Junior Open Wheel Talent

After being away from the computer for a few days due to a mini-vacation, it's time to catch up on all the racing news and results. Rather than put all the news into individual posts, which are already dated, I decided to just put everything in one spot via a 'Linkage' post.

Skip Barber
Skip Barber National standout Connor De Phillippi won Round 7 by going from 3rd to 1st in the final lap.
Round 7: Complete Results

Skip Barber Karting Scholarship winner Court Vernon won his first Skip Barber National race over the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
Round 8: Complete Results

Formula BMW-Americas
Gabby Chaves won the first race of the weekend at Lime Rock Park in dominant fashion. The win moves the Colombian driver back into the points lead.
Round 8: Complete Results

Australian driver James Kovacic celebrated his 16th birthday in style by claiming his first Formula BMW victory in Race 2 at LRP. Not only did Kovacic win, he became the first driver to win from a spot other than pole position, so far this season. He started the race in 5th. Honorable mention should go to Alex Ellis who led most of the race only to see the victory slip away in the closing laps.
Round 9: Complete Results

F2000 Championship
Matthew Inge ran a solid race to take his second win of the season in the F2000 Championship, while racing at Summit Point Motorsports Park. Championship leader Chris Miller finished the race in second place. Alegra Motorsports driver Fabio Orslon continues to develop as he finished the race in 3rd.
Race 1: Complete Results

Tim Minor found his way to the top spot of the podium in the second race of the weekend at his home track (SPMP). Championship leader Chris Miller continued his renowned podium streak by finishing 2nd. Ben Searcy found his way to the podium after being DQ'd from a fifth place finish in Race 1---due to missing the minimum weight requirement by a mere 3lbs.
Race 2: Complete Results

You can read the F2000 Championship weekend notebook here>>.

Atlantic Championship
Simona De Silvestro made history this weekend by becoming the winningest female driver in the 36-year history of the Atlantic Championship. Simona claimed her fourth career Atlantic victory at Lime Rock Park. The previous record was held by Katherine Legge, who had 3 career Atlantic victories. John Edwards had a great run to finish 2nd after starting 5th. His performance earned him the hard charger award. Borja Garcia put in another solid performance to finish 3rd in Round 5. The result marked his second podium of the season.
Round 5- Complete Results

Formula 3 Euro Series
Jules Bianchi dominated the competition at Zandvoort this weekend for Rounds 7 & 8 of the 2009 championship. The 19-year-old driver has won four races this season and leads the championship by 17 points.

The Hard Charger of Round 7 was Atte Mustonen who improved 11 positions-- 20th to 9th.
Round 7- Zandvoort Complete Results

The Hard Charger of Round 8 was Stefano Coletti who improved 12 positions-- 24th to 12th.
Round 8- Zandvoort Complete Results

World Series by Renault
Bertrand Baguette dominated the weekend by winning both races at Le Mans. Baguette leads the championship by 19 points over Marcos Martinez (2nd) and James Walker (3rd).

The Hard Charger of Round 10 was Dani Clos who improved 10 positions--20th to 10th.
Round 10: Le Mans Complete Results

The Hard Charger of Round 11 was Edoardo Mortara, who improved 15 positions--21st to 6th. Honorable mention should go to Miguel Molina who improved 8 positions--10th to 2nd.
Round 11: Le Mans Complete Results

The Skip Barber National drivers completed Rounds 5 & 6 of their national championship at Thunderbolt Raceway in New Jersey Motorsports Park last weekend.

The hard charger of Round 5 is Connor De Phillippi who improved 5 positions to win the race by a 0.158 seconds over Kyle Marcelli. De Phillippi had an outstanding weekend as he swept both rounds of the Skip Barber National Championship at NJMP. He also set the fastest lap of the race in Saturday's event. He started 6th and crossed the stripe 1st. Skip Barber Karting Scholarship winner Court Vernon finished 3rd.

