Junior Open Wheel Talent

It was announced early today that Indy Lights driver J.R. Hildebrand will replace Marco Andretti in the lead Team USA A1GP seat at Brands Hatch. Marco is unable to attend due to prior IndyCar commitments. It will be real interesting to see if this one-off opportunity for Hildebrand turns into a full-time ride.

It’s nice to see that the A1 team has realized they won’t benefit from the efforts of Danica Patrick. Although, the rumors stated that she wanted the ride, but she also wanted money to come along with it….which wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Not sure how I missed this, but Robbie Pecorari is currently in Algarve, Portugal for the A1GP race. Pecorari drove the A1 car in the morning rookie sessions and put Team USA– 7th quick in the combined practice. It’s nice to see Pecorari back behind the wheel, even if it’s just for the rookie shakedown, as he was planning to take 2009 off due to funding issues. Away from his driving duties, he is currently focusing on driver coaching.

Pecorari spent 2008 in the Indy Lights series, where he jumped from team to team just to make the field. His best finish last year was 2nd at Kansas, after starting 23rd. The 21-year-old has 28 career Indy Lights starts, 1 win, and 14 top-ten finishes. Putting him inside the top ten in 50% of his career starts–not a bad number.

Indy Lights front runner Ana Beatriz has been called up by Team Brazil to run the A1GP race this weekend in Portugal. The track is located in Algarve and is also home to a karting track. You can take a lap, full of understeer and construction, in what appears to be a large pick-up— here. I have to say, the elevation is pretty impressive and it looks to be a fun track to drive; assuming you are in an actual race car.

Sorry for the delay in posting news, I was out of town last week. There has been quite a bit of news, so I’ll do my best to recap most of it… Here is your November edition of “Linkage”.

The Star Mazda series has a new team for 2009; Juncos Racing. The new team will field three cars including two series newcomers: fifteen-year-old Michael Furfari and seventeen-year-old Sean Burstyn.

In more Star Mazda news: Conor Daly spent two days testing with JDC Motorsports. According to team owner John Church, the test went very well.

Josef Newgarden spent last Monday driving an Anderson Racing Star Mazda car around Sebring,…. despite thoroughly enjoying the test and the team, the Tennessee resident seems to have his eyes set on the British Formula Ford Championship for 2009. The 17-year-old flew back to the UK last weekend and will spend the balance of this week testing with three Duratec teams. Look for a big announcement soon…..

In the karting world…. Jonathan Thonon claimed the $10,000 check for winning the SuperPro division of the 2008 SKUSA SuperNationals. You can find full results for the TAG and SuperPro divisions here.

In Atlantic Championship news: US RaceTronics continues its aggressive testing schedule for 2009, running Sebastian Saavedra.

Condor Motorsports signed Max Lefevre to contest the 2009 Atlantic Championship earlier today.

Due to some A1GP frustration, it appears Jonny Reid will return to the United States for another year in the Indy Lights series.

In more Indy Lights news, Sam Schmidt continued his 2009 tests running both Charlie Kimball (for a second time) and Dillon Battistini. The duo spent one day on the road course and one day on the oval at Homestead.

Genoa Racing tested Richard Philippe at Homestead last week.

The F3 Euro Series has finalized their team roster for 2009. Two teams were added to the series for 2009… including Kolles TME; the team established by former F1 Force India team boss.

J.R. Hildebrand, who recently signed with Andretti Green/AFS to pilot the teams Indy Lights car, will join Team USA in Malaysia as a rookie test driver. The 20-year-old will get behind the wheel of the A1 car for both rookie sessions Friday at the Sepang International Circuit.

One has to wonder if J.R.’s signing with Andretti Green/AFS didn’t revolve around the possibility of A1 seat-time. For those that don’t already know, Michael Andretti and AGR are heading up the Team USA A1GP Program for 2008-2009. Current IndyCar driver Marco Andretti, who is Michael’s son, is the lead-driver for Team USA. This is a great opportunity for J.R. to gain some additional road course experience and learn a few of the circuits across the pond.
(photo: A1GP~http://www.jrhildebrandracing.com)

Charlie Kimball will be driving the A1 car for Team USA at Zandvoort in The Netherlands. There were several internet claims that Danica Patrick would fill the seat over the weekend, thank goodness they were incorrect. It’s nice to see Kimball back in a car after prematurely ending his F3 Euro Series season, due to funding issues. For those that missed the announcement, Team USA’s A1GP program will be headed by Andretti-Green Racing for 2008-2009.

For an American driver, Kimball has quite an extensive amount of experience racing in Europe. The 23 year old has been racing overseas for the last five years and since that time he has claimed 12 victories in the various junior formula series of which he competed.

This season’s Formula BMW-Europe Champion Esteban Gutierrez will be Team Mexico’s A1 rookie driver for the 2008-2009 season. The 17 year old, who was born in Monterrey, Mexico, tested with the team last year but failed to make the final cut as a rookie for the 2007-2008 season. After an extremely impressive season in Formula BMW-Europe (7 wins, 12 podiums) driving for Josef Kaufmann Racing, the Mexican driver has proven himself worthy; Team Mexico announced Esteban as their rookie driver for the season. Should he perform well, a race contract won’t be too far into the future.

Daniel Morad, 2007′s Formula BMW-USA Champion, is a self professed Canadian,….who was born in Markham, Ontario. In fact, he promotes his nationality on his website bio and proudly represented Canada earlier this year in A1GP tests. Despite his Canadian Patriotism…the 18 year old signed with Team Lebanon earlier today as their lead driver for the 2008-2009 A1GP season. Apparently Daniel’s grandfather, Shaol Morad, was born in Beirut in 1926…giving him the necessary blood relation for a A1GP Team Lebanon license. Watch for the 18 year old Canadian-Lebanese driver to be flying a different flag than what we are used to.

Former F1 and Champ Car great Nigel Mansell did some laps in a go-kart on the new layout at Thunderbolt Raceway (NJMP). He must have given his son Greg a few tips after the venture; Greg Mansell received the official hard charger note in the box score over the weekend enroute to a career best finish of 7th in the Atlantic Championship race on Sunday. Greg’s brother Leo Mansell finished 12th in Sunday’s race.

ATS Formula 3 driver Hamad Al Fardan survived his tremendous wreck at The Nurburgring without any serious injuries only to break his metatarsus in a leisure activity, forcing him to miss the next two rounds of the Championship.

Several Indy Lights drivers were scheduled to try out dirt track racing over the weekend at Terre Haute, Indiana..in an effort to raise money for flood victims of Wabash Valley. Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to rain (isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?).
The event has since been rescheduled for October 4th.

International Formula Master driver, Chris van der Drift became the first Kiwi driver to try out the new Ferrari powered A1GP Car.

Following in the footsteps of European Valle Makela…. Aucklander Jonny Reid is apparently going to make the trek to America in pursuit of a new racing opportunity. From what I can gather, this step is dependent on the necessary funding.
Reid has had a very successful career spanning back to his first go kart race at the age of 9. He was a New Zealand Karting Champion 5 years in a row (96-00). From karts he moved on to race Formula Ford, European Formula 3000, F3 in Japan, and A1. He finished this season ranked 2nd in the World for Team New Zealand in the A1GP Championship.