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The 2012 Star Mazda Championship was the 14th season of the Star Mazda Championship, an American-based open-wheel racing series sanctioned by IndyCar as part of the Road to Indy program. It featured 17 races held over 10 race weekends.^[1] Five race weekends were held on temporary street courses, three on permanent road courses, and two on ovals. The series increased the number of double-header weekends to reduce the costs per race for competitors. Fastest lap times in race 1 determined the starting grid for race 2 on double-header race weekends.^[2]

The championship consisted of a main championship as well as a Star Mazda Expert Series for drivers over 30 years old. The expert class consists of a driver's best 10 races, enabling an Expert Series competitor to complete a full complement of races in just five race weekends.^[2]

21-year-old Englishman Jack Hawksworth driving for Team Pelfrey dominated the championship, winning eight of the 17 races and four of the eight poles awarded, setting a series record for wins in a season. He sat out the final race of the year but still won the championship over Colombian-American Gabby Chaves by 37 points. Chaves won the final two races of the season. American Sage Karam won three races and finished third in points in a tie-breaker over fellow American Connor De Phillippi who won two races after finishing second in points a year ago. Finn Petri Suvanto finished fifth in points, in his first season in Star Mazda, winning the seat by winning the Road to Indy's U.S. F2000 National Championship the year before. Other race winners were Chile's Martin Scuncio and Venezuela's Camilo Schmidt, who won a bizarre wet-dry race in Edmonton.

American Walt Bowlin won the Expert series championship by virtue of being the only Expert series competitor to participate in more than two race weekends.

Drivers and teams

Team	No.	Drivers	Notes
Juncos Racing	2	Connor De Phillippi
	15	Bruno Palli^[3]
	22	Martin Scuncio	Skipped Road Atlanta
	57	Diego Ferreira^[3]
JDC MotorSports	9	Juan Piedrahita^[4]
	16	Lloyd Read	Laguna Seca only
	16	Scott Anderson	Road Atlanta only
	19	Gabby Chaves
	91	Ashley Freiberg^[5]
	99	Stefan Rzadzinski	Skipped Indianapolis, Iowa, Trois-Rivières, Laguna Seca, and Road Atlanta
The Racing Company	10	Jérimy Daniel	Skipped Indianapolis, Iowa and Edmonton
World Speed Motorsports	18	Kyle Kaiser	Laguna Seca only
Linares Racing	20	Carlos Linares
Linares Racing	21	Camilo Schmidt	Skipped Trois-Rivières
AIM Autosport	23	Walt Bowlin	Expert series; skipped Indianapolis, Iowa, Edmonton and Trois-Rivières
	66	Zack Meyer
	72	Larry Pegram	Expert series; St. Pete and Barber only
Team GDT	33	Ryan Tveter	Skipped Barber, Indianapolis, and Iowa
	39	Cory Lewis	Toronto only
	51	Alex Ardoin	Trois-Rivières only
	53	Andrés Méndez^[6]
	65	J. W. Roberts	Expert series; St. Pete only
	97	Juan Camilo Acosta	Road Atlanta only
Robertshaw Racing	42	Blair Robertshaw	Expert series; Edmonton only
Andretti Autosport	77	Zach Veach^[7]
Andretti Autosport	88	Sage Karam^[8]
Team Pelfrey	81	Petri Suvanto^[9]
	82	Jack Hawksworth^[10]	Skipped Road Atlanta
	82	Ryan Tveter	Road Atlanta only
	83	Gustavo Menezes^[11]

Race calendar and results

The series schedule was announced December 1, 2011. Two race weekends were listed on the schedule with the location yet to be determined.^[2] The season finale was later confirmed to be held at Road Atlanta, supporting the Petit Le Mans sportscar event.^[1]

