MINNEAPOLIS – During each of the last two years, Afterburner Autosport has won races in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and the team will renew that chase this coming weekend as they are focused on beginning a run of momentum that will roll into the 2016 season. With two events remaining on the 2015 schedule, the team will return to the popular Mazda Road to Indy series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with two young series rookies in American driver Jack Mitchell and British pilot Sennan Fielding. The freshmen competitors are both focused on sampling the series and gaining experience with the focus on running full-time in the program in 2016.
“We are excited to officially announce our return to the USF2000 Championship and I’m thrilled that we have two impressive young competitors running our cars at Mid-Ohio,” enthused Tim Walsh, Afterburner Autosport Team Principal. “We’ve pressed the reset button on our program and the focus is on giving Sennan and Jack the opportunity to get familiar with the series and the USF2000 car. Mid-Ohio is a perfect venue for them and the tripleheader format for this weekend will give them significant experience when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing.”
Fielding comes to the United States from the MSA Formula series in England, where he currently sits in the fifth position in the overall point standings, having won his first race at Oulton Park in June to begin a streak of five top-five finishes. The 19-year-old from Chesterfield, Great Britain has been racing for eight years, getting his start in UK karting before graduating into the Ginetta Junior championship, scoring five wins over a two-year run in 2011 and 2012. Sennan moved to the BRDC F4 series in 2013 and in 2014, and in his second year in the program he scored four wins and finished third overall in the championship standings. He’s also tested and raced in Formula Renault 2.0 and Italian F4.
A sophomore at Marquette University, Mitchell entered motorsports through indoor karting and then transitioned into competitive outdoor open-wheel racing through the Skip Barber Racing School. The 19-year-old from Chicago, Illinois ran in the 2011 Skip Barber Winter Series and finished fourth overall with four victories, winning the Most Improved Driver award in the process. Jack then campaigned the ultra-competitive Toyo Tires F1600 series in Canada in 2012, finishing third overall with one win and six podiums en route to Rookie of the Year honors. He also ran the Skip Barber Summer Series and won six races before being chosen for the Team USA Scholarship, which took him to the Ford Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, where he would finish a strong fifth. Mitchell then finish tenth overall in the Walter Hayes Trophy event at Silverstone. Jack would go on to win the Canadian F1600 series in 2013 and then came back south of the border in 2014 to run in the F1600 Championship Series, where he finished fourth overall. Mitchell has run a pair of events in the series this year, winning at Road Atlanta.
Afterburner Autosport is primed and ready for the 12th,13th and 14th rounds of the 2015 Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda. The team will begin the weekend with three test sessions on Thursday, and will then have a busy day on Friday with practice (8:00 am ET) qualifying (12:15 pm ET) and Race 1 (4:45 pm ET). Afterburner’s freshmen pilots will be back on-track on Saturday to cap off their weekend with the running of Race 2 at 9:50 am ET and Race 3 at 6:00 pm ET. Team followers can tune into live play-by-play and live timing by downloading the new ‘Road to Indy’ app in iTunes or the Google Play store. You can also follow through the series website –www.usf2000.com.
The team still has two additional race-ready cars that are available for the series finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in September. These cars are prepped and ready to race for drivers looking to gain experience in the USF2000 program for 2016, whether it is through a focused testing program and in official series action. Drivers interested in these seats should contact Tim Walsh directly.
AFTERBURNER AUTOSPORT DRIVER INFORMATION
Jack Mitchell Jr.- #18 (Red)
Age: 19
Residence: Chicago, IL
Social Media:
Website: jackmitchelljrracing.com/
Facebook: jackmitchelljrracing
Twitter: @JackMitchell80
Instagram: @jackmitchell80
Driver Quote: “I cannot wait to get things started this weekend with Afterburner Autosport at Mid-Ohio for my first USF2000 race. I've had my eyes on the Mazda Road to Indy throughout my racing career and I am honored to be working with a team that has had so much success. I look forward to getting out on-track on Thursday at one of my favorite tracks and hopefully putting on a good show for the fans.”
Sennan Fielding - #17 (Green)
Age: 19
Residence: Chesterfield, Great Britain
Social Media:
Website: sennanfielding.com
Facebook: Sennan-Fielding
Twitter: @SennanFielding
Instagram: @sennanfielding
Driver Quote: “I'm really excited to get the opportunity from Afterburner Autosport to race here in the United States and to make my USF2000 debut at Mid-Ohio! I think it's going to be a challenge, but I'm sure that the team’s going to put a competitive car underneath me and I'm sure we can get some strong results.”
About Afterburner Autosport:
Afterburner Autosport was formed in 2010 with the sole purpose of leading the way in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda competition. Under the guidance of former F2000 racer and engineer Tim Walsh, the team has over 20 years of experience in open-wheel competition and can field up to four cars in competition. The squad, which is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has continually developed and grown since joining the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and has multiple series victories, finishing fifth overall in the series championship in 2014.