Back in the saddle again. Nick Andries returns to Formula Mazda. (Photo Courtesy Pro Mazda Championship)

Pinellas Park, Fla. – In an 11^th hour deal that got him to the track race day morning, Nick Andries made his return to the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires (formerly the Star Mazda Championship) and his debut for JDC Motorsports for the season opening rounds of the 2013 season at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, his first race since a one-off Firestone Indy Lights drive at last year’s Long Beach Grand Prix.

“We’ve been working on putting together a program for the 2013 season and I hope to make an announcement about my plans in the coming weeks,” said Andries from the paddock at Circuit of the Americas. “I knew that missing the first two races of the season would all but eliminate me from championship contention so we scraped together what we had and funded this weekend ourselves. I really have to thank my family and some very close friends for chipping in to get me to Austin. I couldn’t have done it without them.”Taking an early morning flight out of Tampa, Andries arrived at Circuit of the Americas in time to get fitted into his #19 Pro Mazda ride prior to the first session of the day. New car gremlins limited Andries to a handful of laps late in the session to get acquainted with the track layout as well as the new for 2013 Cooper Tires. Despite the challenges, he was 13^th out of 16 drivers, an understandable 8.228 sec. off the quick time of the session.

After learning which way the track went, qualifying was more representative of Andries ability to get into an unfamiliar car at an unfamiliar circuit and get up to speed quickly. A 2:05.724 lap was by far the quickest lap of the drivers who missed pre-season testing, and put Andries 11^th on the grid for Race 1.

Unfortunately Race 1 was over almost as soon as it started. Andries got a jump on the field at the drop of the green flag, and was working his way up the inside of the pack heading into Turn 1 when he was run into from behind in the braking zone, damaging the rear wing and rear suspension on his car, knocking him out of the race. To add insult to injury, the lack of a complete race lap meant that Andries would start 15th for Race 2.

Overnight the JDC Motorsports team was able to put Andries’ #19 back together in time for the morning warm-up, where he posted the 10^th quickest time. From 15^th, Andries worked his way through the field, making his way to 8^th at the finish while recording his quickest race lap – a 2:05.874 – on the last lap of the race.

“All things considered the weekend went okay. Getting knocked out of Race 1 so early was unfortunate but after that I had time to get acquainted with the team and the car, and to learn the new tires. I want to thank the JDC Motorsports team for getting me up to speed on such short notice. I can’t wait to get back to St. Pete.”

Next up
The Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires heads to St. Petersburg, Fla. to join the IZOD IndyCar Series for their season opener the weekend of March 22-24. Nick Andries will announce his plans for the balance of the 2013 season prior to this event.

By John Hendrick, courtesy USF2000.com

Wayside, N.J. – Trent Hindman picked up his second podium finish of the season, a third place at this past weekend’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda finale at Virginia International Raceway; a strong finish to an often challenging season for the young Wayside, N.J. driver.Hindman will be the first one to tell you that his rookie season in USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda wasn’t everything he hoped it would be. Driving for the front running Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing and among the quickest drivers all year, three DNFs coming into VIR put Hindman 6^th in the points and gave him the goal of finishing the season in the Top 5.

Quick in pre-event testing and in the two official Practice sessions, Hindman qualified fourth Thursday afternoon, setting him up to start on the outside of Row 2, behind his teammates and title contenders Spencer Pigot and Matthew Brabham and alongside Scott Anderson. A slow start meant that Hindman dropped down in the order early before fighting back, but at a price.

“For the first several turns at VIR being on the inside (driver’s right) is a real advantage”, said Hindman. “I didn’t make a good start so I got freight trained by the inside line of cars. After the restart (for an opening lap incident) I settled in and started moving back toward the front, but I over drove the car and ran the tires off. In the end I was lucky to hang onto eighth.”

Eighth place was the start of the good news for Hindman, as his 1:50.982 sec. race lap was second quickest, meaning he would start Race 2 on the front row next to Race 1 winner Spencer Pigot. As Pigot charged off into the lead, Hindman battled with Wayne Boyd and Scott Hargrove for 2^nd. Boyd ultimately got the upper hand, taking 2^nd place while Hindman tied his career finish of third.

