Trois-Rivières, Quebec / August 3, 2012 – English racer, who has proven the be the ‘man to beat’ in both practice and the race so far this season, got another great start to this weekend’s Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race at the 43rd annual GP3R at Trois-Rivieres. He – unofficially, since lap records can only be set in qualifying or the race – trounced the Star Mazda lap record of 1:01.341 set in 2009 by Rusty Mitchell with a lap of 1:00.991 in his #82 Team Pelfrey / TORGOEN Swiss Watches / EXA Networks Mazda.
Second quick, after trading fast time back and for the with Hawksworth several times during the session, was Sage Karam with a lap of 1:01.396 in the #88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda. Karam finished 4th in Race 1 and 5th in Race 2 here last year, and went on to become the 2011 Rookie of the Year. Third-fast was Connor De Phillippi, who won Race 2 here last year, with a time of 1:10.705 in his #2 Juncos Racing / ModSpace Racing / One24 Mazda.
The ‘ringer’ in the field, two-time Trois-Rivieres race winner (2009 and 2010) Alex Ardoin, only completed six laps before an off-course excursion put an end to his session and he would up 12th with a lap of 1:03.302 in the #51 Team GDT Mazda. This is his first race of the season.
Star Mazda on-track action at the GP3R at Trois-Rivieres continues with qualifying from 5:35 – 6:20 pm this afternoon for the PEAK Performance pole for Saturday’s Race 1. Race 1, scheduled for 45 minutes, will take the green light for the series’ spectacular F1-style standing start 1:20 pm – 2:10 pm 45 minutes on Saturday, August 4. Race 2, also a 45-minute contest with the starting grid determined by each car’s fastest lap on Race 1, takes the green at 11:00 am on Sunday, August 5.
Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery’s Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, September 1. In Canada, the Mazda Motorsports Hour airs on Rogers Sports Net; please check your local listings for date and time, or go to http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule.
Pos No. Name Best Tm In Lap Diff Gap Sponsor Team Laps
1 82 Jack Hawksworth 1:00.992 30 TORGOEN Swiss Watches/ EXA Networks Pelfrey 30
2 88 Sage Karam 1:01.396 22 0.404 0.404 Comfort Revolution Andretti 25
3 2 Connor De Phillippi 1:01.715 22 0.723 0.319 ModSpace Racing / One24 Juncos Racing 22
4 81 Petri Suvanto 1:01.773 29 0.781 0.058 Mazda Road to Indy Pelfrey 30
5 9 Juan Piedrahita 1:02.113 29 1.121 0.340 Petrosur / Colombia es pasion / GFK Motors / Lamd Link JDC Motorsports 29
6 83 Gustavo Menezes 1:02.205 24 1.213 0.092 Team Pelfrey / Safety Park / Oakley Pelfrey 24
7 77 Zach Veach 1:02.213 30 1.221 0.008 K12.com / Zakosi Data Backup Andretti 31
8 19 Gabby Chaves 1:02.216 26 1.224 0.003 Claro/ Marca Colombia / Tecpro JDC Motorsports 28
9 57 Diego Ferreira 1:02.462 29 1.470 0.246 Team Viso Venezuela Juncos Racing 30
10 33 Ryan Tveter 1:02.677 27 1.685 0.215 Rogers TV / Motorola Mobility Canada Team GDT 29
11 20 Carlos Linares 1:02.990 31 1.998 0.313 Mindeporte Linares Racing 32
12 51 Alex Ardoin 1:03.302 6 2.310 0.312 Chuck Diesel Performance Systems / General Datatech GDT 6
13 53 Andres Mendez 1:03.419 30 2.427 0.117 GrupoKriterion.com / DataFile.com.co Team GDT 32
14 15 Bruno Palli 1:03.589 9 2.597 0.170 Team Viso Venezuela Juncos Racing 9
15 10 Jerimy Daniel 1:03.682 24 2.690 0.093 FixAuto / Sherwin-Williams TRC 33
16 91 Ashley Freiberg 1:03.729 24 2.737 0.047 TRUECar.com JDC Motorsports 24
17 66 Zack Meyer 1:04.026 29 3.034 0.297 Partners III Aim Autosport 29
18 22 Martin Scuncio 1:04.209 4 3.217 0.183 Pullman Bus Juncos Racing 6
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For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com. For information, interviews and photos, please contact Star Mazda Communications Director Peter Frey at (818) 398-5733 or StarMazdaPR@aol.com.
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