Daly's Season Starts With Hectic Travel Plan

In the first ten weeks of Conor Daly's 2011 dual GP3/Indy Lights program, he will make seven transatlantic crossings for testing and racing.

Conor arrived in England this morning, February 23rd to get more familiar with his new British based GP3 team, Carlin, from where he will travel to the first two day test at Circuit Paul Ricard in the South of France, March 3rd - 4th. At the conclusion of the test he will immediately leave to meet his Sam Schmidt Motorsports team for his first Firestone Indy Lights test of the year at Sebring, Florida, March 7th-8th.

"Although it looks hectic, the great thing about the schedule is that I will have three full street racing events under my belt before the European season even starts", said Conor.

He stays Stateside for Indy Lights testing in Alabama and Homestead March 16th & 21st. Mid day on Sunday, March 27th, immediately after the opening round of the Indy Lights championship in St Petersburg, he fly's to England to begin a three day test at the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on Tuesday, March 29th-31st, at which time he will also locate a place to live for the season.

He then returns to America