Junior Open Wheel Talent

Adriano Buzaid is scheduled to test a World Series by Renault car at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve today and tomorrow with Interwetten Racing. The 21-year-old Brazilian driver is currently 4th in the British F3-International class and is likely using the opportunity to garner additional seat time for the upcoming British F3 race at Algarve in September.

Buzaid has been remarkably consistent this season, finishing inside the top-ten in 92.9% of his race starts to date. He has finished 42.9% of his starts in the top-five. His maiden win and best finish of the season came last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps where he won by nearly six seconds on a rain soaked circuit.
(photo: www.adrianobuzaid.com)

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>>.

I just received an official confirmation that shifter kart stand-out Gary Carlton will be testing an HVM prepared Indy Lights car at Putnam Park. The test is scheduled to take place tomorrow.

Carlton has been incredibly impressive in karts, unfortunately... he has never shown that much interest in a car racing career. Perhaps, this experience will change his mindset. This would be an excellent signing for HVM--- should the duo decides to pursue a 2010 Indy Lights program.

His previous car experience includes:
A Ford Focus Midget test (October 2008).
A Star Mazda test (December 2008)

Several Indy Lights drivers/teams spent yesterday testing. Here is a look at "who's testing where and with who".

Watkins Glen International

• AFS/AGR- J.R. Hildebrand and Sebastian Saavedra
• Team PBIR- Charlie Kimball

Mid-Ohio

• Team Moore- Andrew Prendeville
• Andersen Racing- Mario Romancini
• Panther Racing- Pippa Mann, Martin Plowman
  
• Sam Schmidt Motorsports- James Hinchcliffe, Gustavo Yacaman, and Wade Cunningham)
• Brian Herta Autosport- Daniel Herrington
• Vision Racing- James Davison

It sounds like both groups had to battle rain showers yesterday---which limited their test day.

Rob Mccurdy of the Mansfield News Journal wrote an article on yesterday's Mid-Ohio test. You can view it 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.

The Star Mazda drivers completed a two-day oval test in Newton, Iowa this week at the famed Iowa Speedway. The track features a 7/8's mile tri-oval with 12-13-14 degree compound banking, which is very different from Milwaukee (where they were testing last week). The Milwaukee Mile features a 1-mile oval with 9.25 degrees of banking. The track layout of each creates a very unique driving/tuning style specific to the individual oval. At Milwaukee, the drivers had to really work on grip as no one was able to run the oval flat-out. This week in Iowa was a bit of a different story as the Star Mazda cars were easily flat-out through the turns with the aide of the banked corners.

I decided to make the trip to Newton, Ia. for the second day of the two-day test at Iowa Speedway. The forecast for day-1 wasn't very promising and the cars didn't get on track and up to speed until about 1 PM. Fortunately for me, the weather and track conditions were much more favorable on Thursday, Day-2.

I have to start out by thanking the Star Mazda crew for all their assistance and hospitality. They are a great group and run the series very well. Secondly, I have to give props to the Iowa Speedway, as it's truly an amazing facility. If you have the opportunity to attend a race, I would make the trip a priority as you won't be disappointed.

As I drove through the tunnel, entering the speedway, the air was cool and quiet. The cars were not yet on track. After parking, while organizing my laptop and camera for the day's event, I heard the engines fire. Within a few moments, a couple of the cars had taken to the track. I decided to head over to pit-lane and snap some photos of the first cars on track. After walking the paddock and saying a few hello's, I jumped back in my car and headed for the scoring tower. I spent some time with the spotter's above the tower as well, which I might add, is quite the view.

The rest of my day was spent running back and forth between the scoring tower and the paddock to chat with drivers and teams. The view from above, offered a unique look at the varying line used by drivers entering Turn 1 (as pictured above). The turn 1-2 combo seemed to be the source of nearly every incident in the two-day test. If you look closely, you can even see the oil-dry from the center of the corner down into turn 2 from Ciao Lara's impact the day before. Something broke in the car near the end of the straight, forcing him into the largest incident of the test. Unfazed by the wreck, he helped the team rebuild the car and was back on track for part of Day-2. Obviously, Lara's incident in the turn 1-2 combo, was mechanical, but several of the drivers and teams were worried about a couple bumps on the racing surface in that region. Apparently, the track has a bump on each side of the surface above the tunnel, which was upsetting the balance of the car through turn 1 and entering turn 2. I'm guessing the varying lines of entry into that section was related to the fore mentioned bump. From an outside perspective, the tighter line appeared much quicker and proved so on the timing monitor (hint for any driver's reading this).

