ABRS Drivers at St. Pete Indycar
ABRS had several team members participating at St. Petersburg Indycar event this past weekend
ABRS Coaches Troy Castaneda achieved a top ten finish for Bryan Herta Autosport in the Series season opener on Saturday afternoon. Featuring sponsorship from Forsythe Solutions Group, EMC, Barracuda Networks, and Bariani Olive Oil, Castaneda finished in ninth place and gained some great experience on the track.
“The cars are pretty physical, especially here on the street course, so you have to stay focused physically and mentally 100 percent of the time. It was definitely a good learning experience and I was able to finish in the top ten, so I’m pretty happy about that. The car came back in one piece and I had a good little battle for eighth place as well, so hopefully we can move forward with this for the next race.”
Castaneda will continue to gain experience and set his sights on Victory Lane for the next two races on the Lights schedule. The American driver announced that he will be competing for BHA at both Barber and Long Beach. Barracuda Networks, sponsor of the team’s IZOD IndyCar Series entry, will be the primary sponsor on Castaneda’s car for the upcoming races.
ABRS Grad and Coaches Stefan Rzadzinski made his debut in the Star Mazda Championship went at this past weekend at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix.
It was Stefan’s first experience on a street circuit but managed to qualify 11th of 22 for Race 1, finishing 10th and set the 6th fastest lap of the race.
Race 2 was gridded based on the fastest lap from Race 1, so he started from position 6, only 0.2 seconds from pole position and starting ahead of the Race 1 winner (2011 Championship Runner-Up). Race 2 was once again very competitive, and he brought home an 8th place finish after multiple safety cars for incidents around the tight street circuit. Stefan was the top finishing Canadian in both races.
“The JDC Motorsports team was awesome to work with all weekend, and the ‘Powered by Alberta’ car, in my completely biased opinion, is the best looking car on track.
Follow Stefan on www.RZadRacing.com and www.PoweredbyAlberta.com.
