Andretti Autosports Enters Formula Car Challenge

VEACH SET TO COMPETE IN FORMULA CAR CHALLENGE AT INFINEON RACEWAY
by ZACH VEACH on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at 1:09pm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VEACH SET TO COMPETE IN FORMULA CAR CHALLENGE AT INFINEON RACEWAY
Zach Veach Entered In California Winter Series Event This Weekend


SONOMA, CA (November 9, 2011) – Andretti Autosport announced today that they have entered “Mazda Road to Indy” driver Zach Veach in the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear Winter Series. Veach just capped his USF2000 National Championship season while also competing in two Star Mazda Championship events in late 2011.

“Coming off a successful test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I’m really looking forward to this opportunity to compete in this winter series,” said Veach. “The West coast always has a lot of great talent so I’m excited to compete with the series regulars and do my best to put in a great result for Andretti Autosport and INDYCAR.”

The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is a regionalized open-wheel racing series with an annual national championship. Once a year, the regions meet for the NASA National Championships, which features a multi-class format; Formula Mazda (FM), Pro Formula Mazda (PFM), and the FormulaSPEED2.0 (FS2.0). All classes are powered by Mazda, and equipped with Goodyear Racing tires.

Veach will be competing behind the wheel of his No. 77 Zakosi Data Backup Mazda in the PRO Formula Mazda (PFM) category with additional support from: The Young Marines, Replay XD, Retail Pro, ArtRotando.com, ADS IT Solutions, Arai Helmets and OMP Racing.

Named by ESPN The Magazine as a NEXT athlete in the motorsports space, Veach has one previous start at Infineon Raceway where he qualified eighth and finished seventh in his first ever Star Mazda race event. He followed up that result with a fourth-place qualifying effort and a third place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in just his second Star Mazda event.

Before cutting his teeth in Star Mazda, Veach spent two seasons in USF2000. Andretti Autosport signed the sixteen-year-old in February 2010, much later than the rest of the field, after Veach had planned to compete in the Atlantic Championship Series before the series seized operations. With the late addition to the series, Veach missed out on the first two rounds of the USF2000 schedule on the Streets of St. Petersburg, before going on to finish fifth in series’ points.

In 2011, Veach took two race wins and three pole positions to capture the inaugural Cooper Tires presents the USF2000 Winterfest Championship and opened his first full-season in USF2000 with a win from the pole position at Sebring International Raceway. Veach impressively finished within the top-10 in all of his races this season in USF2000, which led to his team, Andretti Autosport, capturing the team championship.

Veach will not be the first “Mazda Road to Indy” driver to compete in the Formula Car Challenge (FCC) as a training ground prior to regular season competition. The 2011 Star Mazda overall champion Tristan Vautier and the 2009 overall champion Adam Christodoulou both competed in the FCC during their championship winning seasons.

The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear Winter Series starts with an exclusive double header race weekend on November 12th and 13th with practicing beginning on November 11th at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. At press time, the event includes 18 driver entries.

To follow along with on-track activity, please visit http://www.formulacarchallenge.com/.

For a post-race recap of Veach’s experience in the Formula Car Challenge, he will blog about his two-race experience in his exclusive RACER magazine blog, which can be found at http://www.Racer.com.

About Formula Car Challenge:
The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is a multiple-region series with an annual NASA sanctioned national championship. The series features a multi-class format. All classes are powered by Mazda, and equipped with Goodyear Racing tires.The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is a stepping stone series for up-and-coming racers, as well as a race series for serious enthusiasts. Graduates have won the Sebring 12 Hour, the Star Mazda Championship, and competed in Indy Lights. For more information, please visit www.FormulaCarChallenge.com.

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