“I still had to start on the outside, but up a row from Race 1 made a big difference. I made a better start so instead of playing catch up I spent the race defending. Wayne got around me but I’m happy with third. It was nice to return to the podium. I missed it.”

Third was also enough to move Hindman into the Top 5 in the final championship standings.

“If you told me in March that after leaving Sebring 32^nd in points that I would finish in the Top 5 I wouldn’t have believed it. Dominic and Nick Cape gave me strong cars all year and I’ve learned so much… January and Winterfest can’t get here soon enough.”

Next Up
Trent Hindman will announce his plans in the next several weeks. Check www.usf2000.com and www.altemusprime.com for the latest updates. In the meantime, Hindman will be just another face in the crowd at Ocean Township High School, where his Senior year is under way.

Final Standings, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda
1. Matthew Brabham, 339 points
2. Spencer Pigot -7
3. Scott Anderson, -83
4. Matthew DiLeo, -119
5. Trent Hindman, -150

Trent Hindman

Wayside, N.J. – After a Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda rookie campaign that has seen its share of ups, downs and a lot of learning, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver Trent Hindman returns to a familiar track this weekend for the final two rounds of the 2012 season, Virginia International Raceway.

Charm City quickly turned into the mean streets of Baltimore for the Wayside, N.J. driver. Quick in the limited available practice time on the Inner Harbor circuit, Hindman started sixth but was knocked out of Race 1 after early contact with another car. Relegated to the back of the field for Race 2, Hindman drove a smart race, avoided trouble and brought is car home in 11th.

“Baltimore was not the weekend I was looking for”, said Hindman. “There was a quick full course caution at the start of the first race and my incident was on the first green flag lap after that. So not only was I out of the first race early, without a full green flag lap to set my qualifying position I ended up starting Race 2 from 24^th. Coming back to 11^th was a good result, but the weekend could have been so much more.”

Virginia International Raceway
Between the towns of Danville and Alton, Virginia and less than a mile from the North Carolina border sits Virginia International Raceway. Restored and reopened in 2000 after decades of inactivity, VIR hosts professional auto and motorcycle racing, club events and is a popular test location for NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams.

Hindman has a good history at Virginia International Raceway. Last year in Skip Barber National competition, Hindman scored a pair of Top 5 finishes at VIR, and at last week’s test, he was third in the morning session and quickest in the afternoon.

“I was surprised to see my name on the top of the time sheet in the afternoon session. I learned a lot during the morning session and the car felt really good but to run the quickest lap of the session was a nice bonus. I can’t wait to see what I can do when we go back this weekend.”

Drivers hit the track for their first official session of the weekend Thursday morning at 8:45 a.m. Eastern for Practice. Follow the action with Live Timing and Scoring at www.usf2000.com/livetiming, and semi-live on Twitter by following @altemus_prime.

Schedule, Rounds 13 and 14, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda
Virginia International Raceway, Alton, Va., 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course

Thursday, September 13
8:45 – 9:15 a.m., Practice
11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Practice
5:00 – 5:30 p.m., Qualifying

Friday, September 14
11:40a.m. – 12:10 p.m., Round 13, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda

Saturday, September 15
9:15 – 9:45 a.m., Round 14, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda

Trent Hindman exits Turn 1 at Baltimore

Wayside, N.J., September 3 – Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver Trent Hindman experienced the ups and downs of street racing at the penultimate rounds of the 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. After early contact knocked him out of Race 1, he regrouped and drove from the back to just miss a Top 10 finish.After several Indy cars were damaged by an existing railroad crossing during their opening practice, drivers and series officials decided to install a chicane on the front straight on the Inner Harbor circuit. The work delayed the sole scheduled Practice session for USF2000, so to help get drivers acclimated with the new layout, officials turned the scheduled qualifying session into a second practice and set the field for Race 1 by championship points.

The decision put Hindman sixth on the grid for Race 1 Saturday afternoon. After avoiding an opening lap dust-up and gaining a couple spots on the subsequent restart, Hindman made contact with the rear wing of Niel Alberico’s spun car in the Turn 4 hairpin, cutting Hindman’s left-rear tire, ultimately putting him into the wall at the next corner and out of the race.

