Woodbridge, Ontario, April 27, 2009 – AIM Autosport’s Star Mazda squad left Virginia International Raceway with the win on Sunday and had all three drivers in the top ten for the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. They are second overall in the team championship while Peter Dempsey in the Motorsport Ireland / Queyside.ie No. 3 AIM Autosport / Mobil 1 / MIKE Formula Mazda leads the driver’s championship.
Dempsey, who qualified on the front row for the start, had his work cut out for him in a race that ran mostly under full course caution. Running in second, he was shuffled back to fourth on the first restart and would have to wait until two laps from the end of the race to get past the three team mates running ahead of him. Peter would use every inch of the track going in a drag race to the first turn on the final restart to take the lead position. A last lap challenge from pole sitter Adam Christodoulou worked in Peter’s favor and in another drag race to the checkers, he prevailed by a margin of .038 seconds.
“I really needed this win” Dempsey commented. “It was doubtful that I would even be at VIR until the last moment, so getting the win is what was needed to allow me to continue in the championship. I have to thank everyone at AIM Autosport for the fantastic job this weekend and now we concentrate on taking the momentum of this win forward.”
AIM Autosport’s other cars also had good results finishing in the top ten. In fact, Jorge Goncalvez (72) had a great run to finish in fourth place coming through from twelfth on the starting grid. The Venezuelan took advantage of restarts to move through the pack and record his best result so far. He is now sixth in the championship. David Ostella (Global Precast No. 71) did a great job of recovery after running off course to avoid and accident in front of him. He would cross the line in ninth place after starting from tenth on the grid. David is tenth in the championship.
“All three drivers did a great job this weekend.” said team principal Keith Willis. “We fought a variety of issues with all three cars but had good feedback from the drivers to end the weekend with strong results.” Willis continued, “Peter knew what he had to do this weekend and he just went out and did it. Jorge quietly went about his business and returned a fantastic result moving up eight positions and David put in a solid effort and kept his head. His quick thinking and fast response kept him in it at the end. David is developing as a very smart driver with good skills.”
Next up for the AIM Autosport Mazda team in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is the race at Miller Motorsport Park in Tooele, Utah on May 16.
From Chris Jameson / Level Ten Communications
