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Mazda Road to Indy - Star Mazda

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Star Mazda Series | Schedule | Teams



STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY GOODYEAR QUICK FACTS

General:

Now enteringing its 22nd season, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is one of North America's premier open-wheel racing driver development series and is the middle step on the Mazda Road to Indy.
 

Drivers and teams compete for $1.2 million prizes, including a scholarship valued at $500,000 for the series champion to graduate to Firestone Indy Lights. The USF2000 champion receives a $375,000 scholarship to move up to Star Mazda. 

The series' 2012 schedule currently features 17 races on 10 weekends, with one race still to be announced. Events will be run on road courses, street circuits and ovals, most in conjunction with either the IZOD IndyCar Series, Firestone Indy Lights, or both.

Star Mazda races feature standing starts and an Expert Series championship-within-a championship for drivers 30 and older. Series graduates include rising IZOD IndyCar Series stars Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe. Graduates have also gone on to race in  Formula 1, NASCAR, and ALMS and GrandAM prototypes.

The Star Mada Championship is based in Pacoima, Calif..


Series Sponsors:
Title Sponsors include Mazda and Goodyear. Associate sponsors include BBS wheels, QuarterMaster Clutches, Performance Friction Brakes and VP Racing Fuels.

Cars:
Single-seat, open-wheel, Indy car-style vehicles manufactured by Star Race Cars. More than 450 Formula Mazda race cars of two types have been produced and are competing in various events throughout North America; 300 original tube-frame cars and 150 carbon-fiber 'Pro Formula Mazda' cars introduced in 2004 and used in the Star Mazda Championship. Every Formula Mazda or Pro Mazda car ever built is powered by a Mazda rotary engine.

Engines:
Spec Mazda 'Renesis' rotary engines producing 250 horsepower at 8,200 rpm. Performance includes 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 2.8 seconds and top speeds of 160 mph. Engine development and maintenance provided by Star Race Cars.

Tires:
Tires are purpose-built, high performance Goodyear Eagle radial racing slicks and rain tires, manufactured by Goodyear.

Schedule:
The 2012 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear schedule consists of 17 races on 10 weekends in two countries (United States and Canada). Most weekends are doubleheaders. The schedule (with one TBA) currently includes one oval race, five race weekends (10 races)  on temporary street circuits and three races (five races) on natural-terrain road courses. Five events will be run with the IZOD IndyCar Series; one is with Grand Am and one is with American Le Mans weekends, one (the "Night Before the 500") is with USAC and the Star Mazda Championship is a co-featured race with Firestone Indy Lights at the street circuit at the GP3R in Trois-Rivières.Standing starts are used on road and street circuits. A rolling start is used for ovals.

2012 Events:

Date
 Track/Location
March 24-25
Streets of St. Petersburg*
St. Petersburg, Fla.
March 31 - April 1
Barber Motorsports Park*
Birmingham, Ala.
May 26
Lucas Oil Raceway Park
Clermont, Ind.
July 7-8
Streets of Toronto*
Toronto, Canada
July 21-22
Edmonton City Centre Airport*
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Aug. 3-5
Streets of Trois-Rivieres*
Trois Rivieres, Quebec Canada
Sept. 1-2
Streets of Baltimore*
Baltimore, Md
Sept. 8-9
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca* 
Monterrey, Calif.
Oct. 17-20
Road Atlanta
Braselton, Ga.
TBD
TBA
* - Doubleheader race weekend
 


History:
Star Mazda Championship founder and President Gary Rodrigues created the series in 1991 as a cost-contained 'spec' open-wheel series designed to provide the most comprehensive possible education for drivers climbing the open-wheel ladder. 

The first “Star Formula Mazda” was constructed by Valley Motor Center, Inc. in 1990, with the first race held in June of 1991 at Willow Springs Raceway in Southern California: the winner was Mark Rodrigues, driving for Valley Motor Center.  The first Star Mazda Series race as a supporting event on an Indy Racing League weekend was at the Phoenix Dura Lube 200 in March, 1996; this was also the first time a Star Mazda race was shown on national TV (ESPN).  

The series was re-named the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear in 2001 and Star Mazda race cars changed from tube-frame construction to carbon-fiber chassis with the introduction of the 'Pro' car in 2004.  The MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder was created in 2007 to provide funding for champions in various Mazda-powered series to move up in class.  2008 marked several major changes, including the move from rolling to standing starts and the use of new Goodyear radial racing slicks.  In 2009, the Star Mazda race car underwent its first comprehensive mechanical upgrade since it was introduced and Raphael Matos became first Star Mazda driver to race in each Mazda-powered series (Skip Barber, Star Mazda, Atlantic, Indy Lights) and graduate to IndyCar.  2010 marked the beginning of the new Mazda Road to Indy program, providing scholarship funding for the champions in USF2000, Star Mazda and Indy Lights to move up to the next level.

