i-MOTO Racing Returns to Grand Am Competition with Mazda
Feb 17, 2010 - CORAL SPRINGS, FL - After a one-year hiatus, i-MOTO Racing returns to the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series to campaign brand new SpeedSource-built MAZDASPEED3’s in ST competition.
Feb 17, 2010 - CORAL SPRINGS, FL - After a one-year hiatus, i-MOTO Racing returns to the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series to campaign brand new SpeedSource-built MAZDASPEED3’s in ST competition. Series newcomer Taylor Hacquard and veteran touring champion Pierre Kleinubing will drive the team’s #31 Cobalt Friction Mazda, and team owner Glenn Bocchino and MAZDASPEED driver Todd Lamb will share the #32 Cybernation Mazda. Additional cars are planned as the season progresses.
i-MOTO Racing enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in Grand Am previous years, winning races as recently as 2008 in the ST class with Acura TSX’s. The team believes the move to the MAZDASPEED3 with involvement from Mazda and SpeedSource will bring further success. Team owner Glenn Bocchino explains “Mazda has been a very successful brand both on and off the track. We’re excited to become part of the Mazda family and that is reflected in our enthusiasm to race these new Speed3’s. We’re looking forward to helping Mazda win the manufacturer’s championship, and with a little luck we’ll be in the hunt for a driver’s championship as well.”
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Driver Taylor Hacquard, from White Rock, British Columbia, Canada, will turn 20 just days before his first race with the team the first weekend of March. The open-wheel standout ran the Star Mazda series the previous two seasons, after getting his start in the Starts of Karting series. Website www.taylorhacquard.com.
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Hacquard’s co-driver, Pierre Kleinubing, is fresh off winning his fifth World Challenge Touring Car Championship. Kleinubing, from Coconut Creek, FL, has won numerous championships in front wheel drive cars throughout his racing career and has plenty of racing experience in the ST class. Pierre also got his start in karting, winning three championships in Brazil.
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Glenn Bocchino put i-MOTO on hold for a season while he competed in the GS class in 2009 with Kinetic Motorsports. Bocchino explains: “In early January all the pieces of the puzzle came together to resurrect i-MOTO and race the new MAZDASPEED3. After multiple conference calls, it took just a few days to make the decision to go forward with a multi-year program. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this excited about racing, I am looking forward to be part of the Mazda family!”
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Todd Lamb pairs up with Bocchino for the duo’s second season as co-drivers. In 2009 they had a best finish of second at Mazda Raceway in the GS class. Lamb, from Atlanta, GA, was the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series champion in 2009, and is driving for MAZDASPEED this season in the #30 Rolex GT RX-8 along with his ST duties. Website www.toddlamb.com.
i-MOTO is returning with longtime Crew Chief Tom Badger, as well as many of the crew members from 2008. The crew is looking forward to the challenge of learning new cars, as well as the camaraderie they experienced working as a team in the past.
Tom Badger: “We’ve got a lot of our old crew returning, and a few new additions. It feels like the Blues Brothers ‘getting the band back together’. We have a solid front wheel drive platform to work with in the Speed3, and our close relationship with SpeedSource will be a huge asset to getting up to speed quickly with the new cars. Homestead can’t come soon enough.”
i-MOTO officially returns to action at Homestead-Miami Speedway March 4-6 for the Homestead 200. The race will be televised on SPEED March 13th at 1pm ET. Live timing and scoring is available Saturday March 6th for the start of the race at 1:15pm ET on www.grand-am.com.
Race weekend live updates: www.twitter.com/toddspeed
About:
i-MOTO Racing website: www.i-motoracing.com
Technical partners:
Cybernation www.cybernation.net
Cobalt Friction www.cobaltfriction.com
Sparco www.sparcousa.com
Mazda www.mazdausa.com
SpeedSource www.speedsourceinc.com
OZ Wheels www.ozracing.com
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