Junior Open Wheel Talent

Last week, Brendon Hartley joined the long list of talented drivers dropped by the Red Bull junior program.  The 20-year-old Kiwi was competing in his second year of Formula Renault 3.5, and had failed to score a victory in 24 starts.   Personally, I think Red Bull jumped the gun a little as his lack of race wins fails to tell the whole story.

Hartley, who won the 2007 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup, finished third in the ultra-competitive British F3-International Series in 2008 — logging five race wins and 11 podiums.  In 2009, he was thrown into one of the most hectic schedules possible, running in both the World Series by Renault and the Formula 3 Euro Series, while also balancing a testing role for F1’s Scuderia Toro Rosso.  Talk about diversity.  The seat time was excellent, but it’s hard to produce results when you are spread so thin.  This year, he completed 11 races in the World Series by Renault before being dropped.  During that time he logged eight top-10 finishes and three top-five finishes with a best result of 2nd.  He also set the fastest lap of the race at both Spa and Monte Carlo. There’s no question that his results this year, while impressive, were far from stellar.  Which is why Red Bull made the decision they did.  Obviously, he knew his support from the energy-drink giant was in jeopardy, which couldn’t have helped his results.  I have no problem with Red Bull’s decision, but I think they should have let him finish out the season.

Jean-Eric Vergne, 20, who is leading the British F3 Championship, will replace Hartley at Tech 1.  Vergne should be able to jump right into the new role as he has already completed four races with the team in the GP3 series.  Speaking of Vergne, it’s worth noting that he just swept both British F3-International rounds this weekend at Spa bumping his win total to eight races.

In the karting world, 15-year-old Jake Dennis of Britain won the opening round of the CIK-FIA U18 Championship held at “Prokart Raceland” in Wackersdorf.  The next event will be held August 27-29 in Alcaniz, Spain.

Also in international karting — big news here in the United States — the WSK World Series will be making their North American stop this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.  If you’re not counting the SKUSA SuperNationals (which technically isn’t a world event despite the international attendance), this is the first time in twelve years that an “world” event has been held on American soil.  The Formula C World Championships were held in Charlotte in 1998.  Gary Carlton will be looking for his first international race win in KZ2 and Ron White – who won an international event at Sarno in 2004 – will make his return to international competition.  Both drivers should be considered favorites to win this weekend, despite the high-level of competition.  There will be 19 North American’s competing in the event.

Skip Barber National competitor Ashley Freiberg is set to make her return to Star Mazda competition this weekend at Autobahn (Rounds Eight and Nine) in the No. 91 Team GDT car.  In 2009, she drove two races in the Star Mazda Championship with GDT, both at Autobahn – which is her home track.  Last winter, she competed in one Formula Mazda Winter Series event at Infineon, finishing sixth.

Freiberg, 19, has done an excellent job of pacing her development, and her growth as a driver has been evident every season.  This weekend’s event at Autobahn should offer an excellent opportunity to gauge her progress from last year.  It’s likely that we will see her competing in Star Mazda full-time in 2011.

For now, this is a one-off opportunity for her to pick up some additional seat time.  Her focus will remain on the 2010 Skip Barber National Championship.

Other returning drivers include Kevin Toledo (Linares Racing) and Sean Burstyn (Juncos Racing).

This weekend’s Round Eight and Nine of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship will be broadcast live on HDNet. Both races are scheduled for a 3:05 p.m. CST start time on July 31 and August 1.

For those that missed it, Simon Trummer and James Jakes, both of the GP3 Series, were injured last weekend at the Hockenheimring.  While both were initially hopeful (even though it was probably never realistic) to return for Budapest July 30 – August 1, neither will be ready.

It was confirmed, earlier this week, that Trummer has broken one vertabrae and fractured three more in the Race 2 incident.  Jakes, who is currently sixth in the overall standings, will also miss Budapest after injuring several ligaments in his right arm.  Neither driver has, or is able to, confirm a return date at this time.  I certainly hope Trummer and Jakes allow adequate recovery time rather than rush a return and have their results and overall health suffer because of it.

I wish both drivers a speedy recovery.  Stay tuned for future updates.

Sean Burstyn is set to make his return to the Star Mazda Championship this weekend during the doubleheader at Autobahn in Joliet, Illinois.  The 20-year-old Florida resident has signed with Juncos Racing for the event — the same team he drove for last season.  He made nine Star Mazda starts last year, earning two top-10 finishes.  His best finish of the season, 7th, occurred at Autobahn last July.

Burstyn will join teammates Conor Daly, Tatiana Calderon, and Rusty Mitchell under the Juncos Racing tent this weekend.  With the guidance of Ricardo Juncos, driving coach Peter Dempsey, and the aforementioned teammates, it’s quite possible we will see another top-10 result from Burstyn.

In order to prepare for this weekend’s races, Burstyn tested with the team two weeks ago at Autobahn in a private test.  All four Juncos Racing drivers were present.

Linares Racing has announced the signing of 19-year-old Kevin Toledo for the remainder of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship.  The Chilean driver will join Carlos Linares, who is currently tied for 13th in the overall championship.

Toledo competed in the Star Mazda Championship last season, logging a best-finish of seventh at Iowa Speedway.  His previous experience includes Chilean F3 and Formula Renault in Argentina.

The team is testing at Putnam Park in Indiana this week.  The addition of Toledo to the squad should help Linares Racing build their program heading into the 2011-12 season.

