Junior Open Wheel Talent

There have been a lot of drivers committing to various series in 2009 this week, so I've decided to do a group post. This may become a little more common in the coming weeks, as teams are really starting to get desperate to fill their 2009 seats....the racing season is right around the corner.

Christopher Zanella has reportedly signed with Motopark Academy and will partner Atte Mustonen in the F3 Euro Series in 2009. Zanella won the Swiss Formula Renault 2.0 Championship in 2008 with 4 wins and 9 podiums. It looks like he ran a few races in the 2.0 Eurocup as well, but failed to really stand out.

Spanish driver Miguel Molina has decided to return to the World Series by Renault for 2009, he recently signed with Ultimate Motorsport. Last season was his second full season in the WSR, he ran a full campaign in 2007 and a partial season in 2006. He has four career World Series victories. Last season, he finished fourth in the overall championship driving for Prema Powerteam, he had two wins and four podiums.

Star Mazda stand-out Peter Demspey has decided to return to the series for 2009. It was announced yesterday that the Irish driver signed with AIM Autosport. Dempsey will, once again, be one to watch in 2009. Last season, the 22-year-old driver finished third in the overall Star Mazda Championship. He ended his rookie season with 4 wins and 7 podiums, finishing inside the top-ten in 75% of his race starts. Dempsey enters the season as an early favorite to win the 2009 title.

Goshen Motorsports has signed Toshihiro Deki to contest the 2009 Star Mazda Championship. Deki has been racing sports cars for several years, he was last season's Mazda RX-8 Masters Champion. According to the press release from Goshen Motorsports, open wheel racing is new to Deki. However, if you look at his statistics in DriverDatabase, it appears he ran 3 events in the 1996 Japanese F3 series.