The hard charger of Round 6 is Brett Smrz--who also improved five positions. The 18-year-old race driver had an impressive run to finish 3rd after starting 8th. Smrz had a busy weekend as he ran both a Skip Barber National car and a Mazda MX-5 car. I didn't take the time to punch all the results into my hard charger spreadsheet, but, if I'm not mistaken...Brett was also the hard charger in Sunday's Mazda MX-5 Cup. As stated above, Connor De Phillippi won the race--sweeping the competition. Pennsylvania's Sage Karam, who is also a Skip Barber Karting Scholarship winner, had an impressive drive and finished the race in 2nd place. This is Karam's best finish of the year and moved him up 6 positions in the overall championship (15th-9th). Honorable mention should go to Dennis Trebing who also improved 5 positions in Round 6, he started 17th and crossed the stripe in 12th.
(photo: Rick Roso/SkipBarber.com)

Full Results and Race Report

The Atlantic Championship was the headline class of the weekend at the Mazda Formula-X event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The series completed Round 3 & 4 of the 12-race championship over the weekend. The double-header weekend was broadcast live on HDNet...which was great to see (especially with a junior formula series as the headline event).

The weekend produced some great results--unfortunately there wasn't a lot of passing---hence the title above. The ground effects on these cars produce so much downforce that it makes passing tough, especially on a circuit like Thunderbolt Raceway where there aren't a lot of good spots for overtaking.

The hard charger of Round 3 was John Edwards who finished 5th after starting back in 8th. He improved the most positions of any Atlantic competitor on the weekend--a mere 3. The first race of the weekend (Round 3) was won by American Jonathan Summerton. It was a nice win that was likely overdue for the 21-year-old race driver, as he has qualified on the front row of every Atlantics race (to date) in 2009. The win marked his first Atlantics victory in 2009 and his 3rd career victory in the series. It was also the first Atlantics victory for Genoa since the 1994 season. Simona De Silvestro continued to showcase her speed and finished 2nd. Borja Garcia finished the race in 3rd, which marked his best finish of the year. The 26-year-old Spaniard has been impressive all season and only seems to be getting quicker.

The hard charger of Round 4 was James Winslow who improved a mere 1 position. Winslow started the race in 10th and finished 9th. Despite the lack of an impressive # next to the hard charger title... Winslow did have a great race with Frankie Muniz throughout the 38-lap event. Richard Zober also improved one spot, finishing 12th after starting 13th. The big story of the day was Simona De Silvestro. The Swiss race driver was quick all weekend and claimed Sunday's win by 0.910 seconds over Jonathan Summerton. With the win, Simona becomes the second female to lead the Atlantic Championship (Danica Patrick also led the championship for a short time in 2004). The final result also marked Simona's 3rd career Atlantic Championship win--which ties Katherine Legge's record for the most career Atlantic Championship victories by a female driver. Frederic Vervisch ran another impressive race to finish 3rd. The 22-year-old race driver has finished on the podium in all but one Atlantic race this season.

After a pre-race penalty, for qualifying interference, Frederic Vervisch was docked two starting spots. After the penalty was assessed, he started the race in fifth---which means--- Vervisch was technically the hard charger of Round 4 for improving two spots. (see comment section below).
(photo: Atlantic Championship)

Atlantic Championship
New Jersey Motorsports Park
Round 3 Results
Round 4 Results

Over the past weekend, the World Series by Renault completed Round 5 of the championship as a support race for the prestigious Formula One Monaco Grand Prix.

We have a two-way tie for the hard charger honors with both John Martin and Omar Julian Leal improving 8 positions during the race. As we all know, passing on the streets of Monaco is difficult at best---so, earning a hard charger honor at this circuit is quite impressive.

