Junior Open Wheel Talent

This is a busy weekend with both the Formula BMW and the Atlantic Championship drivers running at Laguna Seca for the Monterey Festival of Speed. The Star Mazda drivers are also jumping back into action at the Miller Motorsports Park in Utah, for their second event of the season. I will be out of town for part of the day Saturday, but will do my best to keep you updated with full results. A few Stars of Karting drivers are running in the Mazda MX-5 Cup and the Jetta TDI Cup races this weekend in Mosport as well.

Atlantic Championship: Laguna Seca
Qualifying 1: 5/16
1. James Hinchcliffe 1:17.541
2. Kevin Lacroix 1:17.710
3. Markus Niemela 1:17.830
4. Junior Strous 1:17.910
5. Andreas Wirth |1:17.941
6. David Garza 1:17.983
7. Jonathan Summerton 1:18.014
8. Jonathan Bomarito 1:18.048
9. Daniel Morad 1:18.256
10. Greg Mansell 1:18.428
11. Dane Cameron 1:18.431
12. Dominick Muermans 1:18.573
13. Douglas Soares 1:18.666
14. Simona De Silvestro 1:18.828
15. Henri Karjalainen 1:19.342
16. Leo Mansell 1:19.431
17. Frankie Muniz 1:19.505
18. Luis Schiavo 1:20.027
19. Christopher Zoechling 1:20.693
21. Carl Skerlong No Time

Atlantic Championship
Qualifying 2: 5/17
1. James Hinchcliffe 1:16.189
2. Carl Skerlong 1:16.356
3. Kevin Lacroix 1:16.364
4. Junior Strous 1:16.447
5. Markus Niemela 1:16.633
6. Greg Mansell 1:16.660
7. Jonathan Bomarito 1:16.716
8. Daniel Morad 1:16.725
9. Jonathan Summerton 1:16.801
10. Dane Cameron 1:16.888
11. Dominick Muermans 1:16.912
12. David Garza 1:16.970
13. Andreas Wirth 1:17.180
14. Simona De Silvestro 1:17.239
15. Henri Karjalainen 1:17.596
16. Leo Mansell 1:17.650
17. Luis Schiavo 1:17.948
18. Frankie Muniz 1:18.240
19. Christopher Zoechling 1:18.515
20. Douglas Soares No-time

Atlantic Championship: Race 5/18
1. James Hinchcliffe
2. Carl Skerlong
3. Junior Strous
4. Markus Niemela
5. Dominick Muermans
6. Jonathan Summerton
7. David Garza
8. Andreas Wirth
9. Daniel Morad
10. Simona De Silvestro
11. Leo Mansell
12. Christopher Zoechling
13. Frankie Muniz
14. Douglas Soares
15. Kevin Lacroix
16. Henri Karjalainen
17. Dane Cameron
18. Luis Schiavo
19. Jonathon Bomarito
20. Greg Mansell

FBMW-Americas: Laguna Seca
Qualifying: 5/17
1. Alexander Rossi 1:27.678
2. Ricardo Favoretto 1:27.712
3. Gianmarco Raimondo 1:27.898
4. David Ostella 1:28.310
5. Alexandre Ruiz 1:28.364
6. Maxime Pelletier 1:28.491
7. Mikael Grenier 1:28.742
8. Jorge Goncalvez 1:29.133
9. Giancarlo Vilarinho 1:29.188
10. Velibor Jovanovic 1:31.503

FBMW Race: 5/17
Laguna Seca
1. Gianmarco Raimondo
2. Ricardo Favoretto +2.970
3. Mikael Grenier +7.958
4. Maxime Pelletier +13.238
5. Alexandre Ruiz +16.814
6. Jorge Goncalvez +17.210
7. David Ostella +22.935
8. Giancarlo Vilarinho +44.324
9. Velibor Jovanovic 1 Lap
10. Alexander Rossi +3 Laps (Mechanical)

FBMW Qualifying: 5/18
1. Ricardo Favoretto 1:26.987
2. Gianmarco Raimondo 1:27.287
3. Alexander Rossi 1:27.308
4. Alexandre Ruiz 1:27.478
5. Giancarlo Vilarinho 1:27.698
6. David Ostella 1:27.917
7. Mikael Grenier 1:28.156
8. Maxime Pelletier 1:28.381
9. Jorge Goncalvez 1:28.519
10. Velibor Jovanovic 1:31.047

FBMW Race: 5/18
Laguna Seca
1. Gianmarco Raimondo
2. Alexander Rossi
3. Maxime Pelletier
4. Alexandre Ruiz
5. Giancarlo Vilarinho
6. Jorge Goncalvez
7. Velibor Jovanovic
8. Mikael Grenier
9. David Ostella
10. Ricardo Favoretto