While in the paddock, I snapped a few photos that you might be interested in. The teams had different strategies for the test, some were tuning for longer runs, some were tuning for the conditions, while others stated, they were simply tuning to learn.

Good morning. I am just getting loaded up and departing for Iowa Speedway's Star Mazda test. Due to heavy rain and moisture on the track, the drivers failed to get up to speed until later in the day yesterday. Today looks to be a different story with a beautiful forecast in store. I'm not sure if I will have Internet access on site---with this being a test day only. I will do my best to post updates to my Twitter account throughout the day. So make sure to stay tuned.

When time permits, I will also write up a summary of the test and post it here at Junior Open Wheel Talent.

Thanks for reading.

**update** Combined Results are listed in the comments section below. Stay tuned for a full report later tonight or tomorrow.

Jonathan Scarallo and Group A Racing will be testing at Pocono Raceway tomorrow in preparation for next weekend's F2000 Championship event at Lime Rock Park.

The eighteen-year-old New York resident has had a much better start to his pro racing career than his results show. In his first race at VIR, he attacked a wet track on slicks and moved into 12th place after starting back in 22nd. Unfortunately, on the following lap he made a rookie mistake and spun the car, only to stall and finish back in 21st position. In Race 2, he showed promise by passing five cars and narrowly missing a top-ten finish--he finished 11th after starting 16th. If he and Group A are able to put everything together at Lime Rock, a top-ten finish is not out of the question for this youngster.

Bryan Herta Autosport, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, Vision Racing, and Andretti Green Racing are all spending the day at the historic Milwaukee Mile--testing for the upcoming race on May 31st. The lack of substantial banking and the high speed nature of the track should prove beneficial for the drivers developing their car control heading into the Freedom 100 next weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway--even though the two tracks and required driving style are very different from one another.

According to Bryan Herta's Tweets-- there are eight cars on track today. Without official confirmation I would have to assume that number means: Ana Beatriz, Wade Cunningham, James Davison, Daniel Herrington, J.R. Hildebrand, James Hinchcliffe, Sebastian Saavedra, and Gustavo Yacaman are all taking part in the test. I will try to post updates as they become available.

Anders Krohn spent the weekend in Texas, testing his Mundill Racing Star Mazda car. From all accounts, the test went very well as he broke the Eagles Canyon lap record with a 1:39.993 lap. The previous record was set by Christiano Da Matta in a Grand Am DP car @ 1:40.400.

You can ride along for Ander's record setting lap here.
(photo: www.anderskrohn.com)

A few updates on the World Series by Renault front...

Tech 1 has signed Daniil Move to run the 2009 World Series by Renault. The 23-year-old driver spent the first part of last season with KTR, his best finish was 5th place at Spa-Francorchamps, after starting 14th. He will partner Charles Pic in 2009 with Tech 1.

Former IndyCar/Indy Lights driver Franck Perera is testing with Interwetten, with hopes of joining the WSR full-time in 2009. He ran two races for Interwetten in the 2006 World Series by Renault. Last year, in the Indy Lights series, he had 1 win, 2 podiums and 2 pole positions in nine starts for Guthrie Racing.

Watch for several more updates this week as a few new faces have been taking part in the test at Barcelona.

Three more Indy Lights rookies are now cleared to run ovals. As previously announced, Jonathan Summerton, Richard Philippe, and Gustavo Yacaman were all in Kentucky yesterday for their Indy Lights Rookie Test. All three drivers passed.

A few others were in attendance as well.... James Davison, Daniel Herrington, J.R. Hildebrand, and Sebastian Saavedra all ran some additional laps to prepare for the upcoming 2009 season.

Stefan Wilson is the only registered rookie, at this time, yet to pass an oval test, but as of right now...he plans to only run the road course events.

Alexander Rossi is scheduled to complete another two-day International Formula Master test starting tomorrow at Spa with Hi-Tech Racing. The 17-year-old Nevada City, California resident completed his first IFM test at Imola last weekend with Trident Racing. His 2009 options are still being evaluated.