John Martin was given the official hard charger title due to a better finishing position. The 24-year-old Australian driver managed to drive from 20th on the grid to finish 12th, just outside of the top-ten. It would appear that his efforts to learn Monaco via PlayStation paid off. (photo: www.johnmartinracing.com)

Omar Julian Leal offered an equally impressive run by also improving 8 positions during the race. The 19-year-old Colombian driver started the race in 22nd and finished 14th in the final tally. Despite starting farther back in the field than ever before, the end result marked his career best finish in the World Series by Renault (to date). (photo: www.omarjulianleal.com)

World Series by Renault
Round 5: Monaco
Full Results

I'm looking at some new options for race coverage in 2009. Obviously there are plenty of sources out there offering race results, most of which have better resources available than I do, and most of the series have their own live timing available as well. Your typical Internet race report provides you with the winner (rightly so), but you don't always get the details of who had a great weekend. So, in an effort to separate the coverage at Junior Open Wheel Talent from that of several other racing websites and to help promote drivers showing improvement, I've decided to try a weekly "hard charger" section featuring the driver/s who advanced the most positions over the race weekend.

We will kick off this segment with the "hard-charger" or most improved drivers from Sebring. I sifted through these results fairly quickly, so feel free to correct me if I missed something, but here are the numbers I came up with....

Most Improved Driver/s: (Positions Improved in Parenthesis)

Skip Barber National
Race 1: Mike Vincec (5), Sage Karam (5)
--Race Winner: Connor De Phillippi
Race 2: Felipe Polehtto (8), Mike Vincec (8)
-- Race Winner: Connor De Phillippi

Formula BMW
Race 1: Joao Victor Horto (4) -- Race Winner: Gabriel Chaves
Race 2: Gianmarco Raimondo (5) -- Race Winner: Gabriel Chaves

Star Mazda
Conor Daly (13) **Hard Charger of the Week**
-- Race Winner: Adam Christodoulou

Atlantic Championship
James Winslow (5) -- Race Winner: John Edwards

The World Series by Renault visited Silverstone this weekend for Rounds 8 & 9 of the Formula Renault 3.5 championship. Marcos Martinez extended his points lead after taking the race win in Round 8. The victory marked his fourth win of the season. Frenchman Charles Pic dominated Race 2 (Round 9) by driving from flag to flag to take the win.

The hard charger of Race 1 (Round 8) was Guillaume Moreau. The 26-year-old Frenchman made his return to the World Series by Renault after spending some time racing a Corvette in the the FIA-GT1 series. His return to single-seater racing could be considered a success as he improved the most positions in Race 1 at Silverstone. Moreau improved seven spots to finish 16th after starting 23rd.

The hard charger of Race 2 (Round 9) was Sten Pentus, who improved 8 spots. This is Sten's 3rd hard charger nomination this season. The 27-year-old Estonian driver managed to finish 7th after starting 15th. His best finish of 2009 occurred at Cataluyna, where he drove from 19th to 2nd.
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World Series by Renault
Round 8- Silverstone
Complete Results

World Series by Renault
Round 9- Silverstone
Complete Results
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The F2000 Championship series completed Rounds 3 & 4 at Lime Rock Park this weekend.

ZSports Midwest rookie Benjamin Searcy ran a very solid race in Round 3, capturing his second win in three races. He started on pole and set the second quickest lap of the race to finish 3.174 seconds ahead of Chris Miller. Matthew Inge set the fastest lap of the race with a 50.519, finishing third.

The hard charger of Round 3 is Chris Burke who improved 8 positions. He started 23rd and finished 15th. Honorable mention should go to Brian Belardi who had an impressive drive from 14th to 8th.

Lime Rock Park
Round 3: Full Results

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Earlier today, the series completed Round 4 of the 2009 championship. This time the race belonged to Canadian Remy Audette who drove from flag to flag to take his first career F2000 Championship win. That said, he has been very quick in his past endeavors with six podiums (to date) over the last two seasons. Speaking of podium finishes, Chris Miller continued his streak of top-three finishes by crossing the stripe 2nd overall. The University of Minnesota student has finished on the podium in 75% of his 2009 race starts. Matthew Inge ran another solid race to finish third in today's final tally. Friday's winner, Benjamin Searcy, set the fastest lap of the race, with a new Lime Rock Park record of 50.272 seconds.

