Star Mazda Friday Laguna Seca

On as fine a day for motor racing as you’ll ever see, the sort of day Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca seems to specialize in, the cars and drivers of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear took to the track for two timed practice sessions. In both, the weather was cool, no wind, low humidity and just enough cloud cover to keep the sun from heating up the track.

In the morning, the top-5 on the time sheet was occupied by James Davison, Dane Cameron, Lorenzo Mandarino, Marco DiLeo and Johathan Goring. Davison was the only driver in the 1:20s, turning a 1:20.819 (99.689 mph) in his #7 Velocity Motorsports /Easternats Mazda. Cameron, who clinched the Star Mazda championship battle in Round Eleven at Road Atlanta on October 5, was a close second with a lap of 1:21.051 (98.705 mph) in his #19 JDC Motorsports/ Finlay Motorsports Mazda. The final three were several tenths back, but all very close, all within a tenth of a second of each other.

The afternoon session was oddly slower. The hottest lap, 1:21.346 (99.044 mph) was set by Lorenzo Mandarino in the #15 Team G.Fro/Newway Forming Mazda on lap 10. Daviso dropped back to 2nd-fast with a lap of 1:21.625 (98.705 mph) and Cameron was third quick, turning a 1:21.796 (98.499 mph). Cameron’s teammate, Nick Haye, moved up from 6th in the morning to make an appearance in the top-5 in the afternoon session, turning a 1:21.001 (98.252 mph) in his #37 JDC Motorsports/Quantum Sphere Mazda. Rounding out the top-5 was Ron White, who could do no better than 12th in the morning session, turning a 1:22.006 (98.246 mph) in his #69 Wunder-Bar/Ron White Racing Mazda.

“We were fastest yesterday in testing, and fastest again this morning, so I think we’ve got the measure of the track and what setup we need to go for the win in the race," says Davison, won Round Ten at Mosport. “We were running a race simulation this afternoon and were more interested in how the car changed over a long run than in setting the fastest lap."

Qualifying to set the starting grid for the race will take place from 8:00 am to 8:30 am Saturday, October 20. The 45-minute Round Twelve season finale of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will take the green flag at 12:30 pm Saturday.