Martin Scuncio Makes Star Mazda Debut with Juncos Racing at Road Atlanta

Vero Beach, September 18, 2010: Martin Scuncio will pilot a Formula Mazda for the first time with 2010 Championship winning team Juncos Racing, debuting his career in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear during this season's finale at Road Atlanta on October 1. The 19-year-old from Bahia Blanca, Argentina has spent the 2010 season as a competitor in the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda up until this point and currently sits sixth in the driver's championship. Now, Scuncio will initiate his transition to the next level of racing with a private team test next week followed by his premiere race at the popular Road Atlanta event.

"I'm very happy to be racing in the Star Mazda Championship for the first time and even happier to be with a great team like Juncos Racing," said Scuncio. "The team was very strong this year in the fight for the Championship with Conor Daly which is very important to me. This will be my first experience in a Star Mazda racecar, and I'm confident that Juncos Racing will teach me a lot about this car and how to drive it the right way."

Though born in Argentina, Scuncio moved to Chile at a young age where he won multiple Chilean Karting championships over several years of competition. In 2006, Scuncio began his career in the Chilean Formula 3 series; he scored his first victory in 2007 and became the series Champion in 2008. Scuncio went on to race a partial season in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 Championship last year where he claimed three total victories, his most memorable being at the famous Spa Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

"I'm happy to have Martin with our team for the final race this season," said Juncos Racing Team Owner Ricardo Juncos. "It will be a bit of a challenge for him and the team because he has never driven at Road Atlanta before, and he will be going there with only a few hours of testing in the Formula Mazda car. He has a lot of experience, however, and he has had some great achievements and victories in Europe; those things are going to help him a lot going forward. I also think it will be a huge benefit for him to have Conor (Daly), Tatiana (Calderon) and Rusty (Mitchell) as teammates. I'm confident that he will end up having a successful weekend."