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Scott Hargrove will be one of the first to be assessed for a drive with 8Star Motorsports in the 2015 Indy Lights Series Presented by Cooper Tires in an official test at Palm Beach International Raceway, Florida on Wednesday.

Canada’s Hargrove drove a Kart for the first time when he was 13 years old, planting the seed that would lead him to high profile successes in the US and overseas.

As a recipient of the 2013 Team Canada Scholarship, the young charger proudly represented his home nation in the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch in the United Kingdom and acquitted himself well by finishing fourth in a super-competitive field consisting of 57 of the world’s brightest young racers.

The Canadian followed his 2013 Cooper Tires USF2000 Series championship success – he maintained his points lead for the entirety of the 14-race season by capturing four wins, nine podiums, five fastest race laps and six pole positions – by winning the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada (Platinum Cup) and finishing second in the 2014 Pro Mazda Championship.

Wanting to become British Columbia’s next IZOD IndyCar driver, Hargrove will be one of the first candidates to be assessed for one of 8Star Motorsports’ Indy Lights seats during an official test at Palm Beach International Raceway in Jupiter, Florida on Wednesday (17 December).

An ever-strengthening 2015 Indy Lights field is forming, as several teams and drivers have already announced their intention to enter the revamped single-seater series in the New Year.

By Jason Cunningham, NASCAR
December 17, 2014 – 5:55pm

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR announced today the 2015 schedule for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series presented by Mobil 1.

The nationwide slate features 11 dates across five provinces and includes seven oval and four road course events.

“The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is the national series of Canada, and this schedule once again gives fans from across the country a chance to catch the exciting competition,” said George Silbermann, NASCAR vice president for regional and touring series. “From Alberta to Nova Scotia, the series will once again visit many of the premiere racing facilities Canada has to offer.”

The season will open at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park’s road course for the third year in a row on May 17, and the series will return there on Aug. 30 to join the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

Kawartha Speedway has played host to the last race on the schedule each year of the Canadian Tire Series’ existence, and that tradition will continue in 2015 with the Sept. 19 season finale.

The remainder of the 2015 schedule includes:
• Premiere road course dates in Quebec at Circuit ICAR (July 5) and Circuit de Trois-Rivieres (Aug. 2).
• Traditional visits to NASCAR-sanctioned weekly tracks Autodrome St-Eustache (July 25) in Quebec and Barrie Speedway (Sept. 12) in Ontario.
• Annual western swing once again features Alberta’s Edmonton International Raceway (July 11) – also a NASCAR-sanctioned oval – and Saskatoon’s Auto Clearing Motor Speedway (July 15).
• A return to Quebec’s Autodrome Chaudiere (June 13) following 2014’s exciting inaugural event.
• The ninth annual visit to the Maritimes and Riverside International Speedway in Nova Scotia (Aug. 15).

L.P. Dumoulin will be the defending Canadian Tire Series champion in 2015. The Quebec native was formally recognized for his first series title last week as part of the NASCAR Touring Awards at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.

PRLog (Press Release) – Dec. 17, 2014 – CENTRAL DISTRICT, Hong Kong — Zhuhai International Circuit –

Some say that heroes are born into greatness, yet some say that heroes are made through hard work, and making their own luck, with God’s blessing.

Canadian superstar Maxx Ebenal is definitely from the latter.

This past race weekend, PS Racing’s young superstar driver Ebenal proved once again that he has “The Gift”, as it is called in the racing profession.

Finishing his rookie AFR [Asia Formula Renault] season with an unbelievable 4 pole positions, 3 wins, and no less than 12 of 14 podiums, Ebenal proved to all that he has unbelievable talent.

However, in the final race of the season, where he only needed to finish the race to seal the Championship, a technical issue struck and Ebenal was unable to start, against his main competitor for the season: Alice Powell of England, who is not only a Formula Renault UK Champion but also an F3 and GP3 competitor.

But Ebenal holds no grudge against Powell or his extremely successful team, PS Racing. As Ebenal said in what might be misinterpreted as a brash style, “That’s racing. When I am on the grid, preferably on pole position of course, I don’t think about who is in the other cars, or what they have done. The point is to win. And if we have technical problems – well, everyone does at some point or another, and hey, it’s just racing.”

After technical difficulties in his final race of the season last Saturday, Ebenal came 2nd to Powell by only 3 points – yet fighting down to hundredths of second, the Formula Renault rookie against the highly accomplished British driver throughout the season for poles and wins.

PS Racing Instructor Pete Olson said “You look at this kid – incredible natural talent. He was born to win, and has come up through the ranks in racing not through a pro racing father or family wealth, but through extremely hard work and sacrifice. I raced with Maxx in Bridgestone in 2008, when he was working as a mechanic, the best we had, 60+ hours a week in order to fund his racing – after a brain seizure relapse that prevented us from competing in 2007. When I won the series in ’07, I knew the only guy that could have had me, was Maxx. He proved it the next year, and I took him out here to China to help him to go pro. When he finally beat my best time out here in last Friday’s practice – well I’ve got to admit I was jealous – but it quickly gave way to pure pride. Pride for Maxx, and pride for a Canadian, when I knew, without a doubt, that Maxx would be on the podium for the season finish and take home the trophy for Canada.”

