Sebring: Final practice notes

Ryan Justice Sets Pace in Final Practice Session

March 16, 2006 -- In the final practice session ahead of qualifying for Round One of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, Ryan Justice, of Portland, Oregon, set the fastest time of the morning in his Northwest Autosport Mazda, lapping the 3.7-mile Sebring International Raceway circuit with a time of 1:58.965, to top the charts for the third consecutive practice session. Justice, a Business Administration and Marketing student at Loyola-Marymount University, has served notice to the paddock that he will be a driver to be recckoned with in this his third season of Star Mazda competition.

Joining Justice in the top three ahead of Thursday afternoon's qualifying session were Jon Branam, of Miami Beach, Florida, who posted a time of 1:59.299 in his 3-Dimensional Services Mazda and Matt Varsha, from Atlanta, Georgia, who turned in a time of 1:59.312 in his Red Line Oil/Classic Mazda sponsored Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda.

Thirty-six drivers participated in the session with the top 24 drivers posting times below the existing track record of 2:02.022 set by Dan DiLeo during qualifying for the event in 2004. With favorable weather conditions expected for the rest of the day DiLeo's official track record is expected to be surpassed once qualifying begins at 12:50 PM Eastern Time. Round One of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is slated to start at 2:35 PM Eastern Time on Friday, March 17th.

-starmazda