Junior Open Wheel Talent

The Skip Barber National Championship completed their 2009 season this weekend at historic Lime Rock Park.

Connor De Phillippi

Conor De Phillippi claimed the overall championship simply by starting Saturday’s Round-13 race.  De Phillippi ended the season with 7 wins, 4 pole positions, 10 podiums, 4 fast laps, and 1 hard charger award.  He set a new record this year for most wins in a single season with 7.  The previous record was held by Grant Maiman, who had 6 wins in 2002.

Read the full report after the jump… [More]

Jules Bianchi claimed the 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series title on Sunday by winning the reverse grid race at Dijon-Prenois.  The Frenchman drove from 7th on the grid to win by 0.351 seconds over Sam Bird.

The F3 Euro Series will  wrap up their 2009 season on October 23rd-25th, 2009 at the Hockenheimring.

Keith Collantine of F1Fanatic.co.uk put together a nice piece on Bianchi.  The story looks back at the success of ART Grand Prix, Bianchi’s F3ES career, as well as Jules’ racing heritage.  Enjoy.

The Formula 3 Euro Series website posted a similar story entitled Champion:  Jules Bianchi in a brief portrait.

The 20-year-old race driver has been impressive this season to say the least.  Heading into the final weekend, he has finished inside the top-five in 78% of his race starts.  To date, he has 8 wins, 11 podiums, and 5 pole positions in the 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series.

This wasn’t a good weekend to head to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca if you were leading a junior formula championship.  Both Peter Dempsey (Star Mazda) and Simona De Silvestro (Atlantic Championship) were leading their respective championships heading into the final event.  Both drivers ran into trouble during the first lap of their race and were subsequently forced into early retirement, handing the championship over to another competitor.

John Edwards

John Edwards, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier with today’s Atlantic Championship result.  He came into the event ranked third in the overall championship and proceeded to qualify on pole and win today’s 36-lap race.

John Edwards is your 2009 Atlantic Championship ‘Champion‘.  At just 18 years old, Edwards is now the youngest champion in series’ history. The Cincinnati, Ohio native ended the year with 4 wins, 3 pole positions, and 9 podiums.  He previously competed in the Atlantic Championship during the 2007 season until he ran out of adequate funding.  With his options running out, he decided to take the step that very few drivers take, he moved down the open-wheel ladder system to compete in the 2008 Star Mazda Championship (with hopes of winning the overall championship and the fully-funded Atlantic ride courtesy of the MazdaSPEED Driver Development Program).  Ultimately, the move paid off as he won last year’s Star Mazda championship and the fully-funded Atlantic ride associated with the title.  Not only did he return to the Atlantic Championship this season with a funded ride, he went on to win the overall title via today’s result.  The championship will provide John Edwards with a $1,000,000 prize, which he can use in a series of his choosing.

Edwards actually tied with Jonathan Summerton in the points total, but with a tie breaker (using 2nd place finishes) Edwards wins the 2009 title. That’s not to take anything away from Jonathan Summerton, who is tipped to have an upcoming role with upstart F1 team; USF1.  Summerton ended the year with 4 wins, 5 pole positions and 9 podiums in Atlantic competition.

The real story of 2009 was the success of female driver Simona De Silvestro.  Simona was extremely impressive this year, becoming the winningest female in U.S. open-wheel history.  Despite leading the championship for the majority of the year, today’s result dropped her to third in the overall championship.  She completed her 2009 season with 4 wins, 4 pole positions, and 9 podiums.  The future is very bright for Simona and I look forward to following her career again next season.  She is a true talent.

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Atlantic Championship Round 12 (Laguna Seca)- Complete Results

1. John Edwards
2. Jonathan Summerton
3. Frederic Vervisch (Hard Charger)
4. Tonis Kasemets
5. Markus Niemela (30-second penalty for avoidable contact)
6. Barrett Mertins
7. James Winslow
8. Jonathan Bomarito (DNF)
9. Max Lefevre (DNF)
10. Simona De Silvestro (DNF)

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2009 Atlantic Championship Final Point Standings- Full

1. John Edwards (182)
2. Jonathan Summerton (182)
3. Simona De Silvestro (176)
4. Frederic Vervisch (131) – (Rookie of the Year)
5. Tonis Kasemets (103)

The Star Mazda Championship battle came down to the final race of the season.  Irishman Peter Dempsey was the heavy favorite heading into the final event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.  Adam Christodoulou was the top rookie and the only other driver left with a mathematical shot at the 2009 title.  Dempsey had the pole position for the race, earning him 1 additional point in the overall championship—- meaning, if Christodoulou wins the race, Dempsey had to finish 7th or better to win the overall title.

Adam Christodoulou

Right from the start, Dempsey’s dream began to slip away from him.  Contact with another driver at the top of the corkscrew left him at the back of the field.  Determined to make-up for the lost positions, Dempsey began to charge through the pack.  He moved up to 11th by the midway point of the race.  Meanwhile, JDC teammates Alex Ardoin and Adam Christodoulou were battling for the top spot.  Dempsey was running the fastest laps of the race when contact with Rusty Mitchell took him out of contention for good.  On Lap-22, Adam Christodoulou made an overtaking move on Ardoin and claimed the top spot.  With Dempsey out of the race, the championship was Christodoulou’s to win.

Adam, who did everything right in the final two events, won the race by 0.569 seconds over Alex Ardoin.  The victory, which was his 3rd of the season, solidified his championship hopes.  Adam Christodoulou is your 2009 Star Mazda Champion.  The 20-year-old driver from Litchfield, England will receive a fully-funded Atlantic Championship ride in 2010 (courtesy of the MazdaSPEED Developement Program) along with a $100,000 check for winning the 2009 Star Mazda Championship.

