|
 |
|
 |
| February 17, 2011 News |
| Indy Lights: Daly to Run Road Courses with Sam Schmidt Motorsports |
 | Conor Daly will race in both European and North America in 2011
(Photo: GP2 Series Media Services) |
Junior formula car rising star Conor Daly will be doing double duty behind the wheel in 2011, with the American racing in both Europe and North America this coming season. As part of an intensive program to showcase his racing talents, Daly will contest the entire GP3 Series schedule, as well as non-conflicting Firestone Indy Lights road course events.
Daly, son of former Formula One and IndyCar racer Derek Daly, will continue his march up the motorsports ladder in 2011, competing in two of the premier junior formula car series. In his on-going pursuit of a career in Formula One, the Indiana driver will make the transition to full-time European competition this season - having previously won the prestigious Walter Hayes Trophy race as a Team USA scholarship driver - joining English-based Carlin in the highly-competitive GP3 Series. That however will not be Daly's sole focus behind the wheel, as the highly rated young racer will also join defending series champion Sam Schmidt Motorsports for the road course races on the Indy Lights calendar that don't conflict with his GP3 campaign. The North American portion of his 2011 race program is part of the Mazda Road to Indy program, the result of Daly winning the 2010 Star Mazda Championship.
"I'm extremely pleased to have all the plans worked out for 2011," stated Daly. "It's taken a lot of work and I'm extremely thankful to everyone at Mazda who spent a great deal of time making sure my program was in order. It really shows how dedicated Mazda is to their ladder drivers. With the significant changes to the ladder system in 2010, Mazda still stayed devoted to supporting their champions. I'm honored to have the support of Mazda for the 2011 season and beyond.
"I’m delighted to be with Carlin in GP3," the American continued. "The team have an amazing reputation in Europe and I know I will be in good hands with them this year. GP3 will be a big challenge; almost all the circuits will be a new experience for me, but I think that with the advice and help of the team I will have all the ingredients I need to challenge for good results from the outset. I’d like to thank Mazda for their continued support in enabling me to race in such a high profile series in Europe.”
"Conor is a very welcome addition to our team in 2011," commented Carlin team boss Trevor Carlin. "He has displayed great talent in America and we were extremely impressed with him during GP3 testing last year. This season will be a tough learning curve for him, but he has the ability and attitude to be able to turn whatever challenges he faces this season into success."
"The past two-and-a-half years has presented enormous business challenges for drivers, manufacturers, and race series," noted John Doonan, MAZDASPEED Motorsports Team Development Manager. "Conor has done an outstanding job of delivering the goods both on-track, and off-track to his business supporters. As we transition into the Mazda Road to Indy beginning with the 2011 season, we needed to make sure that Conor could take a step up in his career, while meeting everyone’s business objectives. Thanks to Mazda, the people at INDYCAR, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and Carlin, Conor should have an outstanding year.”
The 19 year-old Daly will make his GP3 Series debut during official pre-season testing on March 3-4, at the Circuit Paul Ricard in southern France. This will be followed by official Indy Lights testing at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama on March 16, as part of the INDYCAR Spring Training program. Daly's planned five race 2011 Indy Lights campaign will get underway on March 27, with Round One on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The 2011 GP3 Series season gets underway on May 7-8, with Rounds One and Two at Istanbul Park in Turkey.
To keep up to date with the 2011 Indy Lights entry list, please visit the EFCN Tentative Entry List discussion thread HERE |
|
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
