Junior Open Wheel Talent

Last week, AutoRacing1.com published a story on up-and-coming driver Nick Neri, written by Keith Ori. Neri is currently leading the Skip Barber Winter Series rookie points.

It’s a good read. Check it out, here. If the link won’t work, you can read the full story on AR1, here. Enjoy.

Trent Hindman signed with Cliff Dempsey Racing for the 2012 Formula Renault BARC Championship, according to a release sent out this morning.

The New Jersey native plans to run all but one Renault race this season due to a scheduling conflict with his USF2000 National Championship campaign.

Said Hindman, “While the gaps in the USF2000 schedule are going to allow me to get to most of the Formula Renault races, unfortunately I’m going to miss Donington the weekend of August 17-18. When BARC updated the schedule it was moved from the end of June to the same weekend as the USF2000 triple header at Road America. USF2000 is my priority so I will be stateside that weekend.”

Running both USF2000 and the Formula Renault BARC Championship will certainly be good for Hindman’s experience, but it will also present a set of unique challenges associated with travel. Competing in multiple championships is nothing new for the 16-year-old, though. Hindman started 2011 in the USF2000 Winterfest and later focused on the Ontario Formula Ford Championship and Skip Barber National Championship. Then, last fall, he traveled to Europe (where he first worked with Cliff Dempsey) as a recipient of the Team USA Scholarship to compete in the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy.

It will be fun to watch his progress in both series this year and see how he adjusts to the cars. The Formula Renault BARC Championship gets underway on April 7-8 at Snetterton.

Jump over to Pressdog.com to read a feature on Bill Zahren’s latest Woman of pressdog® draftee Ashley Freiberg.

The article — which you can read here — is an enjoyable read encompassing the latest developments in the now-burgeoning career of Star Mazda competitor Ashley Freiberg.

The piece highlights the struggles faced by the majority of up-and-coming drivers as they move from karts-to-cars and ascend the junior formula ladder system. Plus, it has a happy ending — or at least the prelude to a happy ending (which isn’t the norm when talking about junior level drivers) — and mentions a glass racing boot. Enjoy.

Daniel Juncadella wins the 2011 Macau Grand Prix (Photo: CGPM)

Daniel Juncadella knows the importance of restarts and he managed them perfectly en route to winning the 2011 Formula 3 Macau Grand Prix.

The Spaniard jumped two spots in an early restart before overtaking pole-sitter Marco Wittmann with five laps to go. From there, he went untouched to the checkered flag.

The win capped off a solid season for the 20-year-old racer who finished third in the 2011 Formula 3 Euro Series with four wins, four pole positions and 14 podium finishes.

While Juncadella and several others were able to celebrate in the convivial atmosphere associated with completing the Macau Grand Prix, more than half the field was not. Over 16 drivers failed to finish the treacherous and incident-riddled street race.

Felipe Nasr was able to finish runner-up, while Wittmann rounded out the podium, despite falling back to fifth at one point during the 15-lap race.

View the full results from the 2011 F3 Macau Grand Prix here.

Norris McDonald wrote an interesting piece Tuesday over at his Wheels.ca  auto racing blog entitled “Millions change hands when kids sign contracts.”

If you haven’t already done so, I’d suggest giving it a read. McDonald discusses the corporate side of driver development programs and the business side of racing. It’s a great read, particularly for parents of up-and-coming drivers — even though they’re not going to like the message.

Mario Annicchiarico of the Edmonton Journal wrote a story yesterday about Paul Tracy and his future plans to help up-and-coming Canadian drivers.

Stefan Rzadzinski appears to be the first driver in line.

Tracy says he would like to get Rzadzinski behind the wheel of an Indy Lights car for the Grand Prix of Edmonton, and perhaps a few more road course events this season.

Rzadzinski, 18, was named Ontario Formula Ford “Rookie of the Year” in 2009 and won a full Skip Barber regional scholarship at last winter’s Skip Barber Karting Scholarship Shootout.

He made good use of the opportunity last weekend, winning Race 2 at Virginia International Raceway in the Skip Barber Summer Series after starting eighth.

His next race is scheduled for May 19-22 at Watkins Glen International.

This is great news for young Canadian drivers and certainly nice to see Tracy giving back to the sport. Stay tuned for future updates on this program.

For those who are interested, I did a brief interview with LJ Hutchins and Andy Darley of BritsonPole.com: You can read it here.

The first edition of the 2011 EFCN driver rankings were released Friday, ranking North America’s top junior formula pilots.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, Conor Daly retains the top spot after holding the No. 1 position since June ’10.

Canadian Mikael Grenier is the biggest mover inside the top-five, jumping from 13th to 5th after making the move to Indy Lights this season – following a successful 2010 season in the Star Mazda Championship.

Another Canadian, David Ostella, made the largest leap inside the top-20, moving up 13 spots to 18th overall. Similar to Grenier, both Stefan Wilson- (No. 12-Indy Lights) and Spencer Pigot (No. 20-USF2000) moved up eight spots.

New Jersey’s Trent Hindman, a Skip Barber National and USF2000 National Championship driver, earned an astounding 71-spot jump to open the 2011 season. Last season Hindman was classified 117th but has since been moved into the top-50, landing at the No. 46 spot.

Matthew Di Leo, competing in the USF2000 National Championship, advanced 181 spots to crack the top-100 at No. 61. His jump was precipitated with two third-place finishes in the USF2000 WinterFest and a fourth-place result at St. Petersburg in the USF2000 National Championship.

As the results begin to roll in, watch for even more movement among the new crop of drivers kicking off the 2011 season.

Felix Serralles has signed with Fortec for the upcoming 2011 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup as well as select rounds of the Formula Renault UK Championship.

This deal has been in the works since Serralles made the trip to England for the Formula Ford Festival and the Walter Hayes Trophy via the Team USA Scholarship.

Serralles previously won the 2009-10 Skip Barber Karting Scholarship. He recently moved to Europe, where he is rooming with fellow American Neil Alberico.

Alberico — an extremely talented karter — will be competing in the 2011 Dunlop MSA Formula Ford Duratec Championship with Cliff Dempsey Racing. Watch for updates throughout the season on both drivers.

eKartingNews.com is putting together its annual Awards program this week. The first of five winners was announced this morning.

Nick Neri, a talented up-and-coming motorsports star, picked up the well-deserved Young Driver of the Year award against some very stiff competition. Read more about Neri and his accomplishments here.

Neri was also the 2009 Young Driver of the Year — only the second driver in history to repeat the honor. Cole Whitt was the first.