Anders Krohn tops opening Star Mazda practice

Familiar names topped the time sheet the first time ever that the cars and drivers of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear took to the streets at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Leading the list was Anders Krohn, pole-sitter for the Sebring season-opener last weekend. His lap of 1:11.798 (90.253 mph) in the #47 Andersen Racing / Norse Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda sets a bar that is likely to be raised later today during the afternoon session from 4:00 – 4:40 pm. Second on the sheet, just .014-sec. behind, was Sebring race winner Tristan Vautier, who turned a lap of 1:11.812 (90.236 mph) in his #38 Andersen Racing / Moulin TP / Cecibon / Circuit du Laquais Mazda. And rounding out the top-3 was Venezuelan Jorge Goncalvez, who qualified 7th and finished 2nd at Sebring in the #9 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda. He turned a lap of 1:12.329 (89.591 mph) around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn course.

Rounding out the top-5 were Brazilian Caio Lara with a 1:12.545 (89.324 mph) lap in the #19 JDC Motorsports / MLD / ATW Mazda and Richard Kent, who had a disastrous outing at Sebring when a driveshaft on his #33 Team GDT / Traka Mazda broke on the reconnaissance lap, leaving him stranded by the side of the track while the rest of the field took the green. He led early in the session and ultimately would up with a 5th-fast lap of 1:12.662 (89.180).

MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder scholarship winner Connor De Phillippi was 6th fast in the #11 JDC Motorsports / MAZDASPEED Motorsports / Skip Barber Mazda and the quickest of the trio of local drivers was St. Petersburg College student Nick Andries, who turned the 11th-fast lap of 1:13.574 mph (88.075 mph) in the #81 Andersen Racing / Team Pelfrey / Tampa Bay Auto Museum Mazda.

With a 17th-fast lap of 1:14.596 (86.868 mph), the quickest Expert Series (drivers 30-44 years old) racer was Californian Patrick O'Neill, making his first start of the season in the #64 / JDC Motorsports / O'Neill Construction Mazda. The fastest Master Series (drivers 45 and older) driver, with a 22nd-fast lap of 1:16.611 (84.583 mph) was Puerto Rico racer Carlos Conde in the #31 Team GDT / Pronto-GMT / Olympus Securities Mazda.

Results

Pos	No.	Name	Best Tm	Best Speed	In Lap	Diff	Gap
1	47	Anders Krohn	1:11.798	90.253	23	–	–
2	38	Tristan Vautier	1:11.812	90.236	26	0.014	0.014
3	9	Jorge Goncalvez	1:12.329	89.591	27	0.531	0.517
4	19	Caio Lara	1:12.545	89.324	21	0.747	0.216
5	33	Richard Kent	1:12.662	89.180	15	0.864	0.117
6	11	Connor De Phillippi	1:12.882	88.911	27	1.084	0.220
7	17	Mikael Grenier	1:12.888	88.904	18	1.090	0.006
8	22	Conor Daly	1:12.915	88.871	20	1.117	0.027
9	27	Court Vernon	1:13.011	88.754	21	1.213	0.096
10	18	Joao Horto	1:13.083	88.666	27	1.285	0.072
11	81	Nick Andries	1:13.574	88.075	26	1.776	0.491
12	66	Rusty Mitchell	1:13.583	88.064	17	1.785	0.009
13	28	Juan Piedrahita	1:13.841	87.756	18	2.043	0.258
14	13	Michael Furfari	1:13.851	87.744	27	2.053	0.010
15	85	Chris Miller	1:13.944	87.634	28	2.146	0.093
16	16	David Ostella	1:13.944	87.634	26	2.146
17	64	Patrick O'Neill	1:14.596	86.868	27	2.798	0.652
18	25	Tatiana Calderon	1:14.963	86.443	20	3.165	0.367
19	94	Hayden Duerson	1:15.211	86.158	27	3.413	0.248
20	20	Carlos Linares	1:15.280	86.079	22	3.482	0.069
21	65	JW Roberts	1:15.777	85.514	26	3.979	0.497
22	31	Carlos Conde	1:16.611	84.583	25	4.813	0.834
23	23	Walt Bowlin	1:17.504	83.609	22	5.706	0.893

After a final practice session this afternoon, Star Mazda Championship qualifying takes place from 8:50 – 9:35 am Saturday, March 27, with the 45-minute race scheduled to take the green light at 11:50 am Sunday, March 28.