“I had no place to go”, said a dejected Hindman. “I gave up the corner but he spun on the exit and he rolled back just enough to catch my right rear. The car felt fine until I turned left at the next corner, the tire went down and I found the wall”

Hindman was credited with a 25th place finish overall (15th in the Championship class) and and more importantly, like the season opener at Sebring, the lack of a representative race lap meant that Hindman would start Race 2 deep in the field. With the tight confines of the Inner Harbor circuit, he set a goal for himself of a Top 15 finish.

Driving a head’s up race, Hindman avoided incidents in front of him moving up to 12th place before a multi-car incident on the front straight in the closing laps ended the race behind the pace car. 12th place turned into 11th place after a post-race exclusion of another driver.

“The car felt great and I was getting more comfortable with it and the track as the race progressed. I just wish the race stayed green to the end; I might have been able to get into the Top 10. Still, after Race 1 , I was just happy to drive the car back to the paddock.”

With 15th and 11th place finishes, Trent Hindman loses a little ground to Roman Lagudi (four points to be exact) in the battle for the Top 5 in the USF2000 standings after 12 of 14 rounds.

Standings, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda
after 12 of 14 Rounds
1. Matthew Brabham, 307 points
2. Spencer Pigot -41
3. Scott Anderson, -67
4. Matthew DiLeo, -102
5. Roman Lagudi, -134
6. Trent Hindman, -153

Next up
The 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda wraps up In two weeks with a double-header at Virginia International Raceway the weekend of September 15-16.

Trent Hindman (image by John Hendrick, courtesy USF2000)

Wayside, N.J. – Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver Trent Hindman won’t have long to dwell over his Road America results, as he and the rest of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda field head to the Inner Harbor section of Baltimore, Md. for the penultimate rounds of the 2012 season, joining the IZOD IndyCar Series, American Le Mans Series and Star Mazda Championship for the 2^nd Annual Grand Prix of Baltimore.After putting together a string of  six Top 5 finishes, including his first USF2000 podium earlier in the month at Mid-Ohio and a fourth place in Race 1 at Road America, Races 2 and 3 at Road America were a bit of a stumble, as Hindman recorded sixth and eighth place finishes to close out the weekend.

“Road America didn’t go as we had hoped, but sometimes you have weekends like that”, said Hindman shortly after the event. “The best thing to do is not to dwell on it and look forward to the next race. I know that Dominic and Nick (team owners Dominic and Nick Cape) will have the car well prepared for this weekend.”

Streets of Baltimore
Envisioned as an east coast version of the Long Beach Grand Prix, the temporary street circuit in Baltimore packs a mixture of high speed straights, sweeping corners and an extremely tight hairpin into just over two miles of track, weaving around Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the Convention Center in the historic Inner Harbor section of downtown. In spite of a successful debut in 2011, there were questions about the event’s future before Andretti Sports Marketing took over promotion of the event earlier this year to ensure its future.

“I’ve been looking forward to Baltimore ever since we finished up at St. Pete in March and I’m glad they were able to bring the race back this year. I really enjoy the challenges that street circuits present and after the problems we had a Sebring, St. Pete was where my season really started.”

Drivers hit the track for their first official session of the weekend Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern for Practice. Follow the action with Live Timing and Scoring at www.usf2000.com/livetiming, and follow the action semi-live on Twitter by following @altemus_prime.

The Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda is also featured in the “Mazda Motorsports Hour” on the Discovery Velocity network. Highlights of the Baltimore of the USF2000 championship will be broadcast on Saturday, October 6^th at 12 p.m. Eastern. Check with your cable or satellite provider to see if you get Velocity.

Schedule, Rounds 11 and 12, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda
Streets of Baltimore, Md., 2.04-mile, 12-turn street circuit

Friday, August 31
8:00 – 8:30 a.m., Practice
1:15 – 1:45 p.m., Qualifying

Saturday, September 1
1:45 – 2:15 p.m., Round 11, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda

Sunday, September 2
10:35 – 11:15 a.m., Round 12, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda

Standings, 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda
after 10 of 14 Rounds
1. Matthew Brabham, 248 points
2. Spencer Pigot -14
3. Scott Anderson, -50
4. Matthew DiLeo, -82
5. Roman Lagudi, -90
6. Trent Hindman, -95