Month: February 2018

Posted by admin on in Miscellaneous News

Igor Fraga Joins Exclusive Autosport For Rookie USF2000 Debut

 

Brazilian driver to graduate from FIA F4 NACAM series to Mazda Road to Indy in 2018

 

SASKATOON, SK (February 24, 2018) – Exclusive Autosport is excited to announce that Igor Fraga will join the team for the 2018 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The 18-year-old Japanese-born Brazilian will make his Mazda Road to Indy debut this season after starting the year in the FIA Formula 4 NACAM Championship, in which he has already produced two wins. Fraga comes to Exclusive Autosport with an impressive open wheel resume that includes being crowned the 2017 Brazilian F3 Academy Champion.

 

“We’ve been able to test with Igor a couple times and he’s provided exceptional feedback and was very quick on-track,” enthused Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “He is very calm and methodical in and out of the car.  I feel that he has the speed to be a race winner.  If he can be consistent, I believe that we could quite possibly put a championship run together.”

 

Fraga started his competition career at the young age of five, racing karts all over Asia. In 2007, he represented Brazil in the ROK Cup International Final in Italy, where he placed 13th in a field of almost 100 drivers. After a long and successful karting career, Igor graduated into open wheel cars in 2014, racing the Formula 3 Brazil Light and FIA Formula NACAM Championship, earning an impressive 17 wins. He was eventually crowned the Formula 3 Brazil Light champion in 2017.  In the testing that Fraga has completed with Exclusive Autosport, he has shown great speed and interaction with the crew.  Igor is very focused on quickly learning everything he needs to know about the USF2000 car and the program, and his target will be consistency, race wins and the championship.

 

“I am very pleased to be part of Exclusive Autosport,” Fraga enthused. “Since I had my first contact with the team, I felt very comfortable working with them. I’ll do my best to have a great season. The goal is to be champion.”

Posted by admin on in Mazda Road to Indy

Exclusive Autosport Signs Manuel Cabrera For USF2000 Debut

SASKATOON, SK (February 15, 2018) – Exclusive Autosport is pleased to announce that Mexican driver Manuel Cabrera will fill their second seat for the 2018 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The 17-year-old will make his Mazda Road to Indy debut this year, having spent the 2017 season competing in the Formula PanAm and Formula Master Asia series. Cabrera won the Formula PanAm championship and was rewarded with a ticket to the Mazda Road to Indy $200,000 Scholarship Shootout and was he also acknowledged as the Rookie of the Year in the Formula Master Asia program.

 

“Manuel is a welcomed addition to the Exclusive Autosport USF2000 team,” enthused Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. “Manuel brings with him a wealth of experience and results. He won the Formula PanAm championship in 2017, which earned him a ticket to the Mazda Road to Indy $200K Scholarship Shootout.  The transition from the Formula PanAm to the Tatuus USF-17 has been quick and seamless for Manuel. He has shown great speed and has worked really well with our engineers in off-season testing. We look forward to his series debut at Homestead next week.”

 

Cabrera began his racing career in the assorted Mexican karting series in 2010 at the age of 10, running upfront and winning numerous races and championships along the way. Manuel made the move to car racing by attending the Skip Barber Racing School in 2016, and then participating in their Championship Series. This past year, Cabrera competed in the Formula PanAm series and earned the championship title, winning a ticket to attend the Mazda Road to Indy $200,000 Scholarship Shootout in the process. Manuel scored four wins in the six series races and was on the podium in the other two. He also raced in the Formula Masters Asia series, scoring six top-five finishes, and was awarded the Rookie of the Year honors.

 

“I feel really excited to be racing in the 2018 USF2000 championship because it’s an extremely competitive series and it has really good drivers,” commented Cabrera. “I’m expecting to have a nice year with Exclusive Autosport team. I’ve already completed four days of testing with them and I feel very comfortable. I feel that we are going to make good happen things this year. I’m going to give my best to win races and hopefully the championship this year. It’s so important for me, so I’m going to push hard in every practice, qualifying session and race!”@E

Posted by admin on in Mazda Road to Indy

Jayson Clunie Returns To USF2000 With Exclusive Autosport For 2018

 

 

SASKATOON, SK (February 7, 2018) – After gaining valuable experience through nine series starts in 2017, Canadian Jayson Clunie will be back to contest the entire Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda with the Exclusive Autosport team in 2018. The 48-year-old business owner enjoyed steady progress last season, having made his series debut on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May. Clunie also competed in the USF200 events held at Road America, Toronto, Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen. A veteran of karting, open wheel and sports car competition, Jayson improved significantly through this limited program, an effort that was highlighted by a pair of ninth place finishes on the challenging streets of Toronto. Clunie is the first USF2000 driver confirmed by Exclusive Autosport for 2018.

