Mosport Friday notes

Raphael Matos Sets Pace in Friday Practice at Mosport

Friday, August 6, 2004. Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada. Raphael Matos, of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, has posted the fastest time of the day in practice for Round Six of the Star Mazda Series North American Championship presented by Goodyear, lapping the 2.5-mile circuit in 1:15.023 in his Showtime/Samsung/Skip Barber/Hearn Motorsports Mazda. Matos, who has said that Mosport International Raceway is one of his favorite tracks, now aims to capture his first pole position of the season in qualifying on Saturday morning.

Looking to stop Matos, and build on his streak of three straight pole positions, will be Michael McDowell, of Phoenix, Arizona, who led the afternoon practice session in his Drive4USA/Star Race Cars/Sparco Mazda with a fast time of 1:15.213, but set a time in the first session that was only six-hundredths of a second off of Matos' best time.

Sitting third overall as ahead of qualifying is defending race winner and 2003 series champion, Luis Schiavo, of Caracas, Venezuela, who piloted his Energy Freight/Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda around the track in 1:15.198, just ahead of current series points leader Dan DiLeo, from Toronto, Canada, who posted a time of 1:15.222.

Thirty drivers participated in Friday's official practice sessions as the new Pro Formula Mazda, an all new car featuring a carbon fiber chassis and the new Mazda Renesis rotary engine with 240 horsepower, makes its first appearance at Mosport, with the entire field running under the previous track record of 1:20.857 set by Guy Cosmo in 2001.

Qualifying for Saturday's race is scheduled for 8:00 AM Eastern Time with the 30-lap race slated to start at 12:35 PM Eastern Time

-sm