After a few weeks of rumors and testing, it was made official this week that British karting standout Josh Fielding will join Cape Motorsports for the 2010 USF2000 National Championship.
Josh has spent the last two seasons competing in the KF2 division of the karting ranks. This will be his first full-season in cars. The 20-year-old race driver was originally planning to compete in the UK Formula Renault 2.0 championship in 2010, but decided to enter the USF2000 National Championship instead.
Fielding will be teamed up with Irish driver Patrick McKenna, who signed with Cape Motorsports early last week.
Carmen Jorda
It was originally thought that Carmen Jorda had signed with Walker Racing for the 2010 Indy Lights season. However, that rumor proved to be false as it was announced last evening that Jorda had, in fact, signed with Andersen Racing for 2010.
Carmen, 21, tested with Andersen Racing at the open test last month at Barber Motorsports Park.
She spent the 2009 season in European F3 Open which used to be known as the Spanish F3 Championship. The 21-year-old managed to finish on the podium twice in the Copa de España division. She also ran three races in a LMP2 car in the Le Mans Series.
James Winslow
This is sort of old news by now, but still worthy of mention. James Winslow, who competed in the Atlantic Championship last season, completed a test last week with Sam Schmidt Motorsports in an Indy Lights car while at Sebring International Raceway.
James is currently looking to secure a ride in the 2010 Firestone Indy Lights series. Nothing official has been announced at this time.
Last fall, I wrote this about his Atlantic season:
James Winslow didn’t have a break-out season but he was one of the few drivers who actually improved throughout the year. He also earned 3-hard charger awards; Sebring, Mid-Ohio, and Road Atlanta. While racing, he improved on his starting position in 75% of his race starts. His best finish this season was 7th, which occurred at Lime Rock Park, Trois-Riviéres, Road Atlanta, and Laguna Seca.
It would be nice to see James return to North America full-time in 2010. He was running on a very limited budget last season and he was unfamiliar with most of the tracks. If he is able to put together the necessary funding for an Indy Lights season, it will be fun to watch his progress in 2010.
I will be holding a Live Q&A session with Jonathan Summerton Monday night at 8PM EST. Make sure to join us and ask questions.
Dennis Trebing (67) leads Spencer Pigot (56) in Race 1 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
Skip Barber Racing held their opening rounds of the 2010 Skip Barber National Championship this past weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. As usual, the racing was close and featured several lead changes throughout the weekend.
Dennis Trebing won Round-1 by beating Isaac Lyons and Spencer Pigot to the line. It was his first Skip Barber National win. Ashley Freiberg and Nick Andries rounded out the top-five respectively.
The margin of victory in Race-1 was an astonishing 0.018 seconds, the margin of victory in Race-2 was even closer.
Spencer Pigot crossed the stripe first in Round 2 just ahead of Nick Andries and Nicolas Costa. The margin of victory was a mere 0.013 seconds. Danilo Estrela put in the drive of the weekend to finish 4th, he started the event 14th. Isaac Lyons rounded out the top-five.
Honorable mention should go to Felix Serralles who set the fastest lap of the race in both Round 1 & 2.
Point Standings After Round 2 of 14 (Top-Five)
- Spencer Pigot 66
- Dennis Trebing 59
- Isaac Lyons 58- Tie
- Nick Andries 58-Tie
- Nicolas Costa 55
Read the full report from Skip Barber Racing here.
Conor Daly has signed with Juncos Racing for the 2010 Star Mazda Championship.
- Conor Daly
(photo: Juncos Racing)
The partnership was all but set-in-stone after the duo had a very successful pre-season test at Sebring International Raceway in late-January. Conor topped the time charts in 3 out of the 6 sessions and set the fastest lap of the weekend with a 2:00.588. It was just a matter of finalizing some sponsors before the official announcement could be made. Last season, Conor drove for Andersen Racing in the Star Mazda championship and finished 3rd in the overall standings. He completed the year with 1 win, 1 pole position, 6 podiums and 9 top-five finishes. His most impressive drive of the year was perhaps his first race in a Star Mazda car (Sebring), where he drove from 16th on the grid to finish 3rd.
Conor is, without a doubt, a very promising open-wheel prospect and now that he is returning for a second year in Star Mazda competition he will be a favorite to challenge for the overall title. It’s nice to see him stick around for an additional year of development rather than rush up the ladder like so many seem to do. I have a feeling that he won’t be disappointed in that decision come October.