Rnd	Circuit	Location	Date	Pole position	Fastest lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Supporting
1	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	March 24	Connor De Phillippi	Jack Hawksworth	Connor De Phillippi	Juncos Racing	IndyCar Series
2	Streets of St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg, Florida	March 25		Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	IndyCar Series
3	Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama	April 1	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	IndyCar Series
4	Barber Motorsports Park	Birmingham, Alabama	April 1		Jack Hawksworth	Martin Scuncio	Juncos Racing	IndyCar Series
5	Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis	Brownsburg, Indiana	May 26	Connor De Phillippi	Connor De Phillippi	Connor De Phillippi	Juncos Racing	USAC Midgets
6	Iowa Speedway	Newton, Iowa	June 23	Sage Karam	Sage Karam	Sage Karam	Andretti Autosport	IndyCar Series
7	Streets of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario	July 7	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	IndyCar Series
8	Streets of Toronto	Toronto, Ontario	July 8		Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	IndyCar Series
9	Edmonton City Centre Airport	Edmonton, Alberta	July 21	Sage Karam	Jack Hawksworth	Camilo Schmidt	Linares Racing	IndyCar Series
10	Edmonton City Centre Airport	Edmonton, Alberta	July 22		Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	IndyCar Series
11	Circuit Trois-Rivières	Trois-Rivières, Quebec	August 4	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	Indy Lights
12	Circuit Trois-Rivières	Trois-Rivières, Quebec	August 5		Jack Hawksworth	Sage Karam	Andretti Autosport	Indy Lights
13	Streets of Baltimore	Baltimore, Maryland	September 1	Qualifying abandoned	Jack Hawksworth	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	IndyCar Series
14	Streets of Baltimore	Baltimore, Maryland	September 2		Sage Karam	Sage Karam	Andretti Autosport	IndyCar Series
15	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	September 8	Jack Hawksworth	Gabby Chaves	Jack Hawksworth	Team Pelfrey	Rolex Sports Car Series
16	Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	September 9		Gabby Chaves	Gabby Chaves	JDC MotorSports	Rolex Sports Car Series
17	Road Atlanta	Braselton, Georgia	October 19	Gabby Chaves	Sage Karam	Gabby Chaves	JDC MotorSports	American Le Mans Series

Championship standings

Drivers'

Pos	Driver	STP		BAR		IND	IOW	TOR		EDM		TRO		BAL		LAG		ATL	Points
Overall
1	Jack Hawksworth	2	1	1	2	7	15	1	1	7	1	1	12	1	2	1	2		397
2	Gabby Chaves	3	4	3	5	9	5	3	4	3	3	5	2	3	8	2	1	1	360
3	Sage Karam	8	7	2	12	2	1	21	3	2	2	2	1	15	1	7	19	2	325
4	Connor De Phillippi	1	5	5	3	1	3	7	16	6	13	3	13	2	3	3	3	3	325
5	Petri Suvanto	5	3	6	6	5	4	6	8	19	4	14	4	4	4	5	5	6	271
6	Diego Ferreira	7	9	9	7	10	8	5	5	10	11	16	15	5	5	4	4	4	235
7	Juan Piedrahita	4	2	8	4	8	14	4	2	8	16	9	11	19	9	8	9	9	234
8	Martin Scuncio	6	6	4	1	4	2	17	7	4	15	6	5	18	17	9	11		232
9	Gustavo Menezes	13	10	7	16	6	13	8	6	13	5	7	6	7	16	6	8	7	208
10	Zach Veach	17	11	15	10	3	6	2	17	9	17	8	8	8	6	11	17	8	199
11	Ashley Freiberg	9	19	11	11	15	10	13	13	15	7	12	9	6	10	12	18	11	162
12	Bruno Palli	14	15	13	20	14	7	10	15	18	12	10	17	10	7	20	10	5	146
13	Camilo Schmidt	12	18	17	9	13	12	19	18	1	9			17	14	19	6	16	129
14	Andrés Méndez	15	14	14	17	12	11	18	10	11	DSQ	13	7	12	18	15	15	15	128
15	Zack Meyer	19	13	19	19	16	9	9	9	16	18	15	18	13	15	18	12	10	114
16	Stefan Rzadzinski	10	8	10	8			11	12	17	6			9	11				108
17	Carlos Linares	20	12	12	14	11	DNS	15	14	14	8	11	16	16	19	14	20		106
18	Ryan Tveter	21	21					20	20	5	10	18	10	11	12	16	14	14	91
19	Walt Bowlin	18	17	18	18			16	19					14	13	17	16	17	55
20	Jérimy Daniel	11	20	20	15			14	11			17	14						49
21	Larry Pegram	16	16	16	13														23
22	Blair Robertshaw									12	14								16
	J. W. Roberts	DNS	DNS																0
Ineligible drivers
	Alex Ardoin											4	3						0
	Lloyd Read															10	7		0
	Corey Lewis							12	21										0
	Scott Anderson																	12	0
	Kyle Kaiser															13	13		0
	Juan Camilo Acosta																	13	0
Expert Series
1	Walt Bowlin	18	17	18	18			16	19					14	13	17	16	17	142
2	Larry Pegram	16	16	16	14														56
3	Blair Robertshaw									12	14								28
	J. W. Roberts	DNS	DNS																0
Pos	Driver	STP		BAR		IND	IOW	TOR		EDM		TRO		BAL		LAG		ATL	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)
Blank	Not competing

