Junior Open Wheel Talent

Mücke Motorsport has been given a four-round suspension in the Formula BMW-Europe series after race stewards and the Hungarian ASN determined that all three of the team's cars failed post race inspection at the Hungaroring.

The violation stems from illegal oil pressure relief valve springs. The team is currently filing an appeal and will compete in the up coming events (on a provisional basis--meaning their results will not count unless they are found innocent in the appeal). The penalty has already cost Mücke Motorsport driver Michael Christensen a race win and the series points lead. The other drivers affected by the violation are Jack Te Braak and Timmy Hansen. According to race stewards, the drivers had no prior knowledge of the illegal valve springs. Just as a side note.....Sunday's race at the Hungaroring marked the best result of the season for both Jack Te Braak and Timmy Hansen.

After the announcement was made that BMW will withdraw from Formula One, I posted a poll on Junior Open Wheel Talent which asked readers "Will Formula BMW be affected by the withdrawal of BMW from Formula One?". Well, today we received our answer. Formula BMW- Americas will cease to exist during the 2010 season.

BMW Motorsport will continue with Formula BMW-Pacific and Formula BMW-Europe due to their relatively large grid size. They will also honor their previous Formula One test commitments to Alexander Rossi and Esteban Gutierrez. I would have had a much bigger column to write had they not.

While I think it's great to see them continue the Formula BMW program, without abandoning it all together as many thought they would, it's disappointing to see them drop the North American program. That said, I don't think anyone is surprised. Formula BMW- Americas has been hurting for the past few years and the state of the economy is only making things worse. I hope BMW Motorsport takes time to evaluate the reason they had such a huge drop off in numbers, fixes their mistakes, and then reinstates the series in North America. Will it happen? Probably not.

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

A few aspiring race drivers had the chance to test a Formula BMW- FB02 race car last week at Putnam Park. Team Apex and Team Autotecnica spent the day at the track working with 7 drivers total. The three drivers who tested with Team Apex are: Brandon Newey, Jimmy Simpson, and Jody Gara. Team Autotecnica put Luke Johnson, Eric Batt, Kyle Ludwick, and Jack Manley in their car.

According to Randy Biggs 'Series Manager of Formula BMW-Americas', the test was basically designed to give these young drivers an introduction to the Formula BMW series and car. There wasn't a timing system set up---meaning no lap-times were taken. (at least not formally)

Team Apex
Brandon Newey has been very impressive in karts. The 16-year-old (almost 17) used the offseason to transfer his skills to the car ranks by attending a 3-Day Skip Barber racing school in Sebring, Florida. With the Formula BMW test behind him and an active karting schedule planned for this summer, the Indiana native would be a solid prospect for Team Apex. It would be nice to see Newey get back in the car for a few more tests with the team and perhaps run a few Skippy car races before making the jump.

Jimmy Simpson is arguably the best prospect of the bunch. Simpson has been extremely impressive in karts. Last year, he had a very solid drive in the RoboPong 200 (partnered with Eric Batt's brother Evan Batt). The duo crossed the stripe in first, but were eventually given a post-race penalty and had to settle for 2nd place. At the 2007 RoboPong karting event, partnering with CJ Linter, Simpson found his way to the front and finished 3rd. Along with his karting endeavors, Simpson has also been participating in Ford Focus midget races this season. He won his first event on May 27th at Illiana Motor Speedway by leading every lap.

I'm not as familiar with Jody Gara but that doesn't mean much....except that I haven't personally seen him drive. Gara reportedly comes from a racing family as his father ran both stock cars and karts during his youth. Jody is currently developing in the karting ranks, but hopes to move up the motorsports ladder in the future. Away from racing, he is planning to pursue an accounting degree at Sinclair Community College.

Team Autotecnica
Luke Johnson of Minnesota has done very well since being introduced to karting at a local indoor center in 2007. He has moved up the ranks very quickly but his results haven't dropped off which is a really good sign. After spending the last two seasons developing his smoothness in a lower horsepower kart, Luke has jumped to the higher horsepower stock shifter class for 2009. The 15-year-old race driver is hoping to move into the car ranks for 2010. If he is able to spend enough time in a car, testing and developing his skills, he will likely continue to impress.

