Canadian Karting Star Lorenzo Mandarino Signs with Northwest Autosport for 2007

Courtesy Eric McCombs

March 8, 2007. Portland, Oregon. Northwest Autosport announced that young Canadian driver Lorenzo Mandarino will join recently signed Northwest Autosport drivers Phil Fogg Jr. and Eric Freiberg for the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear and will be behind the wheel of the #38 Northwest Autosport Pro Formula Mazda for Round One at Sebring International Raceway.

Mandarino, from Vancouver, British Columbia, has been impressive wherever he has competed winning his first championship at the age of 10 in WKA karting. He has gone on to capture additional karting championships in the United States and Canada and has also found success behind the wheel of formula cars, capturing the 2003 Jim Russell Racing School Graduate Run-Offs and finishing second in the 2004 Skip Barber Run-Offs behind eventual series champion Gerardo Bonilla.

“Lorenzo participated in a test with us at Buttonwillow Raceway Park recently and we were very impressed with his speed and technical feedback,” commented Northwest Autosport team manager Mike Hernandez, “We are very pleased that we’ve been able to work out a way to get him into the third seat for our championship efforts alongside Eric Freiberg and Phil Fogg Jr. Sebring should be a very exciting race weekend for us.”

In a limited number of races in the Skip Barber National Championship Mandarino captured four victories and two second place finishes against the likes of Gerardo Bonilla and Marco Andretti before finances cut his 2004 season short. Without the budget to continue his open-wheel efforts, he focused on karting in 2005 and became the first Canadian driver to capture the SKUSA Supernational crown at Las Vegas.

In 2006, Mandarino participated in the Discovery Channel Canada Star Racer driver search program for the next fastest Canadian driver. Despite placing first in all time-trials, heat races and the main event, the scholarship to participate in the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear was awarded to another driver.

“Northwest Autosport has a history of putting fast cars onto the track and I’m excited to have the chance to test with them,” Mandarino said. “Hopefully the test will go well and I will continue to do all that I can to secure sponsorship to compete in the 2007 championship.”

Based in Milwaukie, Oregon, Northwest Autosport is one of the top teams participating in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, which will feature twelve races across the United States and Canada supporting the American Le Mans Series, ChampCar and the GrandAm series. The team is dedicated to developing young driving talent and will award the highest finishing driver on their team a test in an Indy Pro Series car prepared by Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which is currently running a car for Northwest Autosport alumni Ryan Justice. For more information please visit www.northwestautosport.com.