Ft. Worth, TX - Swan Motorsports is pleased to announce that Max Mällinen will be driving for its Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda team in 2015. Mällinen is a 16-year-old professional race car driver who competed in the 2014 F1600 Championship Series that marked his first full season in race cars.
“I worked with Max last year, in his first full season of car racing, driving the F1600 car," said Mirl Swan, President of Swan Motorsports. "At the start of last season, I kept having to remind myself that Max was only 15-years-old, and only learned to drive a car with a manual transmission just a couple months before he was racing! He’s quick, intelligent and very motivated. He came very close to winning the SCCA Runoffs in only his ninth ever race start. And watching him change the lead back and forth a few times with Verizon Indycar driver Joesf Newgarden at last year’s FF Festival made me realize that very little intimidates him. He made great strides as a racing driver in 2014. I’m sure that he’ll carry that momentum from last year, and continue his development against some great drivers and teams in the 2015 USF2000 Series.”
Mällinen has competed in national and international series. During his time in karts, he won three championships, and just last season he had 17 wins, 15 poles and 23 podiums.
“I am excited to continue my relationship with Swan Motorsports," said Mällinen. "They are one of the hardest working teams in the business. Mirl has always given me a quick car right out of the box. Testing with Mirl and Alex Barron last year was invaluable. Working with them once again will make for a great season.”
Mällinen will be testing with the team in the next few weeks in preparation for the Cooper Tires Winterfest in late February. Swan is confident in their future together.
“I’m looking forward to working with Max in his freshman season of USF2000. We’ll be testing more in Texas next week. I can assure you that our team is as excited as Max is about starting his Mazda Road to Indy development program. Dan Andersen and his team have created a lot of momentum within each level of the Mazda Road to Indy, and the Verizon Indycar Series has a lot of exciting developments ahead. It’s a great time for a driver and a team to be part of the program.”
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About Swan Motorsports:
Established in 2002, Swan Motorsports is a championship-winning team based at the Texas Motorsport Ranch race track near Ft. Worth, Texas. Swan Motorsports has won six Formula Atlantic National Championships, two CSR National Championships, one C2 Pro Atlantic Championship, one Pro Formula Atlantic Challenge Championship and five SCCA Triple Crowns. Team Owner, Mirl Swan, has won several championships in karting and Formula Atlantic as a driver before switching his focus to team management and driver development. In 2001, Swan was a crew chief for the championship-winning Dorricott Indy Lights team.