Time for another edition of “Who’s Testing With Who?”
Several FIL team owners are in the process of testing and evaluating drivers for the 2010 season. I’ve compiled another testing update below —which will sort of be a work-in-progress. Make sure to check back frequently for updates.
As always, if you have additional information and want some coverage make sure to send me an email.
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Early February Edition (Indy Lights)- Homestead-Miami Speedway
The addition of Juncadella to the roster for 2010 is pretty big. The 18-year-old Spaniard has done very well in Formula BMW—finishing 2nd in the 2009 Formula BMW-Europe championship (1 win, 7 podiums). In 2008—his first full-season in FBMW competition—he finished 4th overall in the Formula BMW-Europe championship (2 wins, 5 podiums). Today’s announcement was expected by many as Juncadella completed a very successful F3 test with Prema back in December.
Frenchman Nicolas Marroc, 23, has also signed with Prema to run the 2010 F3 Euro Series. Marroc spent the 2009 season in German F3. His best finish was 5th which occurred at Oschersleben in October. I’m not sure what to expect from Marroc in 2010. He has a decent amount of experience but he seems to lack consistency. Perhaps working with and running alongside Daniel Juncadella will compliment his skill-set. Time will tell.
Andersen Racing recently tested two kart racers in a USF2000 car at their test track (Andersen RacePark). Bryson Schutte (Junior Rotax) and Taylor Gates (Senior Rotax) each won their respective championships in the 2009 TRAK (Toronto Racing Association of Karters) series. Andersen Racing is a series sponsor for TRAK and subsequently offered a USF2000 test to the up-and-coming drivers.
According to the official press release, two other karters received a wild-card prize and will test with Andersen Racing next month. Dalton Kellet (Rotax Junior) and Andrew Waring (Rotax Junior) are the wild-card recipients.
It’s always great to see race teams offering top karters a formula car test and exposing them to the world of junior formula racing. Let’s hope this sort of prize continues for years to come.
Greg Mansell, 22, announced that he will return to the World Series by Renault in 2010 with Comtec Racing. He drove the final two races of the 2009 season with Comtec. Prior to that, he drove for Ultimate Motorsport where he logged a best finish of 9th at Spa-Francorchamps.
Away from his open-wheel endeavors in 2010, Greg plans to run an LMP1 car with his brother Leo (25).
Stefan Wilson has signed with Bryan Herta Autosport for the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season. Wilson, 20, is the younger brother of IndyCar driver Justin Wilson. He ran 6 races last season in Indy Lights and posted a best finish of 4th at Toronto. Perhaps more impressive was his drive at Mid-Ohio where he picked off 9 drivers to earn the hard charger award. He finished 8th after starting 17th.
By all reports Wilson gelled with the team very quickly last weekend during a test at Firebird International Raceway. It was his first test with the team. He also completed two tests with Sam Schmidt Motorsports this off-season, one of which was at Kentucky in an effort to gain some oval experience for 2010. All of the events he ran in 2009 were road and street course races.
This is likely a really solid move for Wilson and it will be fun to watch his progression as well as that of Bryan Herta Autosport.
The 2010 racing season is just over a month away with the first Skip Barber National race scheduled to take place on March 5th, 2010 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Most of the other junior formula series in North America start their season later in March or early April. It’s hard to believe that we are about 1-2 months away from a full-on racing season in North America. One would expect most drivers and teams to have their 2010 plans in order with the season being just around the corner, unfortunately this just isn’t the case.
The lack of roster updates for 2010 isn’t due to a lack of effort by drivers. For those of you on Twitter…. you know exactly what I mean. Drivers are doing their best to utilize the various social media outlets to aide their quest of getting back behind-the-wheel in 2010. Those of us who follow them hear a lot of the gory details about the day’s workout and the distress of a sponsor search gone bad. Despite the financial barricade holding them back they all seem to embrace a somewhat sanguine mindset. And so do I.
I fully expect the number of roster announcements to increase this month. Coming up with the necessary funds to compete at this level is difficult at best during times of inflation and expansion. So, it goes without saying, the current economic climate makes the task of putting together a full program for 2010 exceptionally difficult. Let’s just hope that those—who are in the position to do so— step up and help these talented drivers out.
