All posts by Christopher DeHarde

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer To nobody’s surprise, Juncos Racing announced that Victor Franzoni would be joining the team for the 2018 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires. After winning the 2017 Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires with Juncos Racing, Franzoni received a Mazdaspeed scholarship to move to Indy Lights and it made sense for the Brazilian to stay with his current team as he climbs the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires. Franzoni won seven of 12 Pro Mazda races in 2017 and finished second inRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2017 F4 U.S. champion has a home in the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires. Kyle Kirkwood drove for Cape Motorsports in 2017 and will have an opportunity to compete for them again in the 2018 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda. Kirkwood was a recipient of the Team USA Scholarship program with fellow Jupiter, Fl. native Oliver Askew. The pair have raced against each other in karting for years. “We started this journey with Kyle over a year ago, with theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After some downtime following the new year, the Mazda Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires has had a few driver announcements in recent days that have helped shape the grids across the three championships. In the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda, Canadian team Exclusive Autosport announced Mexican pilot Manuel Cabrera while DEForce Racing confirmed their trio of drivers for the season. Kory Enders will rejoin the team he spent his rookie season with, while Colin Kaminsky joins the team after spending much ofRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer The 2018 editions of the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hours were polar opposites of each other. The Rolex 24 had only four cautions and because of that, the winner of the second class of cars broke the long standing distance record set by the overall winners in 1982. The Bathurst 12 Hours had so many cautions earlier in the race that broadcasters debated on whether the race would set a record for the shortest distance covered. The Rolex 24 had twoRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer Canada’s hero is moving up the Mazda Road to Indy. Exclusive Autosport announced that the Parker Thompson will be racing one of their new PM-18s in the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires. The Red Deer, Alberta native finished second in the 2016 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda to Anthony Martin, and won three races last season in the  USF2000 championship for Exclusive Autosport. Those wins included a sweep of the streets of Toronto and a victory at the Mid-Ohio Sports CarRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer After a 2017 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship powered by Mazda that resulted in five podiums and fourth place in the championship standings, Kaylen Frederick will be returning to the championship for a sophomore season in 2018, but with Pabst Racing. Frederick spent 2017 with Team Pelfrey, starting the season with four top five finishes and ending with nine top fives and 12 top 10 finishes out of 14 races. “After testing in the off-season in BRDC F3, Pro Mazda, Formula Atlantic and USF2000, working with PilotRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — It was a record day for the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona and it was a victorious day for Action Express Racing. The No. 5 Cadillac DPi driven by Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi were victorious, completing a record 808 laps and a record 2,876.48 miles over 24 hours. In the last eight hours, the No. 7 Team Penske Acura DPi went to the garage for repairs after contact with the No. 31 Cadillac DPi. The Nos. 67 and 66Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The middle eight hours of the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona had a decent amount of action that involved all three classes and some of the results were certainly shaken up. The GTD class-leading No. 29 Audi R8 LMS GT3 was given a stop and hold penalty for five minutes for a balance of performance violation. The team was determined to have refueled at their pit stops faster than the BoP regulations allowed for. The Audi was a lap ahead of theRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer A fast start and few cautions have made this one of the stranger Rolex 24 at Daytona races ever. Only one full course yellow was called after the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2 machine ran out of fuel with James French behind the wheel. This all took place before the third hour ran to completion. After the fourth hour, there was a brief 15 minute rain shower but remarkably there were no incidents. There were several themes that played themselves out over the firstRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona is going green shortly and here we will have live updates throughout the race. 00:00- Race went green at 2:40 p.m. ET, The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi with Renger Van Der Zande leads over the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi of Helio Castroneves. The two Ford GTs are 1-2, the No. 66 ahead of the No. 67 in GTLM. In GTD the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari is leading over theRead More