2011 Star Mazda Championship

The 2011 Star Mazda Championship was the 13th Star Mazda Championship season, the second under the Mazda Road to Indy program, and the first under IndyCar sanctioning, after 12 years under the International Motor Sports Association umbrella. As part of the program's expansion, the series champion will be provided a scholarship to advance into Firestone Indy Lights for the 2012 season.[1] The season will feature 11 races over 10 weekends, with four road courses, three street circuits and three ovals on the schedule.[2]

The series consisted of a main championship as well as an Expert championship for drivers over 30 years of age, combining previous years' Expert and Masters championships.

JDC MotorSports' Tristan Vautier won four races on his way to the championship by a 25-point margin over Connor De Phillippi, who also won four races. Vautier finished in the top five in every race.[3] Andretti Autosport rookie Sage Karam also won two oval races and captured Rookie of The Year honors. J. W. Roberts won the Expert Championship when closest rival Walt Bowlin did not enter the final race of the season. The team championship went to Team Pelfrey which fielded cars for De Phllippi and Nick Andries, who finished third in points.[3]

Drivers and teams

Team No. Drivers Notes
United States JDC MotorSports 5 France Tristan Vautier[4]
19 Russia Mikhail Goikhberg Infineon only[5]
27 United States Nick Mancuso[6] Selected races
39 Brazil João Jardim[7] Indianapolis onwards
64 United States Patrick O'Neill Expert; Infineon only[5]
85 United States Chris Miller[8] St. Pete and Mosport only
United States Juncos Racing 7 Brazil João Victor Horto[9]
10 Colombia Tatiana Calderón[9]
28 United States Gustavo Menezes[9]
39 United States Richard Heistand[10] Left team after St. Pete
60 Chile Martin Scuncio[9] Left series after Mosport[11]
United States Team Pelfrey 11 United States Connor De Phillippi[12]
81 United States Nick Andries[13]
United States World Speed Motorsports 16 United Kingdom Lloyd Read Laguna Seca only[14]
United States Team GDT 19 United States Richard Heistand Barber only
37 United States Dom Bastien Expert; Laguna Seca only[14]
48 Republic of Ireland Patrick McKenna[15] Skipped Milwaukee, Iowa and Baltimore
65 United States J. W. Roberts[16] Expert; Skipped Barber and Milwaukee
Venezuela Linares Racing 20 Venezuela Carlos Linares[10]
Canada AIM Autosport 23 United States Walt Bowlin[10] Expert; St. Pete, Barber, Mosport, Trois-Rivières, Infineon and Baltimore only
66 Canada Zack Meyer[10] St. Pete and Barber only
72 United States Larry Pegram[10] Expert; St. Pete, Barber, Trois-Rivières, Infineon only
99 United States Learic Cramer Baltimore only
Canada The Racing Company 26 Canada Jérimy Daniel[10] Skipped Iowa and Infineon
United States Fogg Racing 29 United States Phil Fogg, Jr. Expert; Infineon only[5]
United States Andretti Autosport 77 United States Zach Veach Infineon and Laguna Seca only[17]
88 United States Sage Karam[18]

Race calendar and results

The race schedule was announced on December 20, 2010.[2]

Rnd Circuit Location Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Supporting
1 Streets of St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida March 26 Chile Martin Scuncio United States Connor De Phillippi United States Connor De Phillippi United States Team Pelfrey IndyCar Series
2 Barber Motorsports Park Birmingham, Alabama April 10 France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier United States JDC MotorSports IndyCar Series
3 Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Brownsburg, Indiana May 28 United States Connor De Phillippi United States Nick Andries United States Connor De Phillippi United States Team Pelfrey USAC Midgets
4 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin June 19 United States Nick Andries United States Sage Karam United States Sage Karam United States Andretti Autosport IndyCar Series
5 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa June 25 United States Sage Karam United States Sage Karam United States Sage Karam United States Andretti Autosport IndyCar Series
6 Mosport International Raceway Bowmanville, Ontario July 24 United States Sage Karam United States Nick Andries Brazil João Victor Horto United States Juncos Racing American Le Mans Series
7 Circuit Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières, Quebec August 6 France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier United States JDC MotorSports Firestone Indy Lights
8 August 7 France Tristan Vautier United States Connor De Phillippi United States Connor De Phillippi United States Team Pelfrey
9 Infineon Raceway Sonoma, California August 27 France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier United States JDC MotorSports IndyCar Series
10 Streets of Baltimore Baltimore, Maryland September 4 France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier France Tristan Vautier United States JDC MotorSports IndyCar Series
11 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 18 United States Connor De Phillippi United States Connor De Phillippi United States Connor De Phillippi United States Team Pelfrey American Le Mans Series

Championship standings

Drivers'

