Star Mazda Races on South American TV
Seven of the Star Mazda Championships 13 races from the 2009 season are part of the package, including the season-opener at the 12 Hours of Sebring, Round 2 at Virginia International Raceway and Rounds 4 and 5 from the Mazda Formula X double-header at New Jersey Motorsports Park as well as Rounds 8 and 9 from the Harrah's Autobahn Grand Prix presented by Mazda double-header at Autobahn and Round 10, the legendary street race in Trois Rivières in Quebec, Canada.
In total, SPEED Latin America will broadcast the Star Mazda Championship races to more than 40 countries (or territories), including all of the most important racing markets: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. In addition, races will be broadcast in Anguilla, Aruba, Antigua, the Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guadalupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Marten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands and Uruguay.
Los Angeles-based P-UNO Motorsports TV has a 5-year agreement to broadcast the Pro Star Mazda Series Presented by Goodyear in Latin America. P-UNO principals are Hector Cademartori, world-renowned motorsports artist and a journalist for 35 years and Pedro Serramalera, a long time racing enthusiast and also a driver in the Star Mazda Championship.
The main targets of the project are three fold: to promote the series in Latin America, to inform drivers from that part of the world about the Star Mazda Championship and encourage them to further their careers by racing in North America, and to generate exposure for the sponsors of South American drivers in their home markets. Serramalera and Cademartori will provide voiceover commentary in Spanish and SPEED will provide a version in Portuguese for the Brazilian market.
"It's not all the races, but enough to give our audience south of the border a good idea of what this series is all about," says P-UNO co-founder Pedro Serramalera. "Furthermore, two of them (Sebring and VIR), will be world premieres since they have not been aired anywhere, yet. SPEED Latin America is planning to show each race at least twice every week, beginning in early November. We'll let everyone know as soon as we have the final schedule."
The 2010 season will mark the 20th year of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, one of the most stable and successful open-wheel driver development series in North America. Both title sponsors are major global corporations and their contracts with the Series run through the 2013 season.