Maxx Ebenal is looking to take his talent back to his native Canada and bring the glory next season once again, in the North America Star Mazda Pro Series – one of the final steps on the ‘racing ladder’ up to INDY.

Interested parties can follow Maxx and reach him and his agent at: http://www.maxxspeed.ca/.

Rennsport One (RS1), a team of Porsche racing specialists from Pompano Beach, Florida are making their IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge debut in 2015. RS1 caters to Porsche enthusiasts who want more out of their street car or track monster. The Cayman has become their specialty platform, having completed over a dozen race builds for clients all over the country, including other IMSA teams in the past 18 months.

Looking to expand on this knowledge base and success, they are debuting two newly built Porsche Caymans in the ST class with two pairs of experienced, accomplished drivers for the 2015 season. The team name may be unfamiliar to veteran series competitors, but the RS1 crew are no strangers to the IMSA paddock. Team Principal, Justin Bellinzoni, Crew Chief, Brian Carroll and Team Manager Jared McGillicuddy all bring years of experience in CTSCC, Tudor and GT3 Cup to the effort for an ST championship.

Bellinzoni is excited to announce Jon Miller and Adam Isman as the driver pairing for their No. 18 ST Cayman.

“Jared and I have known Miller for the past few years, he coaches our club racing clients and he’s already been in our new IMSA cars, shaking them down at Sebring and Daytona. He introduced us to Adam and had high praise for him. We got a chance to test Adam in our car at COTA and the team really clicked with him. He actually went faster than his 2014 ST pole lap in testing. We’re happy to have two experienced, fast, motivated guys in the first car, but beyond that they’re both a great fit with the whole team. We are just wrapping up the final details for our second car (the No. 17) and that driver pairing will be strong too. That announcement will come soon. We’re really looking forward to getting the season started.”

Adam Isman is coming off of a breakout year in 2014, with two poles and two podiums driving a Porsche Cayman, including his first series win at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

“I’m really excited to be joining such a young, motivated, energetic team in Rennsport One. From the first contact I had with Justin, we shared very similar views and objectives for the upcoming season and we were able to come to terms on a deal quite easily. RS1 is a new team to the Continental Tire series paddock, but I’ve already seen a lot of potential in the whole program from the test I did with them earlier this month. I’m looking forward to working with an established series veteran in Jon Miller, and can’t wait until Daytona when we will get our first opportunity to reap the rewards of our hard work this off-season.”

Jon Miller is optimistic and enthusiastic about the opportunity to get back behind the wheel of a Porsche. His partners, Be The Match and Loudbasstard continue in 2015.

“2014 was an up and down year, driving for a great team (Compass 360), in a really well prepped Honda Civic, we just didn’t have any luck! The seeds for this deal were planted a long time ago and I’m thankful that they’ve come to fruition. That I get to share the car with a talented friend in Adam makes it all that more exciting. The team is well prepared, with gorgeous new builds and plenty of testing going on in the offseason. I’m very thankful to be joining RS1 on their IMSA debut.”
Source: RS1 – The Race Development Center

PRLog (Press Release) – Dec. 13, 2014 – ZHUHAI, China — Zhuhai International Circuit –

The past two days were another successful weekend for PS Racing, as it fielded no less than six cars on the grid in the International, Masters, and Asian Categories and finished the season in style by taking home the overall team title as well as in overall driver titles: 1st in the Masters Category, 2nd in the International, and 3rd in the Asian Category.

In Friday afternoon qualifying under cool and cloudy conditions, Ebenal lead significant portions of the qualifying until being edged just a few tenths off pole position. In the Asian Class, returning PS Racing driver and HTCC Champion Sunny Wong took 2nd in qualifying and top 5 overall, after not competing in the Formula Renault for over a year. Also showing strong results in the Asian Class qualifying were PS Racing veteran Neric Wei and newcomer Victor Liang. In the Masters Class, to no one’s surprise Guillaume Cunnington once again led the Masters Class qualifying after returning to the car for the first time since his Formula Renault 3.5 testing in Aragon, Spain.

In Saturday’s Race One, Ebenal got off to his typical fast start to lead to take the lead from the beginning of the race, although eventually settling for 3rd on the podium in the International Class. Neric Wei took 3rd on the Asian Class podium, with newcomer Victor Liang impressively finishing just 1.9 seconds behind. PS Racing’s Sunny Wong fell back on the start but quickly retook positions to move up to 6th overall, but later went off track in Turn One and dropped back in the field.

In Sunday’s Race Two, PSR’s Victor Liang and Sunny Wong took the podium in 2nd and 3rd in the Asian Class, while Guillaume Cunnington cruised to another victory in the Masters Category after moving up to as high as 6th of 15 overall during the race before dropping back from a spin in Turn Four. Thomas Swift finished 4th in the International Class but bad luck struck Maxx Ebenal when he experienced a technical issue during the warm up laps and couldn’t start. Because of Ebenal’s DNS he finished his rookie AFR championship just 3 points behind British GP3 driver Alice Powell, giving him 2nd overall on the International Class season driver’s podium. Cunnington had already won the Masters Class Championship in last month’s Shanghai WEC race weekend and took home his season trophy today while PSR’s Sebastien Mailleux took 2nd overall alongside in the Masters Class. Neric Wei took a fine 3rd on the season podium for the Asian Class.