Many expected to see Alexander Rossi's name on the Atlantic Championship time-sheets this morning at Sebring International Raceway. It would appear that the 17-year-old phenom has other intentions....he is currently in Italy testing a International Formula Master car with Trident Racing.

There has been quite a bit of press on Rossi this off-season and there will likely be even more when he decides on a series to compete in for 2009. He has been evaluating options in North America and Europe for the last several months... even prior to his Formula BMW World Final victory in Mexico City.

Stay tuned for an official update...
(photo: www.alexanderrossi.com)

I haven't had much assistance with news or inside information (**hint**) on the line-up for the 2009 Skip Barber National series, but I did manage to find the combined results from this morning's test in Sebring..... (thanks to Eformulacarnews).

1. Kyle Marcelli -- 2:21.763 - Morning
2. Connor De Phillippi -- 2:22.163 - Morning
3. Court Vernon -- 2:23.206 - Morning
4. Isaac Lyons -- 2:23.211 - Morning
5. Felipe Polehtto -- 2:23.619 - Afternoon
6. Brett Smrz -- 2:23.848 - Morning
7. Jason Toft -- 2:23.851 - Morning
8. Felix Serralles -- 2:23.903 - Morning
9. Stevan McAleer -- 2:23.921 - Morning
10. Thiago Calvet -- 2:24.430 - Morning
11. Sean Rayhall -- 2:24.460 - Morning
12. Victor Pedrosa -- 2:24.481 - Morning
13. Matthew Mair -- 2:24.539 - Afternoon
14. Michael Vincec -- 2:24.761 - Morning
15. Ian Costa -- 2:24.897 - Morning
16. Sage Karam -- 2:25.055 - Morning
17. Ashley Freiberg -- 2:25.772 - Morning
18. Julien Albarracin -- 2:26.031 - Afternoon
19. Dennis Trebing -- 2:26.280 - Morning
20. Dom Bastien -- 2:26.473 - Morning
21. Elliot Bachelart -- 2:27.540 - Morning

I would venture to say that several of these drivers are in attendance for seat-time only, but it's still nice to see such a large turnout during these trying economic times.

Judging from the early laptimes from today's promoter test, the track was much quicker in the morning session--85.7% of the drivers set their fast lap in the AM.

The Atlantic Championship drivers had their first official test over the last two-days at Palm Beach International Raceway. The combined results from both days are listed below. I have also added a few notes on the test at the bottom of this post...

1. Borja Garcia-- Condor Motorsports - 1:07.286
2. John Edwards -- Newman-Wachs - 1:07.556
3. Markus Niemela -- Newman-Wachs - 1:07.881
4. Frankie Muniz -- Team Stargate Worlds - 1:07.919
5. Harald Schlegelmilch -- Conquest Racing - 1:08.116
6. Frederic Vervisch-- Genoa Racing - 1:08.155
7. Jonathan Bomarito -- Mathiasen Motorsports - 1:08.268
8. Matt Lee -- Jensen Motorsports - 1:08.322
9. Simona De Silvestro -- Team Stargate Worlds - 1:08.344
10. Alexander Rossi-- Genoa Racing - 1:08.366
11. Max Lafevre -- Condor Motorsports - 1:08.600
12. Michael Nacol -- Jensen Motorsports - 1:11.124

A few notes on the test...

• 2009 appears to be the "Year of Rookies" when looking at the entry lists across the various junior formula series here in North America. The first official Atlantic Championship test saw 6 series rookies take to the track...making up 50% of the drivers involved.