In-line notation
Bold	Pole position (1 point)
Italics	Ran fastest race lap (1 point)

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Overall Points	29	25	22	19	17	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Teams'

Pos	Team	Points
1	Team Pelfrey	451
2	Juncos Racing	416
3	JDC MotorSports	401
4	Andretti Autosport	349
5	Team GDT	195
6	Linares Racing	188
7	AIM Autosport	161
8	The Racing Company	76
9	World Speed Motorsports	24

References

^ ^a ^b "Star Mazda Championship Announces 2012 Season Finale to Be Held at 15th Annual Petit LeMans Powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta October 17–20" (PDF). December 16, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 25, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c THE STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP TAKES A MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN 2012 WITH AN 18-RACE SCHEDULE ON 10 WEEKENDS, MOST WITH INDYCAR Archived 2011-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, Star Mazda Championship, December 1, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-04
^ ^a ^b Juncos Racing Inks Venezuelans Palli and Ferreira for 2012 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, February 13, 2012, Retrieved 2012-02-13
^ Piedrahita Rejoins JDC MotorSports for Title Challenge Archived 2012-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, December 12, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-12
^ "'Woman Empowered' Freiberg joins JDC". Indycar.com. 6 February 2012. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.
^ Team GDT Signs Colombian Up-and-Comer Mendez Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, February 1, 2012, Retrieved 2012-02-01
^ Andretti Autosport Confirms Veach, eFormulaCarNews, January 13, 2012, Retrieved 2012-01-13
^ Rookie of the Year Karam Returns with Andretti Autosport Archived 2012-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, December 12, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-12
^ Star Mazda: USF2000 Champion Suvanto Joins Defending Team Champion Team Pelfrey Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, January 20, 2012, Retrieved 2012-01-20
^ Hawksworth Signs With Team Pelfrey For Star Mazda Championship Archived 2012-07-11 at archive.today, Paddock Talk, November 22, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-04
^ Menezes joins Pelfrey Star Mazda squad, Racer, November 29, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-04

External links

Star Mazda Championship Official website

[finale-1] "Star Mazda Championship Announces 2012 Season Finale to Be Held at 15th Annual Petit LeMans Powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta October 17–20" (PDF). December 16, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 25, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2011.

[schedule-2] THE STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP TAKES A MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN 2012 WITH AN 18-RACE SCHEDULE ON 10 WEEKENDS, MOST WITH INDYCAR Archived 2011-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, Star Mazda Championship, December 1, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-04

[Juncos_Viso-3] Juncos Racing Inks Venezuelans Palli and Ferreira for 2012 Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, February 13, 2012, Retrieved 2012-02-13

[4] Piedrahita Rejoins JDC MotorSports for Title Challenge Archived 2012-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, December 12, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-12

[5] "'Woman Empowered' Freiberg joins JDC". Indycar.com. 6 February 2012. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 6 February 2012.

[6] Team GDT Signs Colombian Up-and-Comer Mendez Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, February 1, 2012, Retrieved 2012-02-01

[7] Andretti Autosport Confirms Veach, eFormulaCarNews, January 13, 2012, Retrieved 2012-01-13

[8] Rookie of the Year Karam Returns with Andretti Autosport Archived 2012-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, December 12, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-12

[9] Star Mazda: USF2000 Champion Suvanto Joins Defending Team Champion Team Pelfrey Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, eFormulaCarNews, January 20, 2012, Retrieved 2012-01-20

[10] Hawksworth Signs With Team Pelfrey For Star Mazda Championship Archived 2012-07-11 at archive.today, Paddock Talk, November 22, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-04

[11] Menezes joins Pelfrey Star Mazda squad, Racer, November 29, 2011, Retrieved 2011-12-04

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