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| July 21, 2012 News |
| Star Mazda: Schmidt Scores Wild Win in Edmonton |
 | Camilo Schmidt emerged from a chaotic late race restart in the wet to score a surprise win Edmonton
(Photo: Star Mazda Championship - Eric McCombs) |
Race one of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear doubleheader at the Edmonton Indy on Saturday (July 21) was a wet and wild affair, and when all the rooster tails finally faded away, it was Venezuelan rookie Camilo Schmidt had scored the Round Nine win.
Schmidt, a top South American kart racer making the jump directly to Star Mazda, qualified 15th in his No. 21 Linares Racing Mazda, but emerged from a green/white/checkered melee to score an inaugural victory. He got a monster start when the lights went green, climbing from 15th to fifth by lap five. That was, however, before the rain came, and the carnage, confusion, and collisions threw the race results up in the air.
"It was the craziest race I was ever in," said the 16 year-old through his teammate/interpreter Carlos Linares. "I got a very good start and was able to move up a lot of places before the rain came down really heavy, and we decided to stay out on dry tires while a lot of people went into the pits. When the race went to green, everyone started spinning and crashing and I was able to stay out of the way. I'm very proud to be able to have this result for the Linares Racing team."
Finishing second was the No. 88 Andretti Autosport/Comfort Revolution Mazda of polesitter Sage Karam, who, though clearly unhappy with the outcome, put in a tremendous drive after pitting at the mid-way point to change to wet tires. He re-joined in 10th, with the race still under a long yellow, and, in a fast-forward repeat of his charge from last to third at the Toronto Indy two weeks ago, he powered his way through the field from 10th to second during the green/white/checkered finish lap.
Turning in yet another finely-driven performance was Colombian racer Gabby Chaves in third, with his fourth podium of the season so far in the No. 19 JDC MotorSports/CLARO/Marca Colombia/Tecpro Mazda.
Martin Scuncio drove an aggressive and lucky race to move up from sixth and finish fourth in the No. 22 Juncos Racing/Pullman Bus/Gobierno Regional del Bio-Biol Mazda.
Another beneficiary of the pandemonium was Connor De Phillippi, who came to Edmonton second in the championship, but battling a long run of bad luck. An early collision forced a visit to the pits for a new nose, and he paid a second visit for further adjustments, yet he still moved up from 13th to finish fifth in his No. 2 Juncos Racing/ModSpace Racing/
One24 Mazda.
Also putting in a drive of note was young American Ryan Tveter, who moved up from 16th on the grid to finish sixth.
Another surprise came in the form of Blair Robertshaw, the Alberta businessman/racer making his professional open-wheel debut in Star Mazda this weekend. He qualified his No. 42 Robertshaw Racing/SEKO Construction/Web Mechanical Mazda 19th and survived to finish 12th.
As for the rest, how even to begin to describe what happened? There was a portent of things to come between the morning's qualifying and afternoon's race. A 60-second downpour that seemed to fulfill the promise of the day's cloudy skies and gloomy weather forecast. Cars rolled to pre-grid on wets, but one of the top teams changed to drys and that started the stampede. The track was fairly dry, just a few leftover wet spots, and it seemed a reasonable enough decision that every car in the field started on dry tires, until the skies started spitting again just a few laps into the race. Even at that point it was more entertaining than threatening, with the slippery track offering opportunities for the young drivers to slide around and show their car control. Then the sky stopped fooling around and the race turned into a skating lesson conducted largely under yellow flags.
Petri Suvanto, the Finnish 2011 USF2000 Championship champion, who is racing in Star Mazda this season on a Mazda Road to Indy scholarship, was the first car out, dropping from fifth on the grid to finish 19th.
Local driver Stefan Rzadzinski also took an early hit in his No. 93 JDC MotorSports/PoweredByAlberta.com Mazda, dropping from ninth to 17th.
Zach Veach, starting from the outside of the front row, spun and finished ninth in the No. 77 Andretti Autosport/K12/Zakosi Data Backup Mazda.
The major drama was provided by Jack Hawksworth, one of the eight drivers who stayed out on dry tires and seemed set to win. On the green/white/checkered restart, he was leading in his No. 82 Team Pelfrey/TORGOEN Swiss Watches/EXA Networks Mazda with teammate Gustavo Menezes (also on drys) in the No. 83 Team Pelfrey/TrueCar.com/Oakley Mazda alongside as they entered turn one. Even with what seemed like plenty of room between them, the superslick track caught both out and Menezes slid into Hawksworth under braking. Both spun and continued, but Schmidt, with his car twitching but still under control, had already taken full advantage.
Hawksworth finished seventh and retains a strong lead in the points championship, while Menezes crashed heavily into a concrete wall several turns later, finished 13th.
The grid for Round 10 is set by the quickest lap turned by each car in race one, which means Hawksworth will collect his sixth PEAK Performance pole award of the season. Starting on the outside of the front-row will be Chaves.
The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear doubleheader at the Edmonton City Centre Airport Circuit concludes on Sunday (July 22), with Round 10.
Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the Toronto race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon on Saturday, August 4. For international dates and times, please visit http://www.StarMazda.com and click the Star Mazda TV logo on the home page; or go to http://intltv.espn.com/
The top-three will be posted following every session on the EFCN Facebook page, and EFCN Twitter page.
Star Mazda Championship
Round 9 - Race Results
July 21, 2012
Edmonton City Centre Airport Circuit - Edmonton, Alberta
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | Camilo Schmidt | Linares Racing | - | 1:34.212 | | 2. | Sage Karam | Andretti Autosport | 1.281 | 1:33.538 | | 3. | Gabby Chaves | JDC MotorSports | 1.907 | 1:33.265 | | 4. | Martin Scuncio | Juncos Racing | 2.942 | 1:34.379 | | 5. | Ryan Tveter | Team GDT | 5.221 | 1:36.648 | | 6. | Connor De Phillippi | Juncos Racing | 4.752 | 1:37.266 | | 7. | Jack Hawksworth | Team Pelfrey | 6.082 | 1:33.030 | | 8. | Juan Piedrahita | JDC MotorSports | 6.782 | 1:34.099 | | 9. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 8.847 | 1:33.362 | | 10. | Diego Ferreira | Juncos Racing | 1:22.515 | 1:37.987 | | 11. | Andres Mendez | Team GDT | 2:11.129 | 1:38.365 | | 12. | Blair Robertshaw | Robertshaw Racing | 1 Lap | 1:40.987 | | 13. | Gustavo Menezes | Team Pelfrey | 2 Laps | 1:34.106 | | 14. | Carlos Linares | Linares Racing | 2 Laps | 1:35.387 | | 15. | Ashley Freiberg | JDC MotorSports | 2 Laps | 1:34.246 | | 16. | Zack Meyer | AIM Autosport | 2 Laps | 1:36.169 | | 17. | Stefan Rzadzinski | JDC MotorSports | 3 Laps | 1:43.540 | | 18. | Bruno Palli | Juncos Racing | 11 Laps | 1:36.473 | | 19. | Petri Suvanto | Team Pelfrey | 15 Laps | No-time | |
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