Sitting in second place and looking at an uphill battle in the final race of the season, Molecule Racing’s Adam Christodoulou drove a flawless race in the #11 Molecule Labs / Miller Milling / Alpinestarts / JDC MotorSports Pro Formula Mazda to close out the season with a victory at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and captured the championship as fellow championship contender Peter Dempsey retired from the event with a mechanical failure.
“We came into the weekend in a bit of a hole but we never gave up and the whole team kept pressing on throughout the weekend,” Adam explained. “We had built up a large enough points lead that a minimum of second place was guaranteed so I could focus all my efforts on attacking for the victory and doing everything possible to climb the podium. As I came out of that last corner I could see my team hanging over the wall waving me home and I was screaming in the radio as I crossed the finish line to take the title. It’s the best feeling in the world, knowing that you’ve completed something you have been working so hard for all year long”
The chase to the championship would be a battle throughout the weekend, with Saturday morning’s qualifying session being a microcosm of the entire season as Christodoulou and Demspey dueled back and forth for the pole position with first Adam on top before Dempsey grabbed the spot on the final lap by 0.02 seconds.
“Things had been looking really well in qualifying as my teammate Alex Ardoin and I were exchanging fast laps and as time was winding down I was on top of the charts,” Adam said. “With two minutes to go I was still fastest and looking strong for the pole position and everything was well until Peter produced a time two-hundredths faster than mine. This was not good. He had just extended his lead another point going into the race meaning I had to win and he had to finish 9 or worse for me to grab the championship. This was really frustrating for me as I knew two-hundredths was nothing, faster than you can blink an eye.”
With the race swiftly approaching Adam set aside any frustration and visualized the start of the 45-minute timed race. When the lights turned green for the final standing start Chrostodoulou and Dempsey rocketed down towards turn two, with Ardoin joining the fight for the lead as well. Ardoin would get the inside line and take the lead with Christodoulou sliding into second and Dempsey falling to third as the cars approached the famed “Corkscrew” of Mazda Raceway.
“Alex was leading the race and by the time we had got to turn six we had already pulled a gap. Alex ran wide going up the hill towards the cork screw and I thought about passing but it’s a risky corner for a pass and there’s a big chance of making contact with how tight the corner is,” Adam elaborated. “This exact scenario happened to Peter Dempsey as Joel Miller went for the overtaking move on the 1 lap into the cork screw and they made contact. Peter spun and dropped to last place before rejoining the circuit.
Things were looking up for me, but at this point I had no clue on what was happening behind me so I was pushing in 2 place and made a slight mistake in turn six myself two laps later. I went off course sliding towards the barriers but dragged it back on track not losing any positions. I caught Alex back up and I could see Caio behind me, the perfect scenario knowing I was safe with my teammates either side of me.”
The championship battle would turn over at the halfway point of the race as Demspey was forced to retire from the event from the damage sustained in the incident. At that point the pressure changed on Christodoulou as it became a matter of making sure he brought the car home to capture the crown, as he explained, “We got to turn two and the yellow flag was being show for a car off course, as I was exiting the corner there was the white, orange and green car of Peter Dempsey. I was shocked and on the next lap round my crew radioed in telling me all I had to do was finish. I couldn’t believe it, throughout the whole year Peter and I had been battling for the championship crown and there he was on the edge of the track. In a way I felt more pressure now, knowing it was down to me. Before I was just racing for the win, knowing it was down to Peter deciding where he was going to finish that would decide the championship, but now it was even more important than ever for me to finish.”
With the laps winding down Christodoulou saw Miller closing in and pushed to take the lead and have a teammate protecting his flank, making an inside move in the final corner to assume the lead from Ardoin. Safely through he opened a small gap that he carried to the checkered flag and the title. “I can’t thank the JDC MotorSports crew enough for all their efforts this weekend and over the season and am proud to have been a part of this team that captured the Overall and Master Class Championships as well as the Team Championship,” Adam commented. “I’ve got to thank All the crew, and the drivers for an incredible year, it been a pleasure working with them all. I felt like the whole JDC team just gelled, there was never any tension throughout the whole team, we all got on famously. The best thing is we didn’t just race with each other, we all worked together, we travelled together, went out together and completed 2009 together. It’s not just about one driver. It’s about a whole team, and that’s what I had backing me for us to win this championship.”
“Specifically I need to thank John, Katie and Sophie Church; Rick Cameron, my engineer; Dave Hopple, my mechanic; Mike Guasch and Molecule for supporting me this year, and capturing the Masters Class Championship; Gerry Kraut, part owner of JDC motorsports, for becoming Vice-Champion in the Masters class; my team mates Alex Ardoin, Caio Lara, and Chris Miller; and Gary Rodrigues and everyone from the Star Mazda Championship for an awesome Year.”
Christodoulou also had high praise for his fellow championship contender, stating, “I’ve also got to say, well done to Peter Dempsey; it’s been a fun year pushing each other along the way, battling with him for the title. It’s defiantly been a hard season and it was unfortunate for him to finish the year this way, I hope to see him back racing soon.”
Christodoulou wrapped up the season with three victories, nine podium finishes, eleven top-five finishes, and two pole positions in the thirteen race championship, capturing the title with 473 points to Dempsey’s 461 points.
In winning the 2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear Adam will receive a funded ride in the 2010 Cooper Tires Presents the Atlantic Championship powered by Mazda as part of the Mazdaspeed Motorsports Driver Development program. In addition to the funded ride he received an additional check for $100,000 as series champion and $10,000 for the Rookie-of-the-Year honours.