Eric Batt is another example of a driver who has moved up the ranks fairly quickly. He has done quite well and is also competing in a stock moto kart for 2009. He hasn't had the best luck so far in 2009, but he has been quick at every stop. With a year or two of development time, Eric should be really impressive. He is also a very good tuner, which bodes well for a career in motorsports.

Kyle Ludwick hasn't been racing long, but has produced some very impressive results. This season he is competing in the KRA Yamaha Sr. Pipe class at New Castle Motorsports Park. He will likely need a few more years in karts before making the jump to Formula BMW, but adding a FB02 test to his resume is very positive.

Jack Manley is currently running in the World Karting Association (Yamaha Jr. & HPV Jr. classes). Manley is still relatively young and is spending time in the Manufacturer's Cup running several classes, which is probably the best thing for him right now. Like Ludwick, a campaign in Formula BMW is probably a few years off, but adding seat time in karts and cars is the right step.
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It will be interesting to see if these drivers take part in the Formula BMW Licensing courses this summer. The licensing programs will be held at Miller Motorsports Park on July 8-10 and August 17-19, 2009.
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In other Formula BMW Americas news, the 2009 competitors completed their own Putnam Park test last weekend. You can view the results of the test here>>.

Sage Karam, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, completed 214-laps in a Formula BMW car last Thursday with Andersen Racing. The 14-year-old race driver is currently competing in the Skip Barber National Championship, along with several national karting events. The Formula BMW test, which took place at New Jersey Motorsports Park, also helped prepare Karam for his upcoming Skip Barber National race--held at the same track-- next weekend.

The Karam's have stated that they are undecided on a series for 2010, so they were merely adding track time while sampling a possible route.

Mark Pellegrini of Bridgewater, Massachusetts won a Formula BMW- Americas raffle at the recent Championship Karting International (CKI) event. Mark was competing in the IAME Junior class over the weekend, where he finished 5th, when he decided to put his name-in-the-hat for a chance to win the raffle. The winning raffle ticket, put on by Formula BMW-Americas, offers a free entry into the Formula BMW Licensing program held this summer in Tooele, Utah. Pellegrini has been driving go-karts in Rotax Juniors, the Florida Winter Tour, and the Northeast Championship for the past several seasons.

This is a story that will likely appear even better at the end of the 2009 Formula BMW-Americas season. But, the numbers are just too good right now to disregard--so I decided to publish my findings early.

Over the last few years the EUROINTERNATIONAL Group has dominated the competition in the Formula BMW-Americas series. In fact, their success can be found in many series across the globe, including Formula BMW-Europe. In order to keep things simple, I will be focusing on their Formula BMW-Americas track record over the past few seasons.

As expected, the team's success in the FBMW-Americas series has developed over time. Their first race in the American series occurred 4-years ago this weekend. The #16 EuroInternational car was piloted by Edoardo Piscopo at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Piscopo and the team started off with a bang by putting their entry off-pole in their first qualifying session. Unfortunately, the race didn't offer a fairy tale ending as the team finished 16th out of 22 cars. Arguably, their first real success came at the end of the 2006 season when Canadian Robert Wickens joined the team at Round 9 of his championship winning season. The duo's first win together came the next day on the streets of San Jose during Round 10 on July 30th, 2006. In all fairness, Wickens was already leading the championship with Team Apex when he switched teams. Nonetheless, this seemed to be a catalyst for EuroInternational's future success.

In 2007, another Canadian driver joined the team--Daniel Morad. Morad and EuroInternational had a tremendous season enroute to winning the 2007 championship. Other notable drivers found in the team's paddock throughout the season were Sebastian Saavedra, Adrien Tambay, and Yannick Hofman. In 2007, EuroInternational claimed 40.5% of the podium spots available--17 podiums in 14 races. This percentage excludes the FBMW World Final.

The following season, 2008, the team improved even more. Once again, they found a very solid group of drivers and brought them to the grid. A few notables are Alexander Rossi, Ricardo Favoretto, Giancarlo Vilarinho, and Adrien Tambay. Not only did they find success with this talented group of drivers, they backed up their 2007 championship by winning once again. This time, the championship came from an American driver; Alexander Rossi. Rossi had an incredible year, with an unprecedented 10 wins (11 counting the World Final) and 12 podiums. The team found itself claiming 55.6% of the available podium spots during the 2008 season.
**Please note that Round 7 was cancelled and the results for Round 15 are not posted on the Formula BMW-Americas site.**

As stated above, the numbers for 2009 are likely to improve and look even better at the end of season. To date, the drivers have completed 7 Rounds of the 2009 championship.