Christodoulou was also, just recently, nominated for the 2009 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year Award.  The 2008 Formula Renault 2.0 UK Champion finished his Star Mazda rookie campaign with 3 wins and 9 podiums.

Joy and jubilation for one driver usually means heartbreak for another and yesterday was no exception.  Dempsey, who seemingly had the championship all but wrapped up ended up falling just short for the second year in a row.  Despite yesterday’s end result, Peter impressed a lot of people this year and drove incredibly.  He ended the year with 5 wins, 5 poles, and 6 podiums.  Regardless of the overall outcome, I’m confident that the future is bright for this young man.

Conor Daly earned the hard charger title for yesterday’s race by putting in an impressive drive coming from 15th to finish 4th in the series’ finale.  He also finished 3rd in the overall championship, ending the year with 1 win, 4 podiums, and 1 pole position.

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Star Mazda Round 13- Complete Results (Laguna Seca)

1. Adam Christodoulou
2. Alex Ardoin
3. Anders Krohn
4. Conor Daly
5. Jorge Goncalvez

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2009 Star Mazda Championship Final Standings- Complete List

1. Adam Christodoulou (473)
2. Peter Dempsey (461)
3. Conor Daly (416)
4. Alex Ardoin (401)
5. Joel Miller (390)
6. Anders Krohn (380)
7. Richard Kent (377)
8. Caio Lara (360)
9. Jorge Goncalvez (329)
10. Michael Furfari (329)

(photo: IndyCar.com)

In 2002, when a 14-year-old J.R. Hildebrand sat in a go-kart for his first racing experience he had no idea that he would be on the verge of an Indy Car ride just eight years later.

Hildebrand had a relatively late start in karting and motorsports, but he managed to impress those around him during his journey to the upper echelons of the sport and took advantage of the opportunities given to him.

Since that early morning in 2002, when he entered his first race, he has gone on to win 3 junior formula championships (Formula Russell, F2000, and Indy Lights).

The now 21-year-old J.R. Hildebrand is your 2009 Indy Lights champion and appears poised to make the jump to the prestigious Indy Car series in 2010.

This season alone, with the season finale yet to come, Hildebrand has won 4 races, earned 5 pole positions, and stood on the podium 9 times.  He has finished inside the top-ten in 78.6% of his 2009 Indy Lights starts.

He recently sat down to do an interview with Junior Open Wheel Talent.  Make the jump to read the entire interview…. [More]

The Formula BMW-Americas completed their season finale this weekend at Mosport… err, make that “series finale”. A few weeks back, BMW Motorsport made the announcement that they are cutting the Formula BMW-Americas program for 2010.

The 2009 Formula BMW-Americas champion is Gabby Chaves.  Gabby had a tremendous season that saw him capture the crown two weeks ago at Road America.  The 16-year-old Colombian won 5 races this year, but that wasn’t really his key to success.  His fortune was largely a result of consistency.  He averaged a finishing position of 1.71 and completed 100% of his 2009 races inside the top-three.

Giancarlo Vilarinho finished the season in 2nd place.  He was incredibly quick, winning 7 times…. which comes out to 50% of the races this season.  Unfortunately, he had some bad luck to go with those numbers.  He was unable to match Gabby’s consistency.  Vilarinho started from pole position nine times this year.  That number in itself is very impressive.

Giancarlo Raimondo finished the season in third place.  The 18-year-old Canadian was fairly consistent in his own right.  He finished inside the top-five in 78.6% of his 2009 race starts.  His best finish of the year came this weekend at Mosport— where he won Round 13 by 0.855 seconds over Chaves.

The Rookie Champion of 2009 is Michael Lewis.  The fight for the rookie championship came down to the final race as Australian stand-out James Kovacic held the lead heading into the series finale at Mosport.  Ultimately, Lewis came out on top.  Kovacic followed as the runner-up and Alex Ellis was third.  James Kovacic was the only rookie to win a race this season.

2009 Final Standings

1. Gabby Chaves (235)
2. Giancarlo Vilarinho (187)
3. Gianmarco Raimondo (143)
4. Michael Lewis (111) -Rookie
5. James Kovacic (103) -Rookie
6. Alex Ellis (95) -Rookie
7. Joao Victor Horto (91) -Rookie
8. Daniel Vela (56) -Rookie
9. Martin Sala (54) -Rookie
10. Wilson Philippe (38) -Rookie
11. Barrett Mertins (19) -Rookie
12. Freddy Zebede (9) -Rookie
13. Robert Garcia (3) -Rookie

Further Reading:  Formula BMW Archives

Minnesota’s Chris Miller claimed the 2009 F2000 Championship title by winning Sunday’s race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Miller, who drives for JDC Motorsports, had a tremendous year with dominant performances that earned him the nickname “Mr. Podium“. The 20-year-old University of Minnesota student had 4 wins, 7 pole positions, and 9 podiums in 12 starts. Those numbers put him on the podium in 75% of his 2009 races.

Miller spent last season in the F2000 Championship as well, where he finished fourth in the final standings. He plans to compete in the Star Mazda Championship in 2010. He remains a driver to watch.

Early this season, I picked Miller to win the F2000 Championship… followed by Matthew Inge and Remy Audette respectively. It’s not often that I get predictions correct, but this time it looks like I was right on the money. [More]