Conor Daly wins from the pole at Road America

Star Mazda Podium

Conor Daly, adding another layer of polish to an already gleaming season, won his 6th race from his 8th pole position in Round 11 of the 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase at Road America. The Indianapolis native, who dropped back to 3rd on the opening laps but fought his way back into the lead by lap 5, survived a full-course yellow in the closing laps that led to a one-lap shootout and brought his #22 Juncos Racing / INDECK / The College Network / Merchant Services Ltd. Mazda across the finish line 1.5 seconds ahead of the Venezuelan racer Jorge Goncalvez who started 3rd on the grid in the #9 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda. Rounding out the top-3 with his first-ever Star Mazda Championship podium finish was Californian Connor De Phillippi, who qualified his #11 JDC Motorsports / MAZDASPEED Motorsports / Skip Barber Mazda on the outside of the front row, also his best-ever qualifying effort.

The top-finishing Expert and Master Series drivers were a replay of last weekend at Trois-Rivieres with Team GDT teammates J.W. Roberts (#65 Team GDT / General Data Tech Mazda and Carlos Conde (#31 Team GDT / Pronto-GMT / Olympus Securities Mazda winning their respective classes. Roberts' drive was particularly notable as, in winning his class, he also finished 11th overall; he has now scored eight in-class victories this season and has clinched the 2010 Star Mazda Master Series Championship.

Norwegian racer Anders 'The Viking' Krohn, who qualified 7th and finished 4th in his #47 Andersen Racing / Norse Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda, has not won a race this year, but has finished consistently well and positioned himself so that he is the only remaining driver in the field with a chance to keep Daly from winning the championship. With two races left in the season, and a maximum of 90 points to be won by any one driver (44 for the win and 1 point for pole), Daly has 457 points and Krohn has 388. And De Phillippi (5th in the championship) is leading the Rookie of the Year battle by a slim 10-point margin over Frenchman Tristan Vautier who is currently 6th in the championship with two wins in the #38 Andersen Racing / Moulin TP / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais / Fontanel Mazda… but also several finishes well outside the top-10.

Results