Masters class driver Brent Gilkes is the hard charger for Round 4-- improving 9 positions in today's race. Gilkes started in 22nd and finished the race 13th. Honorable mention should go to Round 3's hard charger--Chris Burke who improved 6 spots in today's race, for a weekend high of 14 total spots.

Lime Rock Park
Round 4: Full Results

Star Mazda
Peter Dempsey completed the perfect Friday at Iowa Speedway by leading both practice sessions, qualifying on pole, and winning the 100-lap race under the lights. The win moves him into the championship lead. Conor Daly had an excellent run to finish 2nd after starting 8th. Formula BMW graduate, David Ostella had his best finish of the year by rounding out the top-three.

The hard charger of the event was Michael Furfari who drove an incredible race. The 16-year-old race driver improved 13 positions to cross the stripe in 8th after starting 21st. This is Furfari's second hard charger nomination in as many race events.

Star Mazda
Iowa Speedway
Round 7- Complete Results
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Indy Lights
Sebastian Saavedra drove a near perfect race north of the border as the Indy Lights made their way around the streets of Toronto, Canada. Saavedra is now sitting in second place in the overall championship with 2 victories and 5 top-five finishes. Championship leader, J.R. Hildebrand added another solid finish to his resume by crossing the stripe second. Toronto native, James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top-three. This is Hinchcliffe's fourth podium finish in 2009.

The hard charger of the race was Daniel Herrington, who drove from 18th on the grid to finish 9th.

Indy Lights
Grand Prix of Toronto
Complete Results
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This was a busy weekend in the junior formula world with several series competing across the globe. The majority of you have probably already heard who won the race, but you may not have heard who put in a good drive during the event. I've compiled a list of the "hard chargers" via an Excel spreadsheet from the various series that I cover here at Junior Open Wheel Talent.

The weekend "hard chargers" are as follows:
(I've linked to the drivers website when possible)

Formula BMW-Americas/Road America
Round 10- Olivier Lombard (5 positions---12th to 7th)
Round 11- Joao Victor Horto (5 positions---7th to 2nd)
Round 12- Wilson Philippe (4 positions---10th to 6th)

F2000 Championship/Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Race 1: Keith McCrone (Masters Division) (9 positions---26th to 17th)
Race 1: Al Guibord Jr. (4 positions---17th to 13th)
Race 2: Alejandro Munoz (6 positions---23rd to 17th)

Star Mazda/Trois-Rivieres
Round 10- Mikael Grenier (15 positions---19th to 4th)

F3 Euro Series/Nurburgring
Round 11- Johnny Cecotto Jr. (7 positions---23rd to 16th)
Round 12- Cesar Ramos (11 positions---24th to 13th)

Atlantic Championship/Trois-Rivieres
Round 9- Eric Jensen (3 positions---11th to 8th)
Lead Lap Hard Charger: Tonis Kasemets (2 positions---6th to 4th)
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The drive of the weekend goes to Canadian Mikael Grenier for improving the most positions (15 spots) on a tough street course (Trois-Rivieres).
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To look at past hard charger nominations; click here > >.

The Star Mazda competitors completed their first oval race of the year this weekend at the historic Milwaukee Mile. Not only was this the first oval race of the year for the series, it was also the first oval race (ever) for many of the drivers. That said, the series held official test days at both the Milwaukee Mile and the Iowa Speedway earlier this year.

Due to heavy rain in Milwaukee on Friday, the afternoon qualifying session was cancelled. The grid was formed using the drivers practice times.

Anders Krohn, last year's F2000 Champion, won Saturday's 100-lap race after starting seventh. The event marked his first career oval race as well as his first Star Mazda win. It was a well deserved victory for the Norwegian driver. He has been working very had with Mundill Racing and Larry Nash, developing their Star Mazda program. It seems all of their hard work has finally paid off. You can listen to a post race interview with Anders Krohn here.