Drivers competing in the inaugural GP3 season faced an “interesting” weekend in Germany, while racing at Hockenheimring.

Following Friday’s practice session 21 drivers were penalized for ignoring caution flags in practice.  Pal Varhaug was demoted seven positions for ignoring the yellow flags and losing control of his racecar under caution.  The end result promoted American Josef Newgarden to pole, his first of the season.  Newgarden was third quickest in the session before penalties were assessed.

In Race 1, Canadian Robert Wickens worked his way forward from third to win the race, his first of the season.  British driver James Jakes trailed Wickens by 2.395 seconds at the stripe with Renger van der Zande rounding out the top-three.   Championship leader, Esteban Gutierrez finished fourth with Stefano Coletti in fifth.

In Race 2, Gutierrez returned to his winning ways claiming his fourth victory of the 2010 season while extending his grasp on the overall championship.  Daniel Juncadella, who started from pole, led the opening laps but a slight error relegated him to second.  Stefano Coletti finished in third place, earning his second top-five finish of the weekend.

Farther back in the field, two drivers were injured in the weekend’s second race.  Simon Trummer reportedly fractured his third vertebrae in a Lap-2 incident.  He was admitted to Ludwigshafen Hospital, but the latest release indicates his injuries may not be as severe as originally thought.  Jakes was also injured in Race 2 following contact with Newgarden.  The British driver underwent surgery today to repair damaged ligaments in his right arm.  Neither Trummer or Jakes have set a return-date, but both hope to be back in the cockpit as soon as possible.

With the weekend results added to the points’ championship, Gutierrez leads Wickens by 30 points with American Alexander Rossi eight points back in third place.  The Series returns to action in Budapest July 30-August 1.

James Hinchcliffe
(photo: Ryan - Junior Open Wheel Talent)

Canadian James Hinchcliffe rebounded from a disappointing outing in Toronto to win the Edmonton 100.  Frenchman J.K. Vernay was able to maintain the pace of Hinchcliffe but was unable to make a pass stick finishing runner-up.  Martin Plowman continued his streak of top-ten finishes bringing the No. 27 car home third for his second podium finish of the season.  Plowman is the only Indy Lights driver to complete every lap this season and to finish every race inside the top-ten.

Sunday’s win allowed James Hinchcliffe to close within 55-points of J.K. Vernay with two road courses and three ovals remaining on the 2010 calendar.

“What a difference a week makes,” said Hinchcliffe, when asked about his first open-wheel win on Canadian soil.  “This is the first time I’ve managed do it  in my open-wheel career and to finally get it feels extra special.”

Charlie Kimball and Dan Clarke rounded out the top-five in Edmonton.  Sebastian Saavedra earned hard charger honors for improving two positions and finishing sixth overall.

Make the jump for complete results from Edmonton.

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Victor Carbone won Round 10 of the 2010 F2000 Championship yesterday at Lime Rock Park after starting from pole position.  It was his fifth win of the season, but his first since June 13.  Carbone faced his first DNF of the season earlier in the day during Round Nine.  Daniel Erickson stole the show, however, driving from 14th on the grid to finish runner-up while setting the fastest lap of the race (50.475).  The end-result marked Erickson’s fourth top-two finish in six starts.  Phil Lombardi finished third with Fabio Orsolon and and Tim Minor rounding out the top-five, respectively.

The hard charger award went to Keith McCrone who drove to a 13th-place finish after starting back in 28th position.  The F2000 Championship will resume August 6-8 at Road America.

Click here – for complete results from Round Ten.

With everyone trying to find their braking points on a dry track, today’s F2000 Championship Race 1 was a bit wild.  Competitors had one on-track practice session Friday and two qualifying sessions, all were wet.  This morning’s race was the first opportunity, for many, to navigate their way around a dry Lime Rock Park racetrack.

Cole Morgan used his experience to work his way forward from fifth to win today’s first event.  Australian Daniel Erickson, who started from pole position, appeared poised to take home runner-up honors until the last lap when he mysteriously disappeared off-track before coming home 12th.  Steven McAleer ended up second after driving a nice race that saw him lead several laps.  Masters driver Phil Lombardi rounded out the top-three for his third podium of the season.

Series newcomer Felix Serralles started the race 10th – his first race ever in a F2000 Championship car – before dropping back to 14th, and then climbing his way back through the field to finish sixth overall.

Chris Gumprecht put in the drive of the day to finish 14th after starting 27th, improving 13 positions in 25-laps.

Championship leader Victor Carbone was classified 27th after contact with Chris Livengood on lap-21.  Livengood finished one lap down in 26th position.

Today’s second race is scheduled to take place at 5:15 p.m. EST.  Following this weekend’s doubleheader at Lime Rock Park, drivers return to action August 6-8 at Road America.

Click Here – for complete results from Race 1 at LRP.

Skip Barber National driver and MazdaSPEED scholarship driver Felix Serralles will make his F2000 Championship debut this weekend with GTP Motorsports at Lime Rock Park.  The 18-year-old race driver is coming off his first-career win in the Skip Barber National Championship last weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

GTP Motorsports will also enter Phil Lombardi, Paul Farmer, Tom Fatur, and Jim Hanrahan.   I expect Serralles will be a nice addition to the squad and do quite well.

Update: Felix Serralles was the fourth quickest driver in this morning’s wet practice session at LRP.  Qualifying for Race 1 is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.