World Speed Motorsports is headed into another big season. The team will be back in the Star Mazda Championship full time in 2008 with the same team of mechanics and engineers that have brought them so many championships in the past.
“We plan on running three cars, and expect to be vying for Rookie of the Year and the Team and Driver championships,” stated Team Owner Telo Stewart. “Our entire operation has grown ten-fold, and we have retained all our key team members from the 2006 championship-winning effort. The whole team is looking forward to another run at the championship.” World Speed has already announced that they will be running Canadian racer Taylor Hacquard and is expecting to make additional driver announcements in the upcoming weeks.
World Speed is also planning to compete in the Formula Mazda Challenge (FMC) which is open to Pro Formula Mazdas, Standard Formula Mazdas, and the SCCA FE car which is powered by Mazda. This series will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area and will feature a majority of races at Infineon Raceway with a couple of stops at Thunderhill and a feature event at Mazda Raceway. “With 25 cars in our stable, an additional 15 independent Standard Mazdas, plus the FE cars we expect the FMC races to be very well attended,” noted Operations Manager Mark Milazzo.
The Star Mazda West Coast Series which is open to Pro Formula Mazdas will feature races with NASA, Champ Car, and the American LeMans Series at Infineon Raceway, Portland International Raceway, Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, and Miller Motorsports Park. It is expected that a half dozen World Speed drivers will participate in this series, and multiple outside teams and individuals have shown interest in gunning for this championship in 2008.
Detailed schedules for all the series will be released soon along with series sponsorship details. The WSM team has been staying sharp testing and racing in the usual off-season, and scored both poles and three podium spots in the first double race weekend of the Star Mazda Winter Series. Over the past few weeks World Speed Motorsports has also tested both of the 2007 WSM Rising Star Award winners. Michael Self tested at Buttonwillow Raceway Park, while Joel Miller took advantage of his free test at Infineon Raceway. Both drivers proved to have been excellent choices and performed as expected at the tests. The team is loading up the rig and heading down to Arizona early next week for the second race weekend of the Star Mazda Winter Series at Firebird Raceway December 8th-9th. Then the team heads back to headquarters for two more test days prior to Christmas. Right after New Year’s the team will be testing at Sebring, Infineon, and then it is on to Phoenix International Raceway to close the winter season.