SEBRING, Fla. - Shannon McIntosh and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda officially opened the 2012 open-wheel racing season in support of the 60th Annual Mobile 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring this week with the first two rounds of USF2000 at Sebring International Raceway.

"Overall, we had a smooth weekend," said McIntosh, one of Mashable.com's 'Must-Follow Athletes on Social Media'.  "My main problem right now is I'm consistently going back to my instinctual habits of overdriving the car because of the style of racing I come from. It's a matter of breaking those old habits as I work with my driver coach, Mike Zimicki.  I'm very lucky to now be with Pabst Racing and with the help of Mike, we will conquer this learning curve quicker.  When we go back to the transporter and look at the data, it is very positive and part of my development is getting over these bumps in the road and continuing to move forward. The feeling of having an extremely supportive team behind me has been the missing piece for me and I can't say enough good things about the guys on my team this year."

McIntosh, a 22-year-old from Miamisburg, Ohio, was opening the 2012 season with a new partnership with TrueCar, creators of the new car pricing information website TrueCar.com, and under the umbrella of a new team in Pabst Racing Services.    The only female competitor in the USF2000 Championship Class, McIntosh took to the challenging 3.7-mile, 17-turn road course in a handful of practice sessions prior to the two race events, continually improving her lap times as she eased into the new season.

The sophomore "Mazda Road to Indy" driver rolled from Row 9 for the first race, finishing 15th and started from Row 8 during the second and final race of the weekend.  Her second race finish was hampered when she was spun in Turn 17 midway through the race.  Although she kept her car running and returned to competition with no damage to the car, she eventually finished 23rd while the race was ultimately called under yellow. 

McIntosh will return next weekend for a follow-up double-header race weekend, which will be contested on the Streets of St. Petersburg in support of the IZOD IndyCar Series' Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

"I'm really excited to look ahead to St. Pete and feel it fits my driving style really well," continued McIntosh, who is hosting The Grand Prix After Party in St. Pete after her race events to benefit the Dan Wheldon Family Trust. "We put the TrueCar Mazda back on the truck in once piece here in Sebring and that is a big positive heading into our next two races in my adopted hometown of St. Pete."

In addition to TrueCar, additional support on McIntosh's No. 18 program for 2012 is being provided by: CLEARBook, Fusion 1560 City Apartment Homes, TAG Heuer timepieces, Arai Helmets, Alpinestars, CrossFit9, Anytime Fitness St. Pete, U! Creative, and YogaBlu Studio.

Practice for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete begins on Thurs., Mar. 22 at 5:35 p.m. EDT.

Sanctioned by INDYCAR, the USF2000 National Championship, presented by Cooper Racing Tires and powered by Mazda, is one of three series of INDYCAR's "Mazda Road to Indy" ladder system and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver program.

For more information, please visit www.ShannonMcintosh.com or www.USF2000.com. 

About Shannon McIntosh:

Shannon McIntosh is a 22-year-old TrueCar-sponsored autoracing driver who competes in INDYCAR's 'Mazda Road to Indy' USF2000 National Championship Series, an important open-wheel stepping-stone to a career in the IZOD IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.  McIntosh began her racing career at age 5, and in 2011, was named as one of SEVENTEEN magazine's five "Pretty Amazing" girls.  Tech giant, Mashable.com, listed her among a taste-making group of seven "Must-Follow Athletes on Social Media" while TAG Heuer timepieces depicts McIntosh in their "Time for Rebels" campaign.  With over 17 years of racing experience under her belt ranging from USAC midgets to formula cars, McIntosh is the recipient of the 2006 "DARF Asphalt Driver of the Year" in the USAC Ford Focus Midget Series as well being awarded the Kara Hendrick Memorial Scholarship while attending the Lyn St. James Driver Development Program. McIntosh has been a guest or profiled on a variety of platforms including, MTV's The Seven, MTV News, E! News, SportsIllustrated.com, USA Today, Just Jared, Jr., ESPN.com, AOL.com, Girl's Life Magazine, and TLC's Sarah Palin's Alaska, among others. For more information, please visit, http://www.shannonmcintosh.com, http://www.twitter.com/shannon_mac, or http://www.facebook.com/shannmcintosh.  

About TrueCar, Inc.:

TrueCar, Inc. is an automotive solutions provider focused on changing how cars are sold by providing a significantly better customer experience while helping qualified dealer partners gain incremental market share and reduce costs.  TrueCar is a visual publisher of new car transaction data.  TrueCar price reports help both dealers and consumers agree on the parameters of a fair deal by providing an accurate, comprehensive and simple understanding of what others actually paid recently for an identically-equipped vehicle both locally and nationally.  TrueCar works with a national network of dealers that provides a no-hassle car buying experience, and in many cases a highly competitive upfront price, to assist some of the nation's largest and most well respected membership and service organizations to meet the auto buying needs of their members and customers.  TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA and has offices in San Francisco, CA and Austin, TX.  With 131 percent annual growth since 2006, TrueCar has connected hundreds of thousands of consumers with dealers nationwide resulting in the sale of over 400,000 vehicles and is developing a suite of products and services centered on radical clarity through the comprehensive analysis of market data and information. You can follow TrueCar on Twitter and become a fan of TrueCar on Facebook. For more information, please visit www.TrueCar.com.