Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear Alumni are Showing Up on Podiums Across the Globe

March 30th, 2011
Sonoma, CA



Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear (FCC) Alumni are showing up all over the map, and winning some very serious races and championships. Here's where you'll find them in 2011, and what they have accomplished so far.

Michael Guasch and Dane Cameron won the 59th Annual 12 Hours of Sebring, after a record breaking qualifying time by Cameron. For the balance of 2011 Guasch is expected to contest the British GT Championship in the GT3 category, and to race select FCC races. Guasch has raced in the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear since 2005, and has a large collection of pole awards and wins to his credit.

Cameron is committed to the #41 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 GT for the 2011 Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series. Cameron raced in the FCC Indy GP of Sonoma event in 2010, and won both races in the Pro FM category.

Jorge Goncalvez, who won the 2009 FCC Winter Series Championship in the Pro FM class, has moved up into Indy Lights for 2011. Goncalvez recently competed at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix and finished 11th.

Neil Alberico competed in select Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear races in 2010 in the Pro FM, and FM categories. He has since moved to the United Kingdom to compete in the very competitive British FF1600 series. In his first race of the season he secured the pole position, and won the race by 11 seconds. Alberico won the Bondurant Championship and was nominated for the Team USA Scholarship in 2010.

Cole Morgan and Juan Piedrahita, who both ran select races in the 2010 Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear, are committed to the USF2000 series for 2011. Morgan is currently 7th in the standings, and Piedrahita is 9th.

Patrick O'Neill, the 2010 FCC NASA National Champion in the Pro Formula Mazda class, has jumped into the 2011 Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship. In his first race of the season at Sebring International Raceway he finished 5th. O'Neill has won multiple championships, and countless races in the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear in his Pro Formula Mazda.

After two years of racing in the US in the Star Mazda Series, the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear, and the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series, Adam Christodoulou has gone home to the UK to compete in the 2011 Le Mans Series behind the wheel of a Ferrari 430. Christodoulou won the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear Uncorked event at Mazda Raceway in 2009.

Chris Cumming won the 2007 FCC West Coast Pro FM Championship, and went on to win two back-to-back Star Mazda championships. In 2010 he entered the IMSA GT3 Challenge, and finished on the podium four times finishing 4th overall in the championship. Cumming is committed to the IMSA Challenge for the 2011 season.

Doug Peterson, a long time competitor in the FCC, is competing in the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear FM class in the South East Region for 2011. Peterson has won the Ferrari Challenge, the SCCA Runoffs, and countless races in a variety of cars. In 2011 he is expected to do select races in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series in the GT, and DP classes.

Taylor Hacquard, who was on the FCC podium multiple times in 2007, moved from the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear into the Star Mazda series and now competes in a MAZDASPEED3 in the Continental Tire series. He's a prime example of what a young driver can achieve on Mazda's ladder. Hacquard also has also been doing select endurance events including this year's 24 Hours of Daytona in a Mazda RX8.

In 2010 Ashley Freiberg joined a selected group of drivers in Skip Barber Racing history to win two series titles in the same season. Freiberg also captured two main events in the MX5 Cup for Mazda sedans and was nominated for the Team USA Scholarship in 2010. Freiberg competed in the FM class in the Formula Car Challenge in 2007. Freiberg recently tested with Andretti Autosport and has not announced 2011 plans yet.

"We are proud of all of our racers, as this is a very difficult sport." noted Series Official Ben Hettema. "When these drivers move up and go and win a world class event like Sebring that just makes all the hard work we do worth it. We hope to have more of our alumni take some serious wins this season, and having watched them up close and personal I know it's going to happen."

Racers have been using the FCC as a springboard to pro racing since 2005, and many of them continue to race in the series in between their pro events. Racing in the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is very cost effective was to stay competitive.

More information: www.FormulaCarChallenge.com
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