If you look at the latest EFCN Driver Rankings (from October 23rd, 2009), you will see that (to-date) only 4 drivers out of the top-20 have officially signed with a team for the 2010 season. That means 80% of the drivers ranked inside the top-20 are currently without a ride for 2010. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that’s a pretty scary statistic, especially when you consider that the 2010 season is just over a month away.
Let’s just hope others recognize this situation. We need those people who are in a position to do some good for the racing community to step up and lend a hand. Their assistance is vital to the success of our beloved sport.
Despite the current lack of commitments to the 2010 Atlantic Championship, Zach Veach and Jensen Motorsport are continuing to run an aggressive testing program. The following video gives you a semi-inside-look at the team’s recent rain test at Roebling Road.
Markus Niemela, who won the 2008 Atlantic Championship, will try his hand at a different type of open-wheel racing in 2010; sprint car racing. I have a feeling that Markus will be absolutely thrilled with his decision.
Formula 3 Euro Series front-runner Valtteri Bottas will be Williams’ official F1 test driver in 2010.
Team PBIR recently announced that they will aim to fill two seats for 2010 through their “Rookie Challenge Program”. This is a really exciting opportunity for any up-and-coming driver. It’s great to see Kane Williams, Ron Dixon and all the PBIR staff working together (along with numerous key sponsors) to make this program a reality. Make sure to read the release linked above.
Joe Saward touched on the importance of Ferrari’s young driver program and hinted that it could really take off in the coming years under the guidance of Luca Baldisserri.
In a time where negative news is least needed, the stark reality of the current economic climate has surfaced again with the demise of Vision Racing. The last direct link between Tony George and the IRL came to an end this week as Vision Racing announced they would cease operation due to the inability to lock a key sponsor for the 2010 season. Not only does this news affect the IRL but it will also leave a lasting mark on the Firestone Indy Lights as Vision’s Lights program will also come to an end. I guess it seems like it might be a bit early to throw in the towel for 2010, but perhaps the announcement revolves around more than just money or sponsorship. Lauren George, who is the daughter of Tony George and owner of Vision’s Firestone Indy Lights team, tweeted yesterday:
Strange feeling of peace today… and complete trust in God’s timing. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for my @VisionRacing family.
Perhaps it was just time for Tony George to take a step back and leave the weight of his controversial decisions behind. It’s hard to accept that as a reasonable possibility, but in reality it might not be that far off base. The good news is that if that is in fact the case, it leaves room for a Vision Racing return in the future. The team has done such a tremendous job of utilizing the various social media outlets and building a fan base that there are truly a lot of disheartened people out there mourning the loss of their favorite team. As Jeff Iannucci and so many other bloggers have pointed out, every team should use Vision’s fan building tactics as a benchmark for their own marketing program. It’s little things that help build a solid fan base and, as we all know, fans are the lifeline of the IRL or any sport for that matter.
As for what the future holds, we will have to just wait and see. It’s truly a shame to see Vision end their Indy Lights campaign after such a successful season with Australian James Davison behind the wheel in 2009. The team managed to finish 2nd in the final standings and won their first race last season.
The Vision team shared space with Bryan Herta Autosport in 2009, but since then BHA has moved into their own shop. It was confirmed yesterday that the cancellation of Vision’s 2010 efforts will not affect those of Bryan Herta Autosport.
The Formula 3 Euro Series released their 2010 calendar this morning. The current schedule features 8 venues (16-races) with the possibility of a 9th event being added at a later date. The season finale will be held at Magny-Cours in 2010. The series has featured a 20-race schedule (10-Rounds) since its inception so it’s likely that the series administrators are waiting to see what kind of response the 16-race schedule gets prior to adding a 9th stop in 2010.
Without further ado, here is your 2010 F3 Euro Series Schedule:
F3 Euro Series: 2010 Calendar
April 24-25: Hockenheimring
May 22-23: Valencia
July 3-4: Norisring
August 7-8: Nürburgring
August 21-22: Zandvoort
September 4-5: Brands Hatch
September 18-19: Oschersleben
October 15-17: Magny-Cours
A special thank you to everyone who has donated. I plan to use my 2010 donations as a travel fund to provide more live coverage. Every little bit helps.