• Borja Garcia appears to be the class of the field and the early favorite for a Sebring victory. He signed with Condor Motorsports earlier today. Did I already mention that he is a series rookie? Garcia was absolutely dominant, setting the pace both days. After doing a little research, here is what the internet turns up on him... Garcia is a 26-year-old race driver hailing from Valencia, Spain. His early career began in the Spanish karting ranks, where he won his first championship at the age of nine. He continued his developement in the karting ranks until 1999, when he first began to sample car racing. He moved into cars full-time in 2000, at the age of 17, winning the Spanish Formula Toyota 1300 Championship. In 2001, he ran 15 races in the World Series by Nissan with limited success. He returned to his winning ways in 2002, placing third in both the Spanish F3 and the Formula Nissan 2000 Championships. He won eight races that year, and it has been termed his break-out year. He continued his development in the Spanish F3 ranks for the next two seasons (2003-2004), claiming the overall championship in 2004 with 9 wins, 10. podiums. In 2005, he ran 22 races in the GP2 Championship and also did some testing for the Toyota Formula One team. In 2006, he took a small step back (if you would consider it that?)...by committing to run a full season in the World Series by Renault with RC Motorsport. He finished 2nd overall in the season championship, winning once and claiming 7 podiums. He returned to GP2 in 2007 by signing with Durango, a season that didn't showcase his talents, where he ran 21 races but finished the season in 10th place. Last year, 2008, he returned to the World Series by Renault running five races with RC Motorsport. He also ran 12 Superleague Formula Races for Panoz, finishing 10th in the overall series. Bring us up to date.... Just looking at his resume, it would appear that he is a very quick driver who has had trouble finding the necessary funding to make the jump to the next level. The Atlantic Championship prize fund for 2009 is obviously attracting quite a few drivers who are in the same position. This looks to be an extremely exciting year. Watch for a very strong showing from Borja and Condor Motorsports.

• Harold Schlegelmilch appears to be the "Most Improved Driver" of the test, based strictly on lap-times.
  

• In late February, I wrote that this should be Frankie Muniz's best year to date, so far he is proving me right. His times in the first test are very impressive.

• John Edwards looks to be finding his groove after returning to the Atlantic Championship.

• I'm surprised to only see 12 entries in the first official test, but insider's are forecasting about 17-18 cars in the field for Sebring. Let's hope for more.
  

Matt Lee will be testing with Jensen Motorsport this week in the team's #22 Atlantic Championship car at Palm Beach International Raceway. The 19-year-old tested with the team last month at the same venue and according to the team, he performed quite well.

Lee developed his craft in the karting ranks, prior to making the move to Formula BMW in 2005. He spent two years in Formula BMW, finishing 2nd in the 2006 Formula BMW-Americas series. In 2007, he moved into the Atlantic Championship where he ran 12 fairly uneventful races with Conquest Racing. In 2008, he joined Guthrie Racing for two Indy Lights races at Watkins Glen. He finished 8th in his second race, after starting 16th on the grid. Without the necessary funding to continue, he decided to focus on his karting efforts in order to stay sharp while pursuing the financial support for a run in 2009.
(photo: http://www.mattleemotorsports.com)

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

The checkered flag just flew in Florida to end the first official test for Firestone Indy Lights competitors. I don't have a whole lot to write on this, but I will say I'm fairly surprised by the results. Some of the veteran's seemed to really struggle in the time charts and chose to run only a few laps, while some of the rookies really stood out.

Ali Jackson, running for Guthrie-Meyer Racing, was perhaps the most impressive; turning a 28.5138 second lap, just .0362 seconds off Pippa Mann's fast time. So why is that impressive?... Ali only turned 70 laps in contrast to Pippa's 144 laps. The only drivers to run less than 70 laps were Daniel Herrington and Jay Howard.

A couple more notes below:

• Pippa Mann was impressive once again topping the time charts with a fast lap of 28.4776. The fact that she was able to top the charts on both days of the two-day test says a lot about her confidence and Panther Racing. Not many out there would have picked her to top the charts...myself included; given her lack of oval experience. It will be interesting to see how she performs in race conditions.

• Rookie drivers claimed 8 out of the top 10 spots...granted, they also ran a full day yesterday, while the veteran's did not. Not to mention the fact that rookies made up 63% of the field in the two day test. Still, it was a bit surprising to not see some of last year's stand-outs top the charts.

• In regards to lap times, it's not a huge surprise to see several drivers spread out and running the session somewhat conservatively. Nobody wants to wreck their car in their first pre-season test.

• Martin Plowman ran the most laps in his Panther Racing entry....logging 190 circles. Something tells me, he didn't like lapping slower than his teammate.

• Jay Howard ran the fewest laps-- a mere 46.

Full Results will be posted later.

Well, in case you haven't heard, the Firestone Indy Lights rookies (all 12 of them or 63% of the 19 Indy Lights drivers entered) passed their rookie test yesterday during their on-track activities on the Homestead-Miami Oval.

Today, all Indy Lights drivers in attendance will take to the track for Day 2 of the open test. Drivers will actually be looking for outright speed, after adapting to the cars yesterday. The test runs from 9:00 AM - 3:45 PM today, February 24, 2009.

You can follow the results here: Live Timing.

Check back later for updates.