IRVINE, California — Conor Daly has spent the past three years racing with Mazda, winning two championships along the way. For 2011 Conor will showcase his talents as a part of both the newly created Mazda Road to Indy with Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and in the European GP3 series.
“The past two-and-a-half years has presented enormous business challenges for drivers, manufacturers, and race series. Conor has done an outstanding job of delivering the goods both on-track, and off-track to his business supporters. As we transition into the Mazda Road to Indy beginning with the 2011 season we needed to make sure that Conor could take a step up in his career, while meeting everyone’s business objectives. Thanks to Mazda, the people at INDYCAR, Sam Schmidt Motorsports, and Carlin, Conor should have an outstanding year,” noted John Doonan, MAZDASPEED Motorsports Team Development Manager.
Conor enthused, "I'm extremely pleased to have all the plans worked out for 2011. It's taken a lot of work and I'm extremely thankful to everyone at Mazda who spent a great deal of time making sure my program was in order. It really shows how dedicated Mazda is to their ladder drivers. With the significant changes to the ladder system in 2010, Mazda still stayed devoted to supporting their champions. I'm honored to have the support of Mazda for the 2011 season and beyond."
Conor will race the entire GP3 season with Carlin, and non-conflicting road-course dates in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Team releases will be issued with additional program details.
CONOR DALY 2011 MAZDASPEED Schedule
Date Series Location
March 27 FIL St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
April 10 FIL Barber Motorsports Park, Alabama, USA
April 17 FIL Long Beach, California, USA
May 8 GP3 Istanbul Park, Turkey
May 22 GP3 Barcelona, Spain
June 26 GP3 Valencia, Spain
July 10 GP3 Silverstone, England
July 24 GP3 Nurburging, Germany
July 31 GP3 Hungaroring, Hungary
Aug 7 FIL Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Canada
Aug 28 GP3 Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
Sept 4 FIL Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Sept 11 GP3 Monza, Italy
CONOR DALY MAZDASPEED Ladder History
BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda
2008 Series Champion with five race wins
Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear
2009 3rd Place with one race win
2010 Series Champion with seven race wins
Mazda launched their MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder in 2006. Since then, they have funded 26 seasons of racing in both sports cars and open-wheel series. Mazda will provide a complete ladder update and announce other 2011 motorsports plans at their fifth annual pre-season media gathering on Tuesday, March 1st in Irvine, California.
ABOUT MAZDA
On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas on the road-race tracks of America than any other brand of vehicle. At the track, you’ll see MX-5 Miata, RX-8, Mazda2, Mazda3, Mazda6, RX-7 and other vintage Mazda models competing, because every Mazda has the Soul of a Sports Car. In fact, the largest road-racing class in the world is Spec Miata, with more than 2,500 first- and second-generation Miatas tearing up America’s racetracks, making it the most-raced production car in the world. Mazda’s involvement in motorsports extends to its relationship with Laguna Seca">Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, one of the world’s premier road-racing circuits, the Skip Barber Schools for driving and racing, and the Mazda Road to Indy.
Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico through nearly 900 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada, Inc., located in Ontario; and in Mexico by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.