Champions:

Year                Driver                         Entrant
2011                Tristan Vautier            JDC Motorsports
2010                Conor Daly                  Juncos Racing
2009                Adam Christodoulou   JDC Motorsports
2008                John Edwards             AIM Autosport
2007                Dane Cameron            JDC Motorsports
2006                Adrian Carrio              World Speed Motorsports
2005                Raphael Matos            Ocean Tomo Racing
2004                Michael McDowell     Star Race Cars (*)
2003                Luis Schiavo               Racers Edge Motorsports
2002                Guy Cosmo                 Racers Edge Motorsports
2001                Scott Bradley              World Speed Motorsports
2000                Bernardo Martinez      Team Bucknum Racing
1999                Joey Hand                   S3 Racing (+)
1998                Ian Lacy                      S3 Racing
1997                Tony Buffomonte       Valley Motor Center
1996                Rich Stephens             Miller Team Racing    
1995                Mark Rodrigues          Valley Motor Center
1994                Brad Loehner              Loehner Racing
1993                Ben Massey                 World Speed Motorsports
1992                Chuck West                World Speed Motorsports     
1991                Mark Rodrigues          Valley Motor Center
(*) Series switched from tube-frame cars to carbon-fiber cars in 2004.
(+) First season of unified national Star Mazda Championship series. From 1991 – 1999 the series crowned regional and oval-track champions.


Prize Money:
Star Mazda Championship competitors will vie for prizes valued at $1.2 million during the 2012 season. Prize money is paid at the end of the season to drivers from 1st to 15th in the points. The series champion wins a Mazda Road to Indy scholarship worth $600,000 to compete in the 2013 Indy Lights series as well as $100,000 in cash. The 2nd-place finisher in the points gets $70,000 and 3rd-place gets $50,000, etc. Rookie of the Year gets a $10,000 bonus.
 
Point System:
The Star Mazda Championship features both the main race and a 'race-within-a-race' for Expert Series drivers 30 years and older, and among the teams. All run the same car in the same race and are competing for the same points and prize money, but Experts have their own internal championship and only each driver's ten best finishes counts toward the Expert championship. Championship points are scored by the top-20 drivers: 1st-29, 2nd-25, 3rd-22, 4th-19, 5th-17, 6th-15, 7th-14, 8th-13, 9th-12, 10th-11,11th-10, 12th-9, 13th-8, 14th-7, 15th-6, 16th-5, 17th-4, 18th-3, 19th-2, 20th-1, plus
 
Pole = 1 point 
Fastest lap = 1 point
Expert Points: 1st-20, 2nd-16, 3rd-14, 4th-12, 5th-11, 6th-10, 7th-9, 8th-8, 9th-7, 10th-6, 11th-5, 12th-4, 13th-3, 14th-2, 15th-1. 
 
Team Points: Same as Expert except, since many teams run multiple cars, only the points scored by the top-2 finishers from that team are counted.  Single car teams get a 5 point per race bonus.
 
Mazda Road to Indy:
The Mazda Road to Indy provides a clearly-defined path for career-minded young drivers to progress up through the ranks to compete in the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500… with scholarship funding for the champion at each level to move up and compete in the next higher series.  
 
The champion in the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda wins a $350,000 (*) scholarship to move up to the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.  Petri Suvanto won the 2011 championship with Cape Motorsports and will move up to race in Star Mazda with Team Pelfrey.
 
The 2012 champion in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear wins a $600,000 (*) scholarship to move up to the 2013 Indy Lights series.  Tristan Vautier won the 2011 championship with JDC Motorsports and will move up to race in Indy Lights with Sam Schmidt Motorsports.  The 2012 Indy Lights champion wins a $1 million (*) scholarship to move up to the 2013 IZOD IndyCar series – including the Indy 500.  Josef Newgarden won the 2011 championship with Sam Schmidt Motorsports and will move up to race in IndyCar with Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.
(*) Approximate value; prize may include cash, engine lease, pre-paid entry fees, etc.
 
Additional Benefits:
The Mazda Road to Indy Summit and Oval Clinic is a three-part educational and promotional program held during the season. The platform not only provides valuable education on a variety of topics including marketing/business, media training, career growth and development, social media and a comprehensive introduction to oval track racing, but also features activities such as a networking reception, IndyCar team shop tour and question and answer session with an IZOD IndyCar Series team and high-profile autograph sessions. Additionally, the winner of the “Night Before the 500” will pace the Firestone Freedom 100 Indy Lights field on Carburetion Day and be interviewed in front of the Indianapolis 500 crowd only minutes before the big race.

 

 

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