Star Mazda Championship announces double race weekend at Infineon Raceway

March 14, 2005. Sebring, FL. Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear President Gary Rodrigues announced the final addition to the 2005 schedule today, revealing that a second race would be added to the Infineon Raceway schedule to make up for the cancelled Saint Petersburg weekend originally on the schedule, bringing the series back to twelve races for the 2005 championship.

“Though we are disappointed that we will not be participating in the Saint Petersburg activities we are pleased that we were able to add this event and continue with a twelve race series,” Rodrigues said. ”We have worked with IMSA and Infineon Raceway to come up with a schedule that will work for all involved, allowing us to hold two races during the weekend, saving teams the expense of additional travel plans as the participants will already be at the venue.”

Preliminary schedules will see the Star Mazda Championship competitors participating in qualifying and race sessions on both Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17. “It has been a while since the series has held a double race weekend, and this will be a first for since the series has utilized the new Pro Formula Mazda, and I’m certain that our mid-season double-race shootout will entertain the fans,” Rodrigues added.

The 2005 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is already shaping up to be a historic season. The series already has over forty drivers registered for the opening round at Sebring with some of the hottest young drivers in North America entered to compete in the championship. Leading the list are Marco Andretti, grandson of the 1978 Formula One World Champion Mario Andretti, driving for the newly formed MJ Motorsports; Graham Rahal, son of 3-time CART Champion Bobby Rahal; Matt Jaskol, a Stars of Tomorrow karting champion driving for former Pro Atlantic champion and current Indy Racing League competitor Richie Hearn; and Pablo Donoso, the 19 year old protégé of former IndyCar and Formula One driver Eliseo Salazar.

Sanctioned by IMSA, the 12 round Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear kicks off its season on March 18th at Sebring International Raceway as part of the 12-hour of Sebring activities. For more information on the series please visit www.starmazda.com or contact Gary Rodrigues at (818) 686-3350.