Driving the #11 Molecule Labs / Alpinestars / Miller Milling Company / JDC MotorSports Pro Formula Mazda, Adam Christodoulou, from Birmingham, England, scored his eighth podium finish of the season with a third place finish in Round Twelve of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Road Atlanta, sending the championship battle between himself and Peter Dempsey down to the finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
“Arriving at Road Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans weekend I knew that it was going to be a big event and the storms that had caused record flooding in the area promised to make it a tough one as well with some crew members being delayed as flights were cancelled leading up to the event,” Christodoulou commented. “I came into the weekend full of confidence following a successful test two weeks prior to the event but the weekend proved to be a battle.”
The first challenge of the weekend would happen halfway through the opening practice session as Christodoulou hit the curbs in turn three a little too hard, sending him off course and damaging the front splitter in the process. Unable to complete the replacement in time for any additional laps he focused on improving in the second promoter test session but was faced with further setbacks as he suffered a partial failure of a rear upright.
“I started getting up to pace, making sure I didn’t have a repeat of the 1st session but something didn’t quite feel right from the rear of the car,” Adam explained. “On about lap 4 suddenly the rear of the car broke loose going into turn 7 and I spun. Luckily it wasn’t a fast corner so I kept the car on the track just producing quite a bit of smoke from the rear tires lighting up. At first I thought something was wrong with the differential, as it seemed a bit unstable going into the corners as well as out of the corners. I made my way into the pit lane, whilst radioing in saying something wasn’t right. We put new tires on and the JDC crew checked over the car, only to realize that the rear upright had partially collapsed. It wasn’t enough to stop the car from moving but it was enough to make the car quite a handful to drive on track. It would have been to dangerous to have carried on testing due to the nature and high speeds of the track and with something not quite right, so at this point we called it a day.”
The JDC MotorSports crew went to work overnight to ensure that everything was correct for the start of official practice. Running on older tires, Christodoulou sat near the top of the timesheets for the majority of the session, only dropping to sixth as others moved to new rubber as the first official session came to an end. Repeating the process for Thursday’s final practice session Adam would post the eighth fastest time ahead of the afternoon qualifying session.
Looking towards the qualifying session the team had planned on a one-stop strategy during the 22-minute session to allow for setup changes if needed. The plans would go out the window when a competitor in the early session spread oil across the track, cutting the second group’s session down to ten minutes.
“The car felt good and I was one of the quickest for the first few laps,” Christodoulou said. “It was the best it had been but I couldn’t improve my time so I finished qualifying in 6th. Looking back perhaps I was a bit too cautious knowing there was oil on the track, but qualifying was over and now it was all about the race.”
Jumping off the starting grid Christodoulou was able to jump up into fourth on the opening lap before a caution flag came out for two cars that had stalled on the grid. On the restart he dove to the inside to try to gain the third position but would be held up and was forced to watch Richard Kent slip past on the outside as the cars into turn three. Teammate Alex Ardoin was able to slipstream past as they headed down the backstraight before Adam regrouped and started focusing on regaining the lost positions.
“I realized how vital it was if you were going to pass into turn one you had to be fully committed, I was close to Alex worked the timing and managed to get past and started to hunt down 4th place,” Adam revealed. “We were halfway through the race and I was getting closer as we started catching up lapped cars and I was doing all I could to use them to my advantage. Richard went for a move on Walt Bowlin into turn 5, there was dust and stones kicking up off the edge of the track, they touched into turn 5 and both of them went across the gravel on the exit making it a bit easier for me to cruise past.”
“I was now looking at getting 3rd place, the final podium position, and once again lapped cars were becoming a challenge. I was getting the timing pretty good at when to overtake them without losing much time. Joel got a little bit sideways out of the last corner and I was on his bumper down the start and finish straight, I pulled out and out broke him into turn one and squeezed passed him.”
As others saw their lap times fall off Adam continued to click off consistent laps and was reeling in second place runner Conor Daly when the checkered flag fell on the 45-minute timed race. “It’s a shame the race wasn’t longer as I could see myself catching up everyone in front. The chequered flag flew and I brought the car home in 3rd and on the podium. I’m happy with the end result considering we struggled earlier in the week. I’ve got to thank the team for the massive amount of effort they put in this week, we proved that even during difficult times, when were a little bit off the pace that we can work even harder at it and pull out a good result.”
As the series enters the final round at Mazda Raceway Lagune Seca Christodoulou sits fifteen points behind Peter Dempsey in what has become a two-man race for the title. “I’m looking forward to Laguna Seca, as I think we made a lot of car set up progress during this week at Road Atlanta, so I know the car will be good. Peter Dempsey got the win and extended his lead to 15 points, but as I’ve found out anything can happen during a race weekend, so I’m looking forward to an exciting last race in my Star Mazda.”
With the 2009 Indy Lights season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway just a few weeks away, some Firestone Indy Lights drivers and teams have begun their plans for the 2010 schedule.
Bryan Herta Autosport, RLR/Andersen Racing, Sam Schmidt Motorsports and AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing all tested potential drivers on September 15-16 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, while Bryan Herta Autosport also tested Sept. 23 at Indiana’s Putnam Park.
Star Mazda frontrunner Adam Christodoulou drove for BHA during the two testing sessions.
“We were very happy to provide Adam his first experience in an (Firestone) Indy Lights car,” Bryan Herta Autosport co-owner Bryan Herta told junioropenwheeltalent.com
“He has shown this year in Star Mazda that he is a driver with great potential, and he demonstrated his speed and maturity again at the test. Adam is clearly on several teams’ short list of drivers for next season, and we will be watching him closely as he tries to win the Star Mazda Championship.”
