Star Mazda releases from Trois-Rivieres
Story posted - Aug 03 2012 9:45 PM
Hawksworth + Poles = 7 - The Star Mazda Championship Leader Adds To His Collection Of Peak Performance Pole Flags With #7 For Saturday's Race 1 At The 43rd Annual GP3R
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec / August 3, 2012 - Jack Hawksworth collected his seventh PEAK Performance Pole Award of the 2012 season with a record-breaking run in his #82 Team Pelfrey / TORGOEN Swiss Watches / EXA Networks Mazda. On the 26th lap of the afternoon qualifying session for tomorrow's Race 1 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the 43rd annual GP3R, Hawksworth bettered the existing lap record of 1:01.341 - set in 2009 by Rusty Mitchell - with a time of 1:00.850.
His quick time was just .042 quicker than arch-rival Connor De Phillippi, who will - for the first time this season - start alongside Hawksworth on the front row in his #82 Team Pelfrey / TORGOEN Swiss Watches / EXA Networks Mazda. De Phillippi won Star Mazda Race 2 here last year, and this year is fourth in the championship with two wins, two poles and four podiums.
And starting immediately behind Hawksworth is yet another hungry championship contender, Sage Karam, with a lap of 1:01.134 in the #88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda. He finished 4th in Race 1 and 5th in Race 2 here last year, and went on to become the 2011 Rookie of the Year. He is currently third in the championship with one win, one pole and six podium finishes.
"It was a really tight qualifying and it's going to be a tight race... I'm hoping we all get through the first turn," said Hawksworth, with five wins, seven poles and eight fastest laps. "It's a really good thing for our race plan to be starting on the pole here, and to keep it on the start and re-starts. This is a really small track, though it's really well laid-out, and it requires a lot of precision, but the Pelfrey team keeps giving me really good cars, so we're well-positioned for tomorrow."
The 'ringer' in the field, two-time Trois-Rivieres race winner (2009 and 2010) Alex Ardoin, will start from 9th on the grid with a lap of 1:01.725 in the #51 Team GDT Mazda. This is his first race of the season, and he crashed early in practice, compromising his team's chances of finding the ideal setup for his car. Local driver, Jerimy Daniel, from Chateauguay, Quebec, qualified 18th, turning a 1:03.362 in his #10 The Racing Company / FixAuto / Sherwin-Williams Mazda.
Pos No. Name Best Tm In Lap Diff Gap Sponsor Team Laps
1 82 Jack Hawksworth 1:00.850 26 TORGOEN Swiss Watches/ EXA Networks Pelfrey 33
2 2 Connor De Phillippi 1:00.892 26 0.042 0.042 ModSpace Racing / One24 Juncos Racing 28
3 88 Sage Karam 1:01.134 27 0.284 0.242 Comfort Revolution Andretti 31
4 83 Gustavo Menezes 1:01.245 23 0.395 0.111 Team Pelfrey / Safety Park / Oakley Pelfrey 36
5 19 Gabby Chaves 1:01.409 30 0.559 0.164 Claro/ Marca Colombia / Tecpro JDC Motorsports 34
6 22 Martin Scuncio 1:01.422 23 0.572 0.013 Pullman Bus Juncos Racing 33
7 77 Zach Veach 1:01.423 34 0.573 0.001 K12.com / Zakosi Data Backup Andretti 35
8 81 Petri Suvanto 1:01.437 31 0.587 0.014 Mazda Road to Indy Pelfrey 35
9 51 Alex Ardoin 1:01.727 13 0.877 0.290 Chuck Diesel Performance Systems / General Datatech GDT 24
10 57 Diego Ferreira 1:01.791 25 0.941 0.064 Team Viso Venezuela Juncos Racing 27
11 15 Bruno Palli 1:01.872 25 1.022 0.081 Team Viso Venezuela Juncos Racing 26
12 9 Juan Piedrahita 1:02.098 17 1.248 0.226 Petrosur / Colombia es pasion / GFK Motors / Lamd Link JDC Motorsports 26
13 20 Carlos Linares 1:02.255 30 1.405 0.157 Mindeporte Linares Racing 31
14 33 Ryan Tveter 1:02.498 20 1.648 0.243 Rogers TV / Motorola Mobility Canada Team GDT 20
15 91 Ashley Freiberg 1:02.628 20 1.778 0.130 TRUECar.com JDC Motorsports 34
16 53 Andres Mendez 1:02.797 20 1.947 0.169 GrupoKriterion.com / DataFile.com.co Team GDT 30
17 66 Zack Meyer 1:02.926 23 2.076 0.129 Partners III Aim Autosport 32
18 10 Jerimy Daniel 1:03.362 13 2.512 0.436 FixAuto / Sherwin-Williams TRC 31
Star Mazda on-track action at the GP3R at Trois-Rivieres continues with Saturday's Race 1, scheduled for 45 minutes; the grid will take the green light for the series' spectacular F1-style standing start 1:20 pm - 2:10 pm 45 minutes on Saturday, August 4. Race 2, also a 45-minute contest with the starting grid determined by each car's fastest lap on Race 1, takes the green at 11:00 am on Sunday, August 5.
Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, September 1. In Canada, the Mazda Motorsports Hour airs on Rogers Sports Net; please check your local listings for date and time, or go to http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule.
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A RECORD-BREAKING FIRST PRACTICE AS JACK HAWKSWORTH CONTINUES HIS STREAK OF QUICK TIMES IN THE FIRST STAR MAZDA ON-TRACK SESSION FOR THIS WEEKEND'S 43rd ANNUAL GP3R
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec / August 3, 2012 - English racer, who has proven the be the 'man to beat' in both practice and the race so far this season, got another great start to this weekend's Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race at the 43rd annual GP3R at Trois-Rivieres. He - unofficially, since lap records can only be set in qualifying or the race - trounced the Star Mazda lap record of 1:01.341 set in 2009 by Rusty Mitchell with a lap of 1:00.991 in his #82 Team Pelfrey / TORGOEN Swiss Watches / EXA Networks Mazda.
Second quick, after trading fast time back and for the with Hawksworth several times during the session, was Sage Karam with a lap of 1:01.396 in the #88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda. Karam finished 4th in Race 1 and 5th in Race 2 here last year, and went on to become the 2011 Rookie of the Year. Third-fast was Connor De Phillippi, who won Race 2 here last year, with a time of 1:10.705 in his #2 Juncos Racing / ModSpace Racing / One24 Mazda.
The 'ringer' in the field, two-time Trois-Rivieres race winner (2009 and 2010) Alex Ardoin, only completed six laps before an off-course excursion put an end to his session and he would up 12th with a lap of 1:03.302 in the #51 Team GDT Mazda. This is his first race of the season.
Star Mazda on-track action at the GP3R at Trois-Rivieres continues with qualifying from 5:35 - 6:20 pm this afternoon for the PEAK Performance pole for Saturday's Race 1. Race 1, scheduled for 45 minutes, will take the green light for the series' spectacular F1-style standing start 1:20 pm - 2:10 pm 45 minutes on Saturday, August 4. Race 2, also a 45-minute contest with the starting grid determined by each car's fastest lap on Race 1, takes the green at 11:00 am on Sunday, August 5.
Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, September 1. In Canada, the Mazda Motorsports Hour airs on Rogers Sports Net; please check your local listings for date and time, or go to http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule.
Pos No. Name Best Tm In Lap Diff Gap Sponsor Team Laps
1 82 Jack Hawksworth 1:00.992 30 TORGOEN Swiss Watches/ EXA Networks Pelfrey 30
2 88 Sage Karam 1:01.396 22 0.404 0.404 Comfort Revolution Andretti 25
3 2 Connor De Phillippi 1:01.715 22 0.723 0.319 ModSpace Racing / One24 Juncos Racing 22
4 81 Petri Suvanto 1:01.773 29 0.781 0.058 Mazda Road to Indy Pelfrey 30
5 9 Juan Piedrahita 1:02.113 29 1.121 0.340 Petrosur / Colombia es pasion / GFK Motors / Lamd Link JDC Motorsports 29
6 83 Gustavo Menezes 1:02.205 24 1.213 0.092 Team Pelfrey / Safety Park / Oakley Pelfrey 24
7 77 Zach Veach 1:02.213 30 1.221 0.008 K12.com / Zakosi Data Backup Andretti 31
8 19 Gabby Chaves 1:02.216 26 1.224 0.003 Claro/ Marca Colombia / Tecpro JDC Motorsports 28
9 57 Diego Ferreira 1:02.462 29 1.470 0.246 Team Viso Venezuela Juncos Racing 30
10 33 Ryan Tveter 1:02.677 27 1.685 0.215 Rogers TV / Motorola Mobility Canada Team GDT 29
11 20 Carlos Linares 1:02.990 31 1.998 0.313 Mindeporte Linares Racing 32
12 51 Alex Ardoin 1:03.302 6 2.310 0.312 Chuck Diesel Performance Systems / General Datatech GDT 6
13 53 Andres Mendez 1:03.419 30 2.427 0.117 GrupoKriterion.com / DataFile.com.co Team GDT 32
14 15 Bruno Palli 1:03.589 9 2.597 0.170 Team Viso Venezuela Juncos Racing 9
15 10 Jerimy Daniel 1:03.682 24 2.690 0.093 FixAuto / Sherwin-Williams TRC 33
16 91 Ashley Freiberg 1:03.729 24 2.737 0.047 TRUECar.com JDC Motorsports 24
17 66 Zack Meyer 1:04.026 29 3.034 0.297 Partners III Aim Autosport 29
18 22 Martin Scuncio 1:04.209 4 3.217 0.183 Pullman Bus Juncos Racing 6
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