In the meantime, I've compiled a few numbers from the current season that will likely impress anyone who views them. Thus far into 2009, EuroInternational has claimed 14 of the 21 available podium spots or two-thirds---which is an astounding 67%. To put their success into perspective all you really need to do is look at their 2009 win percentage--which is currently at 100%. Giancarlo Vilarinho, Gabby Chaves, and Michael Lewis have all stood on the podium for the team this season, but Vilarinho and Chaves are the only two drivers in the championship to win a race (so far). The future success of the team remains to be seen, but the numbers to date, are extraordinary.

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

Today at Miller Motorsports Park, Giancarlo Vilarinho won his fourth consecutive Formula BMW-Americas race. The win moves him into a tie for first place with Gabby Chaves after six rounds. Michael Lewis put in a strong run, challenging Vilarinho throughout the race, to finish 2nd on the day. Gabby Chaves continued his string of podium finishes with a third place result. The top-three drivers have one thing in common--they all drive for the Formula BMW powerhouse Eurointernational.

There was a three-way tie for the hard charger title----if you want to call it that---- as the three drivers improved a mere two positions. For the sake of my race coverage and driver promotion--we will go with it. Joao Horto (9th-7th), Barrett Mertins (10th-8th), and Wilson Philippe (11th-9th) all managed to improve two positions during the 15-lap race.

Full Results: Round Six

The drivers return to action tomorrow morning for Round 7. Stay tuned.

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

For any aspiring drivers looking to make the move to Formula BMW- Americas in 2010... it was announced today that the series will be offering licensing programs at Miller Motorsports Park. The two courses will be held; July 8-10 and August 17-19 at Tooele, Utah.

This is a nice move by the series-- which should help them qualify more drivers for competition in 2010. Not to mention, spark some home-grown interest in the FB02 race car.

Giancarlo Vilarinho capped off a perfect weekend at Virginia International Raceway by sweeping Round Three and Four of the Formula BMW-Americas championship. Gabby Chaves finished second, falling short of the victory by a mere 0.510 seconds in today's race. Chaves set the fast lap of the race with a 1:56.293. Gianmarco Raimondo had a great run to finish 3rd.

The hard charger of the day is Gianmarco Raimondo who improved 5 positions; finishing 3rd after starting back in 8th place. Honorable mention should go to James Kovacic who qualified 2nd and set the third quickest lap of the day--unfortunately he dropped back in the race to finish 8th. Regardless, it was still a great run by the 15-year-old Australian, who seems to be getting quicker every time out.

Full Results

The Formula BMW-Americas just completed Round 3 at Virginia International Raceway. Brazilian driver Giancarlo Vilarinho took the win by just under a half-second ahead of points leader Gabby Chaves. This is Giancarlo's first Formula BMW victory after spending time in both the Formula BMW- Europe and Americas in 2008. His best finish last season was 2nd at Montreal after starting 10th. Alex Ellis had a great run to finish 3rd, just behind Chaves, after starting seventh.

The hard chargers of Round 3 are Alex Ellis and Wilson Philippe as both drivers managed to improve four spots. Alex Ellis had an impressive drive, as stated above, by moving from 7th to 3rd in the 12 lap race. Wilson Philippe improved from 11th to 7th--which also marks his best finish of 2009.

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

Once again, we have a few roster updates to announce...

Indy Lights
Canadian driver Jesse Mason is scheduled to return to the Indy Lights series this year, driving a third car for Guthrie-Meyer Racing. The 24-year-old driver has some European racing experience, running in the British F3 and German F3 ranks in 2003. His last year of racing full-time was 2004 when he made the move to the Infiniti Pro Series (Indy Lights), running 10 races for Brian Stewart. He managed to find the top-ten in all but one start, finishing 6th in the overall championship.

Formula BMW-Americas
As expected, Freddy Zebede and Barrett Mertins have signed with Jensen Motorsport. Zebede was the most improved driver (based on lap times) at the Carolina Motorsports Park test last week. Mertins is also showing signs of improvement as he adapts to the car.

