Junior Open Wheel Talent

Oliver Oakes is scheduled to race for Carlin Motorsport this weekend in the F3 Euro Series at Hockenheim. The 2005 Formula A World Champion drove for Carlin in the Formula BMW UK series back in 2006, where he scored one win and four podiums.

British pilot Richard Kent was scheduled to run his first Star Mazda race in August at Mosport. Unfortunately,… or fortunately depending on how you look at it,… luck wasn’t on his side that weekend as the 19 year old had shift linkage problems in his first session and engine problems in his second on-track session. Due to unforeseen mechanical circumstances, Richard decided against a qualifying effort and returned to his home in Olney, England.

Richard was still intent on making a Star Mazda start in 2008, so he stayed in touch with Anderson Racing. The opportunity arrived and he made his debut last weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. He made the most of his opportunity by setting the quickest time in the first official practice session, shocking those in the paddock. He proceeded to claim the pole position and the Star Mazda track record on Saturday morning with a lap time of 1:19.935. He was the only driver to break into the 1:19’s. As if that weren’t enough, Kent went on to win the series final race by 2.171 seconds over series’ champion, John Edwards. He led every lap of the race in his Star Mazda debut. The paddock is now wondering if we will see Richard Kent back in 2009 for a full campaign.

The championship contenders stayed close in the series’ finale, but a few familiar names were missing on the entry list. Both Charles Hall and Tom Gladdis, perennial front-runners, were no where to be seen. According to inside sources, both Charles and Tom had monetary issues restricting them from participating in the final event of 2008. The fact that both drivers spent 2008 under the Anderson Racing tent and both disappeared right before the series finale makes one wonder if there isn’t more to the story. Both Tom and Charles have a tremendous amount of talent and it’s a shame they weren’t able to take part in Saturday’s race.

John Edwards did his part and claimed the 2008 title by finishing second to Richard Kent. Edwards was later given the points for a first place finish since Kent wasn’t registered in the points battle. Irishman Peter Dempsey claimed the final podium spot after an extremely successful season, which included four victories. However, American Joel Miller stayed close enough to finish fourth which put him into second in the overall title hunt. Star Mazda veteran Alex Ardoin completed the top five. Here are your full results from Laguna Seca.

Anyone who followed the Indy Lights series this year was surprised when Andrew Prendeville announced a premature end to his open wheel efforts for 2008. In a statement to the press, Prendeville announced that his reason for departure revolved around “other opportunities”. Many (including myself) thought the announcement was just another unfortunate example of an ill-funded driver being sent home, regardless of his or her talent…. Which it very well could have been, however Prendeville was back in an Indy Lights car just over a week ago; working with HVM Racing to develop their Indy Lights program.

Earlier today, ECO Racing made an announcement defining Andrew’s previous statement about “other opportunities”. The 27 year old driver will be traveling to Laguna Seca in October to drive a environmentally sound LMP1 race car for ECO Racing. Prendeville will be driving in the American LeMans Series with Japanese driver Hideki Noda, who has experience in both single seater and sports cars.

ECO Racing is developing a car for the duo that has a production based-turbocharged V10 engine which is run on bio-diesel (created from a Jatropha curcas tree). According to a release from the team, Jatropha has many advantages over other bio-fuel crops, as it requires less water than most plants, is hardy, and does not need to be grown on good-quality agricultural land. ECO’s efforts align perfectly with the ALMS efforts to “go green”.

This seems to be a great opportunity for Andrew, hopefully we will seem back in a car for 2009, even if it’s a sports car.

World Series by Renault champion Giedo van der Garde signed with iSport International earlier this week to drive for the team in the upcoming GP2 Asia Series. Having already claimed the WSR Championship with 5 wins, 2 poles, and 8 podiums driving for P1 Motorsport, the Dutchman will skip the series finale in Barcelona in order to make his GP2 Asia debut in Shanghai October 17th.

At only 23 years of age, Giedo has a ton of car experience; which should aide him in his transition to GP2. His success this season with iSport International in the GP2 Asia series with likely determine whether or not he has a seat in the GP2 main series for 2009. This will be a tell-tale year for the aspiring F1 driver. He had a lot of success this season, so it will be interesting to see if he can carry the momentum over to the next step.

Barrie, Ontario resident Kyle Marcelli has signed with AIM Autosport for this weekend’s Star Mazda race at Road Atlanta. Marcelli spent 2008 as a development year in the F2000 Championship; finishing 3rd in the final points tally against a highly competitive field. It’s nice to see Marcelli continuing to develop and take that next step towards 2009 and beyond. He will most likely spend the off-season working on putting together a full Star Mazda program for 2009. The eighteen year old driver will be competing alongside Star Mazda standout John Michael Edwards this weekend in Braselton, Georgia.

F2000 front runner Kyle Marcelli decided to try his hand at racing a car with fenders last weekend. Marcelli was selected by John Lockhart, team owner of JL Racing, to run their Saab 93 at Mosport in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship. Marcelli may be part of a growing trend of open wheel drivers looking to expand their careers into the sports car world….should this be the case;… Marcelli showed quite well. The young Canadian drove from the back of the field Saturday to finish a solid 4th in his debut. He followed up Saturday’s performance with a podium run on Sunday, concluding the day in 2nd. Let’s hope the youngster stays in the open wheel ranks, but either way he has a bright future ahead.

After signing with Anderson Racing in early May to contest three Star Mazda events, Finnish driver Valle Makela will finally make his debut this weekend at the New Jersey Motorsports Park, driving for the Florida based team. Watch for the 22 year old to be quick right out of the box. Valle has already tested with Anderson Racing a few times this summer to familiarize himself with the Star Mazda car and the team engineers. He also brings a fair amount of experience with him for his debut.

This weekend may be a turning point for the young driver, as he has done adequate testing and signed on with a very solid team in Anderson Racing. Valle has had trouble funding his ride in the past and hasn’t really stood out since his 2004 UK Formula Ford Championship driving for Nexa Racing, so this will be a good opportunity for him to show the junior formula world what he can do in a race car. I expect Makela will be back with Anderson Racing for either Road Atlanta and/or Laguna Seca later this year.

Charles Hall, current Star Mazda points leader, will make his Indy Lights debut this weekend at Watkins Glen. After an extremely successful stop at the Glen in a Star Mazda car, it will be fun to watch the experienced driver try his hand in the Indy Lights series. Hall will be driving the #77 Anderson Racing entry leased from SWE Racing. This will be the first road course event of the season for the Indy Lights series.