Adam Christodoulou earned the hard charger title of the race by improving 10 positions. The Englishman started 12th and finished the race in 2nd place,.... just 1.223 seconds behind Krohn. The final result bumps Christodoulou back into the championship lead after losing it last weekend in New Jersey, due to a mechanical failure that sidelined him for much of the race.

Louisiana resident, Alex Ardoin finished the race in third place. Ardoin has been extremely impressive in his last few race events. He crossed the stripe just off Adam Christodoulou's rear wing --- .0554 seconds back. He trailed Anders Krohn by 1.777 seconds at the finish.

Honorable mention

Canadian driver Michael Furfari also improved 10 positions---earning him a tie with Adam Christodoulou for the hard charger award. Furfari, who is currently the youngest Star Mazda competitor at 16 years-of-age, finished the race in 10th after starting 20th.

The fast lap of the race was set by Peter Dempsey- 28.652 seconds.

Click Here for Full Results.

(photo: Star Mazda)

The Star Mazda competitors were in New Jersey this past weekend as part of the Mazda Formula-X event. The drivers completed Round 4 & 5 of the championship, which was broadcast live on HDNet.

The hard charger of Round 4 at New Jersey Motorsports Park was Irishman Peter Dempsey. Dempsey improved 9 positions----which turned out to be the most of all the open wheel competitors over the weekend---to finish 6th after starting 15th. Overall, the weekend wasn't one of Dempsey's best, but he did finish both races inside the top-ten... which moved him into the overall lead for the points championship. Conor Daly had a breakthrough weekend, taking his first Star Mazda win. Daly won the race by 1.292 seconds over Adam Christodoulou. Canadian driver, Mikael Grenier finished third, which marks his best career Star Mazda finish. I was very impressed by Mikael this weekend, he improved 5 spots (8th-3rd) to obtain his first career Star Mazda podium. (he repeated the result in Round 5--see below).

The hard charger of Round 5 was Kevin Toledo who drove from 23rd to 16th...improving 7 positions. Englishman Richard Kent returned to his winning ways and claimed the top spot in Sunday's race. Kent ran a near perfect race but was followed closely by Louisiana's Alex Ardoin. Alex ran a great race and, once again, impressed everyone with his speed. Mikael Grenier returned to the podium for the second time in as many races. Adam Christodoulou had a suspension failure early in the race which sidelined him and ultimately dropped him from the top spot in the overall points.
(photo: Eric McCombs/Star Mazda)

Star Mazda
Thunderbolt Raceway (NJMP)
Round 4 Results
Round 5 Results

The World Series by Renault drivers spent the weekend in Hungary, racing at the famed Hungaroring circuit.

Chris van der Drift was the hard charger of Race 1 by improving 10 positions. He finished 13th after starting 23rd in the 28-lap event. His best lap was a 1:35.835.

World Series by Renault
Hungaroring
Full Results-Race 1

Michael Herck, of the GP2 series, was the hard charger of Race 2 after improving an impressive 21 spots. Herck started the race in 26th and finished 5th in the 25-lap race. His best lap was a 1:35.868. The final tally was a nice change for Herck, whose results have been marred by a string of DNF's this season.

World Series by Renault
Hungaroring
Full Results- Race 2

The World Series by Renault completed their third and fourth races of the season last weekend at the historic Spa-Francorchamps. Marcos Martinez continued his winning ways in Race 3 by claiming the top spot by 3.816 seconds over Bertrand Baguette. Martinez currently leads the championship with 45 points (3 wins) to his credit. Baguette put in a dominating performance of his own by improving 6 positions during the race; finishing 2nd after starting 8th; earning him the Hard Charger title for Race 3. Miguel Molina claimed the third and final spot on the podium. Other notable hard-chargers in Race 3 are Tobias Hegewald and Chris van der Drift who also improved 6 positions each.

