Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear points leader Jack Hawksworth has done nothing short of blast on to the Mazda Road to Indy scene with his stellar performance thus far.

The 21-year-old from Cullingworth, England started open-wheel racing in 2010 in the Formula Renault U.K Winter Series, where he won the pole position in every round of the championship that year. He moved to the U.S. in 2012 to join Team Pelfrey, the reigning team champion in the Star Mazda Championship.

“We’ve had a brilliant season so far,” Hawksworth said. Coming into the championship as a rookie with Team Pelfrey, we knew they were a great team and the testing went really well, and we knew we were going to be up there. We’ve been really strong, especially on the street circuits, and they’ve really worked for me, Team Pelfrey.

“I’m just genuinely enjoying racing this year, I think that’s one of the biggest parts of the success.”  

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH HAWKSWORTH

He’ll get another chance to excel on a unique street course on the Streets of Trois-Rivières August 3-5 in Quebec, Canada. While this will be his first visit to Trois-Rivières, four of his five wins so far this season driving the have come on street circuits. He has six poles, eight fastest race laps and one weekend (the Toronto Indy) where he won both races starting from pole.

Juncos Racing’s Connor De Philippi is back to defend his race win at Trois Rivieres and hopefully snap a streak of bad luck that has dogged him for the past several races, seeing him fall from first in the championship to fourth thanks to an assortment of mechanical maladies, bad timing and bashings from backmarkers. He has two victories this year, one in the streets of St. Petersburg at the series' season-opener, and another on the Lucas Oil Raceway oval in the prestigious Night Before the 500. But finishes of seventh, 16th, 6th and 13th in the last four races have the talented Californian's championship hopes on the ropes and desperately in need of a return to winning form.

The city will host a hometown driver, with Québec racer Jérimy Daniel with his home-grown 'The Racing Company' team fielding the No. 10 The Racing Company / FixAuto / Sherwin-Williams Mazda. Toronto racer Zach Meyer driving the No. 66 AIM Autosport / Damis Partners III Mazda will also join the field.

Colombian racer Gabriel 'Gabby' Chaves, driving the No. 19 JDC Motorsports / CLARO / Marca Colombia / Tecpro Mazda, is currently second in the points championship. Though he has yet to win, his five trips to the podium and nine top-5 finishes have moved him closer to the top.

Third in the championship is American Sage Karam, driver of the No. 88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda. Karam was the 2010 USF2000 champion and moved up to Star Mazda in 2011 with scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy. He finished fifth in the championship and won 'Rookie of the Year' honor in 2011. Now in his second season, he has one win from the pole this year at the Iowa Speedway oval, five podiums and two poles. All three of his wins in Star Mazda, including two last year, have come on ovals.

Other drivers with wins this season include the surprise winner in Race 1 at the Edmonton Indy, Camilo Schmidt, a top Venezuelan kart racer who made the jump directly to Star Mazda. He drove his No. 21 Linares Racing Mazda to his (and the team's) first win in a wet, wild race that saw leader Jack Hawksworth, driving on dry tires in a downpour, taken out by his teammate in Turn 1 of a green/white/checkered restart after a long full-course yellow.

Also with one win in Race 1 on the road course at Barber Motorsports Park is Chilean driver Martin Scuncio, driver of the No. 22 Juncos Racing / Pullman Bus / Gobierno Regional del Bio-Biol Mazda. Currently fifth in the championship, he has one win, two podiums and eight top-7 finishes.

Star Mazda on-track action at the GP3R at Trois-Rivières begins with a 40-minute practice session from 1:20 pm - 2:00 pm Friday, August 3, followed by qualifying for the PEAK Performance pole for Saturday's Race 1 from 5:35 pm - 6:20 pm. Race 1, scheduled for 45 minutes, will take the green light for the series' spectacular F1-style standing start 1:20 pm - 2:10 pm 45 minutes on Saturday, August 4. Race 2, also a 45-minute contest with the starting grid determined by each car's fastest lap on Race 1, takes the green at 11:00 am on Sunday, August 5.

Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, September 1. In Canada, the Mazda Motorsports Hour airs on Rogers Sports Net; please check your local listings for date and time, or go to http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule.