Junior Open Wheel Talent

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Linkage post and there has been several newsworthy items this fall. Here’s a look at some of the latest.

Team USA Scholarship drivers Trent Hindman and Neil Alberico wrapped up the 2012 edition of the European adventure with heat wins, fourth-place finishes in their semi-final races, an unlucky DNF (Alberico) and a sixth-place result (Hindman) in the Walter Hayes Trophy Grand Final at Silverstone. Get the race-report details here.

Or, better yet, read the Team USA driver blogs. You can read Neil Alberico’s here and Trent Hindman’s here.

The USF2000 National Championship plans to open up the National Class in 2012 to allow SCCA Formula Enterprise cars. In the official release, Dan Andersen says, “We will be working on revisions to our current rules and technical regulations to ensure parity.” It will be interesting to see how closely matched the cars are in 2012. Either way, the move is sure to boost car counts.

Tony Johns over at PopOffValve.com penned an interesting piece about bloggers, journalists, and the relentless race for the scoop. Plus, he mentions hockey so it’s definitely worth a read …as is all his work over there.

In the karting world, Nyck de Vries won his second-consecutive World Championship in KF1 at Suzuka. The talented Dutchman will likely be heading to Formula Renault next season and has already been selected as part of the McLaren Young Drivers Program. Aside from winning the championship, de Vries topped everyone in the fourth and final race of the weekend to seal the crown in style.

It’s that time of the year again. Time for the SKUSA SuperNats. This year’s edition (XV) will see record-breaking entries. I regret to inform you that I won’t be making the trek this year (see last year’s coverage here), but I will have a photographer on hand so expect some great photos. In the meantime, there is plenty of good reading out there. Jump over to eKartingNews.com to read David Cole’s previews in class-by-class format: S5, TaG Jr., TaG Cadet; S2; TaG Sr.;  KF2; KZ2; and S1.

Aside from all the cash rewards up for grabs this weekend, drivers will also have the opportunity to win a test in the World Speed Motorsports’ FormulaSPEED 2.0 racecar and three-day racing schools from Skip Barber Racing.

Skip Barber Racing began its Winter Series last weekend with some impressive numbers (and competition). Talented karter Nick Neri won Race 1 while up-and-comer Jack Mitchell Jr. showcased his talent by topping the competition in Race 2.

The Formula Car Challenge Winter Series opened its schedule last weekend with Zach Veach winning the Pro FM class and Mike Anderson notching the Formula Mazda sweep at Infineon Raceway. If you’re not familiar with the Formula Car Challenge take a peak at this video.

Bryan Clauson has earned another IndyCar scholarship for winning the USAC National Drivers Championship. While Clauson is eager to make the Indy 500 next year, I’d like to see him do a full-season in Indy Lights or an oval-only Lights season while running road course events in Star Mazda.

Speaking of Indy Lights and IndyCar rides, Josef Newgarden recently sat down with IndyCar.com for a Champion Chat. For more reading on Newgarden, check out David Malsher’s latest feature on Racer.com

Robert Wickens is proving quick in his early Formula One tests. Not that anyone sane has ever had doubts.

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For up-to-date news and views on junior formula racing follow @JOWT on Twitter or follow on Facebook.

The perks for running the F1600 Formula F Championship Series just got better for up-and-coming drivers.

Last week, F2000 Championship team Alegra Motorsports offered the top-finishing F1600 driver, aged 21 or younger, a chance to test its F2000 car at season’s end. While the Series is a long way from being chock full of young drivers, this prize is certainly a push to make it one.

F1600 competitor Bill Valet won last weekend’s Race 1 at Watkins Glen International. Tim Kautz took the checkered flag in Race 2. On the F2000 side, Canadian Remy Audette showed his mettle by winning back-to-back races extending his championship lead.

For anyone wondering, the most exciting event of the upcoming weekend will likely be the Formula Tour 1600 race at the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

Speaking of F1 and Canada, some pretty big news (albeit not surprising news) surfaced this past week: Canadian Robert Wickens was named reserve driver for the Marussia Virgin Formula One racing team. The well-deserving and talented 22-year-old is just one broken leg away from his dream. If I had to bet, his time will come sooner rather than later. Congrats Robert.

Top American shifter kart driver Gary Carlton has provided everyone with a detailed look at life overseas in his latest driver diary on eKartingNews.com; Read it here.

For those who haven’t heard, 21 American drivers will be heading to the La Conca karting circuit in Murro Leccese, Italy to represent Team USA in the 2010 Rotax Grand Finals on Nov. 15-21.  Several  of the drivers attended a two-day test at Ocala Grand Prix earlier this month in preparation for their trip to Italy.

By all reports, the test was incredibly successful. The drivers turned 3,177 laps, used 28 sets of tires, burned 70 gallons of fuel, while sharing set-up information and comparing data. A test of this magnitude has never been completed prior to Team USA’s participation in the Rotax Grand Finals. It’s great to see this kind of dedication and it should pay off in November.

Here’s the Team USA roster:

DD2
Cody Hodgson
Troy Castaneda
Nathan Mauel
Andy Dunne
Mitch Carey
Derek Wang

Rotax Junior
Ethan Ringel
Andrew Palmer
Nick Neri
Alessandra Madrigal
Louie Pagano
Dore Chaponick Jr.
Ashley Rogero

Rotax Senior
Stepanova Nekeel
Sam Beasley
Jesus Rios Jr.
Daniel Formal
Victor Pedrosa

DD2 Masters
Henry Malukas
Todd Ulmen
Jim Busby

In other news, Indy Lights competitor James Hinchcliffe awarded Nicholas Latifi the 2010 Hinchtown.com Canadian Karting Award. As a prize, Latifi will receive a free entry into the Bridgestone 3-day Racing School and a watch. Not sure how the watch will help his racing career, but at least he will be able to check his lap times.  Regardless, it’s nice to see “Hinch” giving back to Canadian karting talent. Latifi will be part of Team Canada’s Rotax lineup for the November stop in LaConca, Italy. The Canadian team looks to have a really solid roster for 2010.

Here’s some big news… American Gabby Chaves – who recently completed a very successful GP3 test with ART Grand Prix was crowned 2010 Italian F3 Rookie of the Year. Chaves continues to be a driver to watch. He will likely make the jump to GP3 next season, but I wouldn’t mind see him returning to Italian F3 for a championship run.

The Team USA Scholarship drivers Spencer Pigot and Felix Serralles are getting set for the upcoming Walter Hayes Trophy, set to take place Nov. 6-7 at Silverstone. The two recently sampled a Cliff Dempsey prepared Duratec Formula Ford. For more on Team USA, make sure to read some of my past coverage here.

Connor De Phillippi, who won the 2009 Walter Hayes Trophy as a member of Team USA, plans to run a USAC Midget at Irwindale Speedway sometime next month. Nice move by De Phillippi to continue diversifying his skill-set.

More later.

Edoardo Mortara was crowned F3 Euro Series Champion last weekend in Oschersleben after finishing sixth. Valtteri Bottas crushed the competition on Saturday and Jim Pla won his first F3 Euro Series race on Sunday.  It’s fitting that Mortara won the championship after finishing runner-up last season, plus it’s nice to see Volkswagen earn the crown.

Ben Anderson is reporting that FBMW-Europe standout Jack Harvey will graduate to British F3 next season with the help of the Racing Steps Foundation.  I’m not sure if we’ll see him there or not, but it probably wouldn’t be a bad move for the talented 17-year-old.

This is fun: Daniel Zampieri – 2009 Italian F3 Champion – wasn’t allowed to start Saturday’s WSR race at Silverstone because he overtly complained about ISR’s Filip Salaquarda blocking him during qualifying. ISR team owner Igor Salaquarda took exception to the complaint and was booted from the circuit for the weekend and fined 2000 Euros for his part in the incident.  Zampieri returned on Sunday and finished sixth, two spots behind Filip Salaquarda.

Numerous forums are boasting a release stating 2009 USAC Sprint Car Rookie of the Year Henry Clarke will join Davey Hamilton Racing for his Indy Lights Rookie Test at Kentucky.  A follow-up email has been sent out, but I haven’t received official confirmation.

Nyck De Vries won the KF2 CIK-FIA World Championship at the Spanish circuit Zuerva over the weekend thanks to a last lap pass.  Just last month, the young 15-year-old De Vries was able to claim the top spot in Super KF on North American soil via the WSK World Series stop at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Alan McCallum won the NASA Formula Mazda National Championship last weekend at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah.  Patrick O’Neill claimed the Pro Formula Mazda National Championship.