In Race 4, James Walker claimed the win by 6.421 seconds over Baguette; who again had a nice race to finish runner-up. This was a solid run by Walker who has had his share of bad luck in the opening rounds, but has shown promise throughout every session. Miguel Molina rounded out the top-three once again, finding his way to the podium for the second time in as many races. The Hard-Charger of the weekend is Sten Pentus, who has impressed me thus far into 2009. The 27-year-old driver put in another solid drive, improving 9 positions to finish 11th after starting 20th. He is currently ninth in the overall standings.

Results Race 3
Results Race 4

Henki Waldschmidt is the hard charger of the weekend in the Formula 3 Euro Series as he made a valiant run from 22nd to 9th in Round 2 at Hockenheim yesterday. The 20-year-old of the Netherlands, improved 13 positions in 24 laps for his best finish of 2009.

Jean Karl Vernay won the race with a gap of 1.289 seconds in his Volkswagen powered Dallara over second place finisher Christian Vietoris. Jules Bianchi finished third, just under seven seconds back from Vernay. Mika Maki set the fast lap of the race with a 1.34.554, he finished fourth in the final tally. Round 1 winner, Stefano Coletti, rounded out the top-five.

Full Results: Hockenheim Round 2
(photo: www.henkiwaldschmidt.com)

The Formula BMW-Americas series completed Round 5 earlier today at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Giancarlo Vilarinho put in a solid race to cross the stripe first--2.994 seconds ahead of Gabby Chaves. Gianmarco Raimondo finished third, just 4.013 seconds behind the leader. The victory by Vilarinho marked his third win of the season, as well as his third consecutive win. Today's event was the first race of a three race weekend for the Formula BMW drivers, so stay tuned for more updates.

The "hard charger" for Round 5 is James Kovacic. He improved the most positions of the race-- a mere two! That said, the rules are pretty simple--improve the most positions and you will be noted as the "hard charger".

Full Results: Round 5

The hard charger of the Freedom 100 is Mario Romancini, who put in the drive of the day at Indianapolis. He improved 15 spots in today's race. Making some of the most daring passes I have seen in a long time, he finished 3rd after starting 18th. Today's result ties his career best Indy Lights finish, he finished 3rd at Kansas Speedway late last month. In five starts, he has 4 top-ten finishes.
(photo by Dan Helrigel)

Wade Cunningham deserves some press for obtaining his second Freedom 100 victory. The 24-year-old Kiwi ran an impressive race that saw him conserve his tires for the majority of the event, without ever losing the lead group. Cunningham pulled the trigger with two laps remaining and passed J.R. Hildebrand for the lead. He led the most important lap of the race to take the checkered flag in Indianapolis.
(photo by Dana Garrett)

This was one of the most exciting Indy Lights races in recent memory. I provided live coverage of the event here at Junior Open Wheel Talent earlier today. The live blog seemed to be quite a hit, so look for similar coverage here in the future. If you're not into reading, you can view highlights of the race here.
(photo's from IndyCar.com)

Freedom 100 Full Results

Connor De Phillippi swept both rounds of the Skip Barber National championship over the weekend at Road America. The 16-year-old phenom now has 7 SBN wins--- which is a new series' record. Grant Maiman held the previous record, having recorded 6 wins during the 2002 Formula Dodge National Championship.

Connor's victory on Sunday didn't come easily. The race was ended prematurely due to several large incidents on track. The decision led to a drag race finish between Court Vernon and Connor De Phillippi. Connor came away with the win by a mere .004 seconds at the stripe (see photo above).

Series rookie Cameron Dodson of Greenfield, Indiana put in the drive of the day. Dodson improved 10 positions in 8-laps, coming from 13th on the grid to finish an impressive 3rd. Dodson improved the most positions earning him the hard charger title.

Honorable mention should go to Nazareth, Pennsylvania's Sage Karam who led 2 out of the final 3 laps after starting fourth. Ultimately, Karam finished the race where he started (4th), but that didn't stop him from setting the fast lap of the day with a 2:33.956. Ashley Freiberg, who earned the hard charger title in Rd. 9, rounded out the top-five. Freiberg managed to improve 4 positions in Sunday's race after starting back in 9th.

