Vautier Victorious in Star Mazda VISITFLORIDA Race 2 at New Jersey

New Jersey Motorsports Park - Frenchman Tristan Vautieer claimed his second victory of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear driving the #38 Andersen Racing / Moulin TP / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda in Round 3 of the VISITFLORIDA Cup at New Jersey Raceway Park. Starting from the outside of the second row, he took the lead from pole-sitter Conor Daly's #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda on the opening lap and led all the way to the checkered. Finishing 2nd - his third podium of the season -- after starting 8th in the #18 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda was Brazilian Joao Victory Horto. Rounding out the top-3 was Norwegian racer Anders 'The Viking' Krohn, scoring his third podium of the season in the #47 Andersen Racing / Norse Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda. Krohn was holding tight to second place until the final lap when his gearbox stuck in 6th and Horto was able to pass.

Tristan Vautier Credit: Star Mazda

"It's the end of a long nightmare for me and the Andersen Racing team with a win in the first race and then so much bad luck in one race after another," says the young driver from Grenoble, France who won the season-opener at Sebring. "I was able to make a four second gap over Conor by about halfway, but then his tires went off toward the end and I finished seven seconds ahead of Joao. I has so much emotion crossing the finish line that I almost broke my steering wheel becaue I was so happy. The Andersen Racing team has worked so hard for this, and all my sponsors who helped make it happen. And to hold this VISITFLORIDA trophy again makes me feel like we have turned a corner and we can show what a good team we are during the rest of the season."

In the Expert Series (drivers aged 30-44) Californian Patrick O'Neill crossed the finish line first in class and 15th overall in the #64 JDC Motorsports / O'Neill Construction Mazda. Leading the Master Series (driver 44 and older) was Puerto Rico native Carlos Conde with an 18th-place finish in his #31 Team GDT / Pronto-GMT / Olympus Securities Mazda. This is the second in-class victory for both O'Neill and Conde, both of whom won their respective classes in Round 2 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Rounding out the top-5 was Horto's Team Apex teammate, Venezuelan racer Jorge Goncalves in the #9 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda. Brazilian Caio Lara, winner of yesterday's Race 1 / Round 6, brought his #19 JDC Motorsports / MLD / ATW Mazda home in 6th. MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder scholarship winner (and 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series Champion) Connor De Phillippi, finished 8th in the #11 JDC Motorsports / MAZDASPEED Motorsports / Skip Barber Mazda. The lone female racer in the field, colombian Tatiana Calderon, matched her best finish so far this year, scoring a 9th-place finish in the #25 Juncos Racing / Kia Motors Mazda. Another drive of note came from Ohio native Larry Pegram, a top rider in the AMA SuperBike class making his first-ever start in a Star Mazda Championship race. After qualifying 21st in the #72 AIM Autosport / Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery / Foremost Insurance Mazda, he moved up to finish 16th overall.

The hard luck award of the day goes to Quebec racer Mikael Grenier who qualified 3rd in the #17 Andersen Racing / Slow Cow / April Super Flow / NAPA Auto Parts / HS Telecom / Desharnais Mazda, but finished 21st, four laps down.

Pos No  Name                Laps    Diff

1   38  Tristan Vautier      35          
2   18  Joao Horto           35     7.057
3   47  Anders Krohn         35     9.575
4   22  Conor Daly           35    14.193
5    9  Jorge Goncalvez      35    16.848
6   19  Caio Lara            35    19.308
7   16  David Ostella        35    29.336
8   11  Connor De Phillippi  35    35.256
9   25  Tatiana Calderon     35    35.367
10  66  Rusty Mitchell       35    53.034
11  20  Carlos Linares       35  1:10.226
12  81  Nick Andries         35  1:16.032
13  28  Juan Piedrahita      35  1:18.410
14  85  Chris Miller         34    1 Lap 
15  64  Patrick O'Neill      34    1 Lap 
16  72  Larry Pegram         34    1 Lap 
17  65  J.W. Roberts         34    1 Lap 
18  31  Carlos Conde         34    1 Lap 
19  37  Dom Bastien          34    1 Lap 
20  55  Gerry Kraut          33    2 Laps
21  17  Mikael Grenier       31    4 Laps
22  23  Walt Bowlin          28    7 Laps

All the racing action this weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park, including the Star Mazda Championship, the USF2000 National Championship powered by Mazda and Mazda MX-5 Cup was broadcast live on HDnet as part of the VISITFLORIDA Cup. In addition to the live broadcast, one of the Star Mazda Championship races will be cable syndicated across the USA, Canada and worldwide and aired in the next few weeks.

Drivers in the Star Mazda Championship are contending two championships at stake this season, the overall Series championship and the VISITFLORIDA Cup, which will go to the driver scoring the most points in the seven televised races during the 2010 season. VISITFLORIDA races include the season-opener at Sebring, the double-headers at New Jersey Motorsports Park and Autobahn Country Club (broadcast live on HDnet) as well as Mosport and the season finale at Road Atlanta.

Daly leads the Series championship with four wins, five poles and 289 points, followed by Anders Krohn with a pole, three podiums and six top-5 finishes for 248 points. Horto's podium finish moves him up in to 3rd in the championship with 234 points (making him also the leading contender for 'Rookie of the Year' honors). Tristan Vautier is 4th with 226 points with Caio Lara rounding out the top-5 with 223 points. Texan J.W. Roberts, who won the Expert Series yesterday driving the #65 Team GDT / General Data Tech Mazda and finished third in class today leads the category with 110 points while Master Series driver Gerry Kraut, who also won yesterday and finished 3rd today in his #55 JDC Motorsports / Dougherty & Co. / Dougherty Funding LLC Mazda also leads his class.

The lead in the VISITFLORIDA battle changed hands between yesterday and today. With victories in two of the three VISITFLORIDA races held so far, Tristan Vautier leads with 118 points over Anders Krohn and Conor Daly, tied with 110.

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