Golf icon Fuzzy Zoeller – who won the Masters in his first appearance – will sponsor the Indy Lights season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway with his Vodka company: Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka. It’s unclear, at this point, if podium finishers will attempt to spray vodka or champagne at the event’s conclusion.

A linkage post is long overdue and there has been a fair amount of news out there lately…

The GP3 Series made its debut this past weekend in Barcelona.  Canadian Robert Wickens leads the drivers’ championship after the first two rounds, he finished 2nd and 4th .  Fellow North American, Alexander Rossi won Race 2 by a huge margin and sits fourth in the current rankings – just three points shy of the lead.  Pal Varhaug won the first race and is currently second in the standings with Mexican Esteban Gutierrez in third.  Looking at the current points, there are three North American drivers in the top-five, not a bad start to the season.  LJ Hutchins over at BritsonPole.com put together a solid GP3 race report – you can read it here.

Originally, I wasn’t planning to cover GP3, due to time constraints, but given the quality of the field, the current entry numbers and the number of North American drivers competing in the series… you will likely see quite a bit more GP3 coverage on JOWT in the coming months.

In an effort to better understand the European feeder series, Tomaso over at NoFenders.net put together a brief summary of several junior formula series.  Plus, he was kind enough to link to me – so the least I can do is return the favor.

Doug Patterson of OpenPaddock.net has expanded his coverage to include the ‘Road to Indy’.  You can read his USF2000 Early Season Report- here and his Star Mazda Championship Early Season Report – here.

Spencer Pigot, who currently leads the 2010 Skip Barber National Championship, made his Ontario Formula Ford Challenge debut last weekend at Mosport.  Despite horrendous weather, Pigot won his first-ever race in the Series and managed to finish second in Race-2 – while driving without third gear.  He is actively pursuing the necessary funding to continue in the series.

Look for my F2000 Championship Preview to be posted sometime in the next few days.  In the meantime, check out their tentative 33 car entry list.

The Skip Barber Karting Scholarship will return to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the 2010-2011 Karting Shoot-Out.  The last time it was held there, (2005) it rained for three straight days.  Applications are due by September 30, 2010.

Last year’s Indy Lights’ champion J.R. Hildebrand tested an IndyCar yesterday with Andretti Autosport at Barber Motorsports Park.  Unfortunately, the test left J.R. wanting even more.  I know I’m not alone in hoping someone provides him that opportunity.

Frederic Vervisch, who competed in the 2009 Atlantic Championship, was back in a car last weekend for the first time since last October.  The 23-year-old Belgium driver had the opportunity to test a World Series by Renault car with Interwetten.  His results weren’t great but I was just glad to hear his name announced again.  He was one of the most impressive drivers in the Atlantic Championship last season and I truly hope he can land a solid ride for 2010.

Canadian driver Robert Wickens signed with Status Grand Prix this week for the 2010 GP3 season.  It’s nice to see him find a home after being dropped by Red Bull last season.

For those that haven’t already read it, make sure to stop over to BritsonPole.com and read Andy Darley’s piece on Indy Lights competitor Martin Plowman.  Good stuff.

EFCN’s Rob Howden had the opportunity to chat with Rob D’Amico and Michele Rahal last weekend during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.  If you haven’t listened to the interview, make sure you do.  It sounds like the new IRL CEO Randy Bernard is taking a sincere interest in karting, which is the best news I’ve heard in a long time!

Lastly, for those that missed it, here is my latest piece on PopOffValve.com: The Ladder Report: March 30 Edition.

Well, we lost a couple more standout open-wheel drivers to the tintop world today as both John Edwards and Adam Christodoulou have committed to running a Newman-Wachs/SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 in the 2010 Grand-Am GT class.

The IRL has released their IndyCar entry list for the open test this week at Barber Motorsports Park.

Notable additions to the test could be Simona De Silvestro as the HVM car features the familiar #78 with a TBA note next to it.  Doug Patterson, of OpenPaddock.net, has his doubts about Simona’s presence though.

Matt Chamois of The Other Side is reporting that Conquest (who also has a TBA note next to their name) will field Mario Romancini in 2010. Romancini was extremely impressive in Indy Lights last season and would be an excellent addition to the IndyCar field for 2010.