Complete Results

(photo: Jim Altemus/ www.skipbarber.com)

The Minnesota-based teams (JDC Motorsports and ZSports Midwest) are feeling pretty good about now as they each claimed a victory in this weekend's opening round of the F2000 Championship at Virginia International Raceway.

Chris Miller took the win today in his JDC Motorsports entry by a mere 0.126 seconds over second place finisher Matthew Inge. Miller, who finished fourth last season in the overall title hunt, is heavily favored by many to take the crown in 2009. After dropping out of Race-1 due to contact, Miller seems to be back in the drivers seat by claiming his first career victory in Race-2. Last season, the nineteen-year-old was remarkably consistent, finishing inside the top-ten in all but one race. His previous best finish was 2nd--at both Mid-Ohio and Road America--in 2008.

Dave Weitzenhof is once again the Hard Charger of the Day in the Masters Divsion; improving 10 spots. Caitlin Johnston is the Hard Charger of the Day in the Championship Class; improving 9 positions. A nice run by Johnston to finish inside the top-ten with a run from 19th to 10th.

Matthew Inge set the fastest lap of the race with a 1:55.440.

Full Results: Qualifying Race 2
Full Results: Race 2

(photo: Janice Eakin/www.f2000championship.com)

Giancarlo Vilarinho capped off, no-pun intended, a perfect weekend by sweeping all three rounds of the Formula BMW-Americas stop at Miller Motorsports Park. Yesterday's victory marked his fifth consecutive Formula BMW-Americas win, vaulting him into first place in the overall championship. Gabby Chaves remains closely in the hunt for the overall lead by claiming another second place finish. Gabby has finished on the podium in all seven races to date--the only driver to do so. Gianmarco Raimondo found his way to the podium for the second time of the weekend at MMP, by finishing third in the overall tally.

Wilson Philippe is the Hard Charger of the race by improving 4 positions. He started the race in 12th and crossed the stripe in 8th. This was Wilson's second hard charger title of the weekend--and his third of the season.

Formula BMW-Americas
Full Results: Round 7 Miller Motorsports Park

Well, the Firestone Indy Lights just completed their first race of the 2009 season. Last Thursday, I put a poll online allowing you, the readers, to pick the winner for the opening Indy Lights race at St. Pete. Two of you, you know who you are, picked the correct winner for the opening round. The votes were pretty well spread out, which speaks to the amount of talent in the series this year.

Junior Strous ran a great race, taking the win by a gap of 0.7205 over Jonathan Summerton. Following up on the new race coverage that I started last week for the Atlantic Championship, I would like to announce Pablo Donoso as the Hard Charger for Race #1. Donoso, despite not being picked for a race win in our poll, ran an excellent race and moved up an impressive 12 positions.

More notes on the reader poll:

• Thank you to everyone who voted.

• I found it interesting that J.R. Hildebrand had an early lead in the poll prior to practice and qualifying but someone changed their vote, taking one away from him. Fortunately for him, that one person, didn't hurt his overall record as he ended the poll as the favorite to win today's race. He took 15% of the vote. Unfortunately for him, the race was filled with cautions as he had an early lead of nearly 3 seconds. He still finished a very solid 3rd in the race.
  

• Wade Cunningham was the second favorite, according to the poll, with 11% of the vote.
  

• Our race winner--Junior Strous, as mentioned above, received two votes. He shared that number with several other drivers. Strous became the seventh driver to win their Indy Lights debut---Congratulations on a great run.
  

• 15 out of 28 drivers received a vote. (see next bullet)
  

• Jan Heylen must have one REALLY big fan because he received a vote even though there was a story right next to the poll stating that he and Team E were not racing this weekend. Congrats on the vote though.

• Oh and last but not least, somebody snuck in and gave Sebastian Saavedra a vote immediately after he took the pole for tomorrow's race.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's event, as drivers will take to the track at 10 AM (Eastern) for Race 2. You can view the Indy Lights live timing here.