Pos Driver STP
United States
BAR
United States
IND
United States
MIL
United States
IOW
United States
MOS
Canada
TRO
Canada
SON
United States
BAL
United States
LAG
United States
Points
Overall
1 France Tristan Vautier 3 1 4 4 4 5 1 3 1 1 5 426
2 United States Connor De Phillippi 1 10 1 6 11 2 5 1 2 10 1 401
3 United States Nick Andries 17 2 2 3 7 4 3 2 3 9 2 385
4 Brazil João Victor Horto 14 4 5 7 2 1 2 4 6 3 6 375
5 United States Sage Karam 15 9 3 1 1 13 4 5 4 2 16 364
6 Colombia Tatiana Calderón 18 3 9 9 5 3 12 8 5 8 7 322
7 Venezuela Carlos Linares 6 5 13 10 8 10 7 9 13 11 8 301
8 United States Gustavo Menezes 8 7 7 5 3 6 6 6 9 4 15 297
9 Brazil João Jardim 14 8 6 8 14 7 8 7 12 244
10 Canada Jérimy Daniel 10 15 10 12 11 8 10 5 10 237
11 United States J. W. Roberts 11 12 10 9 12 14 13 13 200
12 United States Nick Mancuso 7 6 8 11 9 10 9 194
13 Chile Martin Scuncio 2 11 6 2 12 9 187
14 Republic of Ireland Patrick McKenna 4 13 11 14 13 14 4 186
15 United States Walt Bowlin 16 14 12 11 13 16 6 168
16 United States Larry Pegram 131 8 10 11 12 105
17 United States Chris Miller 5 7 61
18 Canada Zack Meyer 12 12 48
19 United States Richard Heistand 9 16 47
Expert Class
1 United States J. W. Roberts 11 12 10 9 12 14 13 13 148
2 United States Walt Bowlin 16 14 12 11 13 16 6 114
3 United States Larry Pegram 131 8 10 11 12 76
unregistered drivers
United States Zach Veach 7 3
Russia Mikhail Goikhberg 11
United Kingdom Lloyd Read 11
United States Learic Cramer 12
United States Dom Bastien 14
United States Phil Fogg, Jr. 15
United States Patrick O'Neill 17
Pos Driver STP
United States
BAR
United States
IND
United States
MIL
United States
IOW
United States
MOS
Canada
TRO
Canada
SON
United States
BAL
United States
LAG
United States
Points
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th–10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
(1 point)
Italics Ran fastest race lap
(1 point)

1Larry Pegram was not registered for the championship at St. Pete and not eligible for points.

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
Points 44 40 37 34 32 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Teams'

Pos Team Points
1 United States Team Pelfrey 293
2 United States Juncos Racing 274
3 United States JDC MotorSports 270
4 United States Andretti Autosport 195
5 Venezuela Linares Racing 144
6 United States Team GDT 118
7 Canada The Racing Company 113
8 Canada AIM Autosport 86

References

  1. ^ "Mazda helps pave the Road to Indy". Firestone Indy Lights. Indy Racing League. December 9, 2010. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
  2. ^ a b "The Star Mazda Championship completes the series' 2011 schedule with the addition of the IndyCar weekend at Barber Motorsports Park April 9 – 10" (PDF). Star Mazda Championship. International Motor Sports Association. December 19, 2010. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  3. ^ a b De Phillippi Wins Season-Finale as Vautier Captures Series Title Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, September 18, 2011, Retrieved 2011-09-18
  4. ^ "JDC MotorSports Signs Race Winner Vautier for 2011 Star Mazda Title Run" (PDF). Star Mazda Championship. JDC Motorsports. February 15, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 15, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c 2011 Star Mazda Championship Driver List / Infineon Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, Star Mazda Championship, Retrieved 2011-08-25
  6. ^ Mancuso Joins JDC MotorSports Driver Line-Up Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, February 17, 2011, Retrieved 2011-02-17
  7. ^ "2011 Star Mazda Championship Driver List / Night Before the 500" (PDF). starmazda.com. Star Mazda Championship. May 26, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 17, 2011. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  8. ^ "Miller rejoins JDC Motorsports for Star Mazda season-opener" (PDF). Star Mazda Championship. JDC Motorsports. February 7, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d "Juncos Racing Announces Driver Lineup for 2011 Star Mazda Championship" (PDF). juncosracing.com. Juncos Racing. December 22, 2010. pp. 1–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 22, 2010.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "2011 Star Mazda Championship Driver List / Grand Prix of St. Petersburg" (PDF). starmazda.com. Star Mazda Championship. March 22, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2011.
  11. ^ Sepulveda, Jose Luis. Martín Scuncio se retira de la Star Mazda Series Archived 2011-08-31 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish), Racing5, 2 August 2011, Retrieved 2011-08-04
  12. ^ Team Pelfrey Signs De Phillippi for 2011 Championship Charge Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, February 9, 2011, Retrieved 2011-02-09
  13. ^ "Pelfrey Indy Racing re-creates a famed launch pad for rising IndyCar stars" (PDF). pelfreyindyracing.com. Pelfrey Indy Racing. January 7, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 24, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
  14. ^ a b 2011 Star Mazda Championship Driver List / Mazda Raceway Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Star Mazda Championship, Retrieved 2011-09-15
  15. ^ "An Irish hotshoe accelerates down the Road to Indy – Team GDT signs USF2000 Star Patrick McKenna for the 2011 Star Mazda Championship" (PDF). Star Mazda Championship. Team GDT. February 8, 2011. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  16. ^ "Championship-winning Star Mazda team ramps up an expanded effort for 2011" (PDF). Star Mazda Championship. Team GDT. January 26, 2011. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 16, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2011.
  17. ^ Zach Veach Added to Andretti Autosport’s Star Mazda Lineup at Sonoma, Laguna Seca, Andretti Autosport PR, August 18, 2011, Retrieved 2011-08-18
  18. ^ "Andretti Autosport signs Sage Karam as driver for 2011 Star Mazda Championship". andrettiautosport.com. Andretti Autosport. November 15, 2010. Archived from the original on December 6, 2010. Retrieved December 22, 2010.