I will post the Indy Lights entry list when it becomes available.

For those that haven’t already noticed, I’ve been asked to contribute over at Tony Johns’ IndyCar blog: PopOffValve.  I will be writing a weekly or biweekly feature entitled The Ladder Report which, for now, basically summarizes the week’s junior formula news.  If you haven’t been over to Tony’s blog… I highly recommend that you out click on this link and give it a read.  You won’t be disappointed.

On the international scene, it was announced earlier today that Formula BMW standout Gabby Chaves will drive in the 2010 Italian Formula 3 Championship with Eurointernational.  The 16-year-old American won the 2009 FBMW-Americas title.

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.

The F2000 Championship released some big news this morning that GTP Motorsports will be fielding five cars in 2010.  They are hoping to enter 7-to-8 entries at their home track; Lime Rock Park.

Alexander Rossi, who recently committed to a season in GP3 with ART, will replace Diego Nunes at Meritus for the remaining GP2-Asia events.

Terrick Mansur, 20, recently tested a F2000 car at Sebring International Raceway with Liberty Motorsports and hopes to return to racing full-time in 2010 via the USF2000 National Championship.

Mike Foschi has teamed up with the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation and will donate every penny earned from his Foschi University sales to the SSPF.  On the Foschi U website, Mike (the Dean of Foschi U) states, “I ain’t keepin’ crap“.  He is referring to the sales he makes on Foschi U apparel.  This is a pretty classy move and it’s great to see people supporting the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.

The FAZZT Race Team is working on putting together a driver development program and recently signed Maryeve Dufault.  The 27-year-old Canadian driver is a bit of a surprise pick for the program, but it’s great to see more teams stepping up to the plate to help develop drivers.

Charles Anti (former Star Mazda competitor) is working on putting together a F2000 program for up-and-coming drivers.  The team will run under the AntiSpeed Competition Inc. logo if they are able to come up with the necessary funding. It’s likely that Anti will return to the cockpit as well.

Alexander Rossi has committed to GP3 with ART.  He will be joined by Esteban Gutierrez and Pedro Enrique.  There were a few people who expected Rossi to go straight to GP2 in 2010 but in reality this probably isn’t a bad move, especially when you look at the quality of competition heading to GP3.

Ben Johnston, owner of the Atlantic Championship, is taking a proactive approach to the 2010 season by attending the Autosport Show in England.  He will be offering a test day at Palm Beach International Raceway exclusively for European drivers in February.  Now, if the series could just make an announcement on who will be attending the upcoming test at Sebring on January 23-24, 2010.  I am guessing Zach Veach will be there and perhaps Adam Christodoulou… anyone else?

In World Series by Renault news, Federico Leo will return to Pons Racing for 2010.  No big surprise here, I think most expected him to return for a sophomore season after looking at his 2009 results.  His best finishes of the season occurred during the final two events of the year at Motorland Aragon.  I expect we will see continued improvement in 2010.

Most traditional racing sites are just now reporting that Gianmarco Raimondo has signed with Lucidi Motors to compete in the 2010 Italian F3 championship but Norris McDonald confirmed it on New Year’s Day.  Raimondo, aka G-Mo,  spent the 2009 season in the Formula BMW-Americas series where he finished the year with 1 win and 9 podiums.

It was announced this week that the IndyCar and Indy Lights’ drivers will be testing at Barber Motorsports Park next month.  The schedule has some wondering if the teams will be testing snow tires.

Team JTR (Joe Tandy Racing) plans to launch a racing academy named after the late team owner Joe Tandy who was killed in a street car accident last year.  The academy will help assist up-and-coming drivers.

A few weeks ago, I linked to an article over at Planet-IRL written by Stephanie Wallcraft.  The article looked at a few of the flaws associated with the ‘Road to Indy’ program.  Since that time, a rebuttal has been posted by Tony George Jr. (the Manager of Business Development for the Firestone Indy Lights series) … read it here. It’s a solid read and just goes to show how serious the IRL is about this new program aimed at helping up-and-coming drivers.

Speaking of the ‘Road to Indy‘ … I received a few links and some kind words regarding my coverage of junior formula racing from Tony Johns over at the SBNation IndyCar blog: Pop Off Valve.  Thanks TJ.