Star Mazda: Miller Motorsports Park
Qualifying: 5/17
1. John Edwards 1:43.650
2. Joel Miller 1:44.341
3. Ernesto Otero 1:44.799
4. Tom Gladdis 1:44.887
5. Charles Hall 1:44.996
6. Peter Dempsey 1:45.020
7. Taylor Hacquard 1:45.431
8. Eric Freiberg 1:45.483
9. Patrick O’Neil 1:45.576
10. Jonny Baker 1:45.700
11. Billy Goshen 1:45.805
12. Rick Rosin 1:45.965
13. Mike Hill 1:46.047
14. Ciao Lara 1:46.066
15. Chuck Hulse 1:46.068
16. Michael Guasch 1:46.211
17. Scott Rettich 1:46.315
18. Phil Fogg Jr. 1:46.411
19. J.C. Kester 1:46.860
20. Gerry Kraut 1:46.893
21. Kristy Kester 1:47.074
22. Chris Cumming 1:47.285
23. Stan Kohls 1:47.888
24. Michele Bumgarner 1:47.982
25. David House 1:48.744
26. J.W. Roberts 1:48.768
27. Richard Zoeber 1:49.275
28. Cody Jolly 2:07.468
29. Alex Ardoin 5:37.022

Star Mazda Race: Miller Motorsports Park
1. John Edwards
2. Charles Hall +14.514
3. Joel Miller +22.136
4. Peter Dempsey +26.242
5. Tom Gladdis +26.535
6. Taylor Hacquard +28.971
7. Eric Freiberg +37.808
8. Billy Goshen +41.360
9. Mike Hill +43.087
10. Alex Ardoin +50.287
11. Phil Fogg Jr. +54.869
12. Jonny Baker +55.123
13. Ernesto Otero +25.374
14. Rick Rosin +1:00.804
15. Chris Cumming +1:01.667
16. Patrick O’Neil +1:08.158
17. Gerry Kraut +1:11.665
18. Kristy Kester +1:16.038
19. J.W. Roberts +1:37.765
20. Michele Bumgarner +1:45.336
21. Stan Kohls +1 Lap
22. Richard Zober +1 Lap
23. David House +1 Lap
24. Scott Rettich +4 Laps
25. J.C. Kester +4 Laps
26. Chuck Hulse +7 Laps
27. Cody Jolly +22 Laps
28. Ciao Lara +22 Laps
29. Michael Guasch +22 Laps

Jetta TDI Cup: Mosport
Mazda MX-5 Cup: Mosport
I’ve had some requests to touch on the Jetta TDI Cup and the Mazda MX-5 Cup this weekend as a few kart drivers are participating in the two series. To those
who follow the Stars of Karting series, here are a few familiar names in the mix.

Qualifying TDI Cup: 5/17
7. David Jurca
22. Chris Kuenning
29. Timmy Megenbier

Race TDI Cup: 5/18
1. David Jurca (Congratulations to David Jurca, one of JOWT’s Top Prospect’s)
14. Timmy Megenbier
15. Chris Kuenning

Qualifying: MX-5 Cup 5/18
11. Steve Welk 1:37.023
22. Brett Smrz (no time~strange considering Smrz was quickest in combined practice)

Race: MX-5 Cup 5/18
3. Brett Smrz 70.911
6. Steve welk 70.097

Robert Wickens has been impressive in his short career moving swiftly through the karting and formula car ranks. The youngest pole sitter in A1GP history has added a few more resume boosters by claiming the A1GP “Rookie of the Year” and the Best “Overtaking Maneuver” awards. Perhaps more impressive than his awarded move in a torrential downpour on slicks (against Germany’s Michael Ammermüller) was the fact that he passed 11 cars in the event. Wicken’s has always done extremely well in wet conditions dating back to his days in karts. Watch for the Canadian in the World Series by Renault FR3.5 this season.

A few familiar names took part in the Playboy Mazda MX-5 cup series opener at Road Atlanta last weekend. Steve Welk and Brett Smrz brought their karting and formula car experience to the fender world by running the Mazda MX-5′s over the weekend. Welk also brings quite a bit of sports car experience after spending the last few season racing spec miata’s with SCCA. Unfortunately, neither driver had much success in the Final. Smrz was quite fast in both practice sessions running in the top 10. The duo ran fairly close all weekend. Despite driving for separate teams, they managed to qualify right next to each other. Smrz qualified 14th and Welk crossed the stripe with the 15th quickest time. The two drivers were separated by a mere 2/100ths of a second.
Another 90210 celebrity has decided to make a run at the racing world. Ian Ziering was in the field, following in the footsteps of ex co-star/racer Jason Priestley. Priestley pursued racing until a serious crash in a Infiniti Pro Series car put him back on the sidelines in 2002. Ziering did run the MX-5 cup last year, making a guest appearance with Frankie Muniz and Patrick Dempsey. Ziering failed to finish in the opener this weekend.

Thank you for visiting and reading this blog. Please refer to this site for information on today’s junior open wheel stars. We will strive to cover karting as well as junior formulas within the United States. Please email any questions/comments/information to junioropenwheeltalent@gmail.com