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 Stars 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
Team website: www.i-motoracing.com
Race weekend live updates: www.twitter.com/toddspeed
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
Posted by Todd on 02/17 at 06:45 PM
Rookie Report from SPEEDtv.com: Rolex24 Recap
February 3, 2010 - ATLANTA, GA - As a racer, you have to accept that some things you can control, and some things you can’t. This weekend during the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, some things that we couldn’t control took their toll on our race.
For the remainder of the article, please visit the following link:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/lamb-a-tough-rolex-debut/
Posted by Todd on 02/04 at 05:19 PM
Rookie Report from SPEEDtv.com: Rolex GT Announcement
January 30, 2010 - ATLANTA, GA - This is an exciting time in my life. Ten years ago I was pursuing my dream in the automotive industry as a mechanical engineer working on safety equipment. Five years ago I was pursuing my entrepreneurial dream as a successful magazine publisher. Now I’m pursuing the dream of every boy who ever laid his hands on a Hotwheels car – I drive racecars for a living.
For the remainder of the article, please visit the following link:
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/rolex-24-todd-lambs-rookie-report1/
Posted by Todd on 02/04 at 05:05 PM
Racers Edge Signs Jordan Taylor and Todd Lamb for Rolex GT in 2010
January 25, 2010 - Deland, FL - After successful pre-season testing in the #30 Mazda RX-8, Racers Edge Motorsports signed young star Jordan Taylor and MAZDASPEED driver Todd Lamb to drive for the team in the Grand Am Rolex GT Series in 2010.
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Racers Edge is based in DeLand, FL and run by team owner Jon Mirachi, who formed the team in 1990. The team has enjoyed a long standing relationship with Mazda, and the two drivers have an ideal background for the team.
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Jordan is the 18 year-old son of Wayne Taylor, who got his start driving Mazdas in South Africa and won an IMSA championship with Jim Downing in a Mazda Kudzu. Jordan has previous experience in Daytona Prototypes as well as the Racers Edge RX-8, proving that driving ability can indeed be hereditary. Jordan, from Orlando, FL, is currently attending UCF for his mechanical engineering degree.
Jordan Taylor: “I’m really happy that I will be with Racers Edge in the Mazda RX-8 alongside Todd for my first full season of Grand-Am competition. The car and team showed speed all throughout last year, week in and week out. I was a bit all over the place in 2009, racing 3 different DP’s, a GT car, and some open wheel; so I am looking forward to being able to focus on one thing, which is running for the GT championship.”
Todd, from Atlanta, GA, comes to Racers Edge for his rookie season in Rolex GT as part of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder Program. By virtue of winning the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series in 2009, Lamb is receiving support from Mazda which is assisting him in reaching his goals in racing. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from GMI/Kettering and is a successful entrepreneur.
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Todd Lamb: “This opportunity with Mazda is a dream come true - it is nice to see a manufacturer provide a ladder program that assists racers in moving up to the professional ranks. I am looking forward to racing with Racers Edge in the RX-8. Testing in Daytona for the 24 Hours has gone really well, and Jordan and I have a similar driving style so we are working well together. We feel like we are in a good position to help Mazda win the manufacturer’s championship in GT.”
The duo will be sharing driving duties with Jade Buford and Glenn Bocchino during their debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona this Saturday. The season starts with live coverage on SPEED channel at 3pm EDT on January 30th.
Follow the team’s progress on Twitter during the 24 Hours at twitter.com/toddspeed
Posted by Todd on 01/25 at 09:10 PM
Todd Lamb Sets Records to Win Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship
October 9, 2009 – ATLANTA, GA – Fresh off another pole and win in Round 9, Todd Lamb of Atlanta, GA wrapped up the season championship in SCCA Pro’s Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series at Virginia International Raceway this past weekend. The pole was Lamb’s 7th of the season, and the win was his 8th straight, setting records for the number of poles (7), consecutive poles (5), wins and consecutive wins (8).
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Lamb, driving for Atlanta Motorsports Group (AMG), had a substantial points lead heading into the doubleheader weekend of Rounds 9 & 10 at VIR. The pole and win in the Round 9 on Saturday extended Lamb’s points lead, allowing him to simply take the green and get to the halfway point of the final race on Sunday to clinch the championship. However, things would get very exciting in Round 10.
Lamb was the victim of an incident during the first lap, requiring him to pit twice under a full course yellow for repairs to his Luna-C/Traqmate Mazda. Fortunately, the MX-5 suffered only minor damage and a tire rub. Quick work by the AMG crew to pound out a fender and replace the right-rear tire allowed Lamb to restart the race without losing a lap, albeit in last place. Within 6 laps, Lamb worked his way through the field and into the lead, at about the same time the race reached the halfway mark and he clinched the championship. With two laps to go another car lost control at the end of the back straightaway and sent Lamb into the tire wall, ending his race.
However, as expected, Lamb remained positive about the weekend: “Despite missing the first race of the year, I came into the MX-5 series with the goal of winning the championship using my extensive racing experience. This weekend our primary focus was the big picture, so to even get another pole and win on Saturday was just icing on the cake.”
Lamb continued: “The championship was won with the hard work we put into winning races all season. I owe the crew a lot for getting the repairs done in the last race without losing a lap. I had a very exciting run from last to first after the restart, so we proved we were there to run for the win even with the championship on the line.
As a team, we exceeded our goals for the season with the number of wins and poles – I’m very proud of AMG for everything we accomplished this year. It is even more rewarding to know that we did it with a Mazda that was proven time and again to be 100% legal, passing an engine teardown, 3 days of tech on the entire car, and 4 protests from other teams.
It was great working with Jason Hoover on setup. As a mechanical engineer I like to take a hands-on approach to dialing in the car – Jason and I shared a very similar viewpoint on how to get the most out of the car for a given track, and that synergy was certainly a key factor in our success.”
As part of the rewards for winning the championship, Lamb will race a Mazda in 2010 as a Mazdaspeed driver in the professional racing ranks. Specific plans will be announced at the Performance Racing Industry Show in December, or shortly thereafter as Mazda planning is completed.
Lamb commented: “I look forward to representing Mazda as a driver next season in the next step of the Mazdaspeed Driver Development Ladder. While plans have yet to be announced, it would be an honor to be a part of the Mazda family in any series - every vehicle that Mazda puts on the racetrack is a winner!”
In-car video highlights from the final race are available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0KW2ZiLaio
Lamb can be followed on Twitter @toddspeed, and additional information is online at www.toddlamb.com.
MX-5 Partners:
AMG (team) - www.atlantamotorsportsgroup.com
Traqmate (data acquisition) - www.traqmate.com
Luna-C Racing (race inspired clothing) - www.lunacracing.com
Posted by Todd Lamb on 10/09 at 12:26 PM
