Junior Open Wheel Talent

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)

J.R. Hildebrand did everything correct in today's Firestone Indy Lights race as he won by a 15.8918 second margin on his home track; Infineon Raceway. The 21-year-old California native led every lap of today's race enroute to his fourth win of the season in the Indy Lights series. He currently holds down the overall championship lead by a large margin. Felipe Guimaraes posted another top-five finish with a very impressive performance to finish 2nd on the day. Guimaraes has finished all three of his Indy Lights races within the top-five this season. James Davison, who won the series' previous race at Mid-Ohio, rounded out the top-three by claiming his 6th top-five finish of the year.

Sebastian Saavedra earned the hard charger title as he improved 12 spots in today's race. Saavedra, who is currently second in the overall standings, had to start from the rear of the field in 19th position (after qualifying 2nd) due to an engine change by the team post qualifying. He put in a very impressive drive to finish 7th.

Complete Results

(photo: www.jrhildebrandracing.com)

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 > >.