I’m constantly working on new ideas and trying to develop creative ways to help promote today’s up-and-coming drivers. I’ve decided to try something new next week…
For the first time, I will be holding a LIVE Q&A session with Jonathan Summerton at 8PM EST on Monday night. I will be using CoverItLive as I have in the past during a few of my Live Blog broadcasts. For those not familiar with CoverItLive, please outclick on the link above and replay one of my previous Live Events. The software is pretty cool in that it allows fans to interact during a Live event. You simply add your name and type in your comment or question. You won’t need to register or sign-up in order to participate… just simply tune-in and ask questions.
The idea here is to give today’s open wheel prospects a chance to interact with fans and gain some additional exposure. I encourage everyone to tune-in on Monday night and participate by asking Jonathan questions. I can’t guarantee that we will get to everyone, but we will certainly try our best.
Assuming the format is popular and I don’t have any major technical disasters, I’d like to continue this series in the future. I will post a reminder link sometime this weekend. Make sure to help spread the word and support one of America’s most promising drivers (Jonathan Summerton).
Make sure to tune in Monday night at 8PM EST for a Live Q&A session with Jonathan Summerton right here at Junior Open Wheel Talent.com.
Andretti Autosport announced today that they have signed 15-year-old Sage Karam to pilot their F2000 car in the 2010 USF2000 National Championship.
Sage, of Nazareth, PA., will be an excellent addition to Andretti Autosport’s ‘Road to Indy’ program. The 15-year-old phenom has performed remarkably in both karts and cars— competing full-time in both disciplines last season via the Skip Barber National Championship and the World Karting Association. I’ve been following Sage for quite awhile now and I’m confident in saying that he will be a driver to watch in 2010.
Michael Andretti- President of Andretti Autosport- has a similar opinion of Sage’s potential.
“We look forward to bringing Sage on board as Andretti Autosport’s first USF2000 National Championship driver and hope to make him the first driver to go all the way through the ‘Road to Indy’ program – all the way to the IZOD IndyCar Series. I’ve watched him grow to become an accomplished young driver, and I think his experience in karting and Skip Barber will serve him well this year in the USF2000 series. I’m very confident Sage will be successful with Andretti Autosport,” Michael stated in a release.
In 2008, Sage was awarded the prestigious Skip Barber Karting Scholarship after winning the annual shoot-out. At 13, he was the youngest driver in history to win the overall prize of a fully-funded ride in the Skip Barber National Championship.
Sage had a great inaugural full-season in the car ranks during 2009 that included 2 wins, 2 pole positions, 3 podiums, 2 fast laps, 32 laps lead, 1 hard charger award and 1 track record (LRP). He continued to develop and improve throughout the season and I expect we will see much of the same this year in USF2000 competition.
Jake Rosenzweig
American Jake Rosenzweig has re-signed with Carlin to compete in the 2010 World Series by Renault. The 20-year-old drove for Trevor Carlin, Carlin Team Boss, last season in the Formula 3 Euro Series.
Aside from a stellar weekend at Zandvoort, Jake had a fairly tough year in 2009, one that was laden with DNF’s. His average finish (in races completed) was 13.69. His best finish of the season, in F3 Euro Series competition, was 3rd. He qualified off-pole for that race.
Jake has shown a tremendous amount of potential. Personally, I would have liked to have seen him run another season in the Formula 3 Euro Series. I’m still waiting for that break-out year from him.
His most recent racing endeavors include running two races in the GP2-Asia series with Super Nova Racing. Additionally, he spent some time in the sports car ranks driving in the British Porsche Carrera Cup.
I’m sad to report that the 2010 Atlantic Championship season has been cancelled. Ben Johnston, owner of the Atlantic Championship, and his crew took all the right steps (with a few exceptions) over the last few months… unfortunately, it was just too little, too late. You have to give them credit for sticking with a sinking ship right until the end though. They certainly put forth the effort.
The Atlantic Championship was poised to celebrate its 37th anniversary this season. It was the longest running junior formula series in North American history. Unfortunately, due to economic woes and some additional issues, it has faced an untimely demise.
Immediately following the release of the article on Auto123 (linked above), I sent an email out to my contacts within the Atlantic Championship. Their failure to confirm or deny the allegations basically validated the inevitable. **Update** Here is the Atlantic Release.
There are a lot of people ready to point fingers at this point… which is the easy thing to do. Unfortunately, doing so won’t change anything for the better. At this point, it’s simply time to move on and hope for a brighter future.
The mysterious insider who released the story to Auto123’s René Fagnan is quoted in saying, “We’re taking 2010 off to seriously rethink the series. Mr. Johnston is seriously thinking about relaunching the series in 2011, and even to stage a short and affordable “Winter Series” at one point.”.
I guess they’re emphasizing the word “seriously“.
I’m not sure how serious you want to take them at this point, but I for one certainly hope this isn’t the end for the Atlantic Championship. The storied history and the number of talented pilots who have participated in this series is perhaps the only solace for now.
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