he secured the title in the Skip Barber West Coast Series and became champion of the Skip Barber National Championship in 2009. In 2010, the American with Italian roots, took the next step on the career ladder, capturing the Star Mazda Championship Rookie of the Year award with third place overall. The following season he was the series runner-up, while this past season he finished fourth in the Star Mazda title fight.
"It's unbelievable to now be a part of this program," said De Phillippi. "It's a huge step for me to now race in Europe. But as everyone knows, there is no better school in GT racing than to pit yourself against the top specialists in the Carrera Cup Deutschland. Porsche works driver Patrick Long also took this route. He is one of my biggest role model. I hope to be his teammate one day."