 

“I am very excited to have Jayson back for his second year of USF2000 competition with Exclusive Autosport,” offered Michael Duncalfe, Exclusive Autosport’s Team Principle. “I have been fortunate to know Jayson for a long time and have had the pleasure of working with him for nine years, as he has been an Exclusive Management Inc. driver since 2009. I am honoured to have a driver like Jayson under the EA banner. In addition to his speed on track, Jayson loves interacting with fans and sharing his passion for motorsports with them. Jayson missed a few events last year due to his professional commitments, however, he will be full-time in the #93 Exclusive Autosport Exclusive Management Inc. USF-17 this year. Every time he is behind the wheel, he gets quicker and quicker. It’ll be really exciting to see what he can do out there this year.”

 

Clunie has diverse experience in a wide array of different types of race cars including the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series in the ST category, where he won at the famed Daytona International Speedway in the 2012 BMW 200 event. Jayson would go on to win the ST championship with teammate Pierre Kleinubing that year, running for i-Moto Racing. Clunie also competed heavily in the Formula 1600 category in 2014, running in the Canadian F1600 Super Series, Ontario Toyo Tires F1600 Championship, the Formula Tour 1600 series in Quebec, and the F1600 Championship Series in the United States. In 2015 and 2016, he competed in the Formula Continental class, running assorted SCCA Majors events, as well as competing in the ST category with Compass360 in IMSA.

 

In 2017, Clunie participated eight race weekends, adding top-five TC class finishes in the Pirelli World Challenge at Road America and the Utah Motorsports Campus to his resume.  Clunie will be rejoining teammate Parker Thompson under the Exclusive Autosport banner, as the fellow Canadian was recently confirmed run in the Pro Mazda Championship. The team has plans to announce a second USF2000 driver next week, and could run as many as four cars this year.

 

Exclusive Autosport is coming off their freshman year in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.  They ran extremely well, pushing quickly up the learning curve of a new car and a new series. Thompson was able to sweep the doubleheader on the streets of Toronto and added a win in Mid-Ohio to post a record that was accompanied by a pole positions, top-five finishes and third place in the championship.  With Thompson’s USF2000 experience and success, Clunie will be provided with the crucial advice and coaching in his efforts to gain speed and comfort in his USF2000 Tatuus USF-17.

“I’m basically just genuinely excited about having the opportunity to drive with Exclusive Autosport again,” added Clunie. “It has been very rewarding to be involved with Michael and Kimberly Duncalfe for so many years and to watch them develop from some pretty humble beginnings to the team/family that they have created.”

 

With the opening round of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires just one month away, at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida on March 9-11, pre-season testing continues as the team develops their 2018 driver line-up.  Exclusive Autosport intends to run at least three cars in the USF2000 program this year, and is set up to field a pair of cars in Pro Mazda.

Posted by admin on in World Challenge

R.Ferri Motorsport RACING WITH FERRARI returns to the Pirelli World Challenge for its 2018 Season.
Lexington, OH – JUL 28, 2017: Honda Indy 200

 

Toronto, ON – Remo Ferri, Team principal of R.Ferri Motorsport RACING WITH FERRARI officially announced that his team will return to compete in the 2018 Pirelli World Challenge Series season with his Ferrari 488 GT3. Accomplished sports car driver and Ferrari veteran Toni Vilander will pilot the team’s entry in the series beginning with the St. Petersburg Grand Prix on March 9 – 11, 2018.

2018 will mark the fourth full season in the sprint category for R. Ferri Motorsport RACING WITH FERRARI. The team brings a deep roster of talent and experience to the program. Racing is in the DNA of the organization, starting with the passion and dedication of Remo Ferri. The team has years of history in the sport including strong campaigns in GRAND-AM, IMSA as well as strong representation in Ferrari Challenge.

“We are excited to be back again this year in the Pirelli World Challenge with a driver that has had a lot of success with the Ferrari. With the support from the factory coupled with the experience we gained from previous years, I feel confident that we can be a very strong team
and compete for the championship “said Ferri. The team also communicated that Vilander’s teammate for the SprintX rounds will be announced soon.

The 2018 Pirelli World Challenge GT season consists of nineteen rounds at ten prestigious venues across North America, starting next weekend in St. Petersburgh, FL. Included in the schedule is the home race for R.Ferri Motorsport at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park race track in Bowmanville, Ontario on May 18th to 20th, 2018.

 

Posted by admin on in World Challenge

Mark Wilkins to race with Bryan Herta Autosport in PWC TCR Class @MWilkins

 

Mark Wilkins has announced that for 2018 he will be joining the Bryan Herta Autosport team. BHA will be running two versions of Hyundai’s i30 N TCR racecars in the Pirelli World Challenge series new TCR class. Joining Mark on the team as his driving partner is Michael Lewis, who has won four races in GT Sprint and SprintX competition in the PWC series.

Looking forward to seeing Mark and the BHA team on the track this coming season.