Daniel Vela has signed with Eurointernational and will partner Michael Lewis, Wilson Phillippe and Giancarlo Vilarinho under the team tent. Vela has looked pretty solid in pre-season testing. He was also a Formula BMW Americas scholarship winner.

Carolina Motorsports Park--- 2-Day Test (Combined Results)

Michael Lewis has announced that he will drive for Eurointernational in the 2009 Formula BMW-Americas series. The 18-year-old California resident recently tested with the team at Palm Beach International Raceway and was the standout of the bunch...his average position in the time charts was 1.75. Gabby Chaves followed closely averaging 2nd in the test, but managed to set the overall fast time, clicking off a lap 0.296 seconds faster than Lewis.

Michael has done quite well in the karting ranks and has some experience driving Ford Focus Midgets to compliment his resume. Look for him to make a big splash this year in his inaugural Formula BMW campaign.
(photo: http://www.michaellewis42.com)

The Formula BMW Americas just completed their first official test of the 2009 season at Palm Beach International Raceway. There were 11 drivers participating in the two-day test. The following is a list of the combined results...

1. Gabby Chaves 1:16.232 Eurointernational
2. Gianmarco Raimondo 1:16.528 Autotecnica
3. Michael Lewis 1:16.621 Eurointernational
4. Giancarlo Vilarinho 1:16.737 Eurointernational
5. Daniel Vela 1:16.878 Eurointernational
6. Joao Victor Horto 1:17.226 Team Apex
7. James Kovacic 1:17.380 OS Racing
8. Alex Ellis 1:17.575 OS Racing
9. Martin Sala 1:17.990 Team Apex
10. Freddy Zebede 1:18.065 Jensen Motorsport
11. Barrett Mertins 1:19.875 Jensen Motorsport

A couple notes regarding the test...

• 54.5% of the drivers involved,... completed their best time in the final session.

• Eurointernational, once again, has a very strong program.

• James Kovacic was the most improved driver (based on lap time).

• Michael Lewis- average finish in the time charts: 1.75

• Gabby Chaves- average finish in the time charts: 2
  

Giancarlo Vilarinho has re-signed with Eurointernational for the 2009 Formula BMW-Americas series. He spent 2008 in the Formula BMW Americas series, while making select stops in the Formula BMW-Europe series for additional seat-time.

In Formula BMW-Americas, he stood on the podium four times. His best finish was 2nd, which occurred twice...once at Montreal and once at the New Jersey Motorsports Park. He ran fairly consistent all season long, only logging one DNF. He finished inside the top ten in 93% of his 2008 Formula BMW-Americas starts. He will partner Wilson Philippe under the Eurointernational tent this season.

A few more Formula BMW-Americas "commits" were announced today...

Alex Ellis and James Kovacic have signed with OS Racing for the 2009 championship.

Alex Ellis won a Formula BMW scholarship late last year, as you may recall. He finished second in the Ontario Formula 1200 Championship Series this year, with 5 wins and 11 podiums. He was also awarded the prestigious "Rookie of the Year" honor. Prior to his car efforts, the 16-year-old developed his race craft in the karting ranks. (photo: http://www.alexellis.ca/)

James Kovacic, who hails from Australia, has been involved in karting for several years. He most recently competed in the United States at the SKUSA SuperNationals XII, where he finished just outside the top ten in TAG Senior. The 15-year-old driver just made the switch to the senior class for his run in Vegas. His father, Valentino Kovacic, will be highly involved with the teams day to day activities in 2009.
(photo: http://www.jameskovacic.com/)

In other Formula BMW-Americas news, Wilson Philippe has reportedly signed with EUROINTERNATIONAL for the 2009 season. The 15-year-old is not to be confused with the late-eighties/early-nineties vocalists; Wilson Phillips,....although, strangely enough, he is young enough to have potentially been named after the group. Fortunately for him, his last name is pronounced differently. Wilson is the younger brother of Nelson and Richard Philippe. The young Frenchman, who resides in Miami, Florida, spent 2008 in the Formula Academy Euro Series, where he ran two events. His best finish was 11th at Snetterton. Away from racing, Wilson is very involved with graphic design and photography. His work is quite impressive.
(photo: http://www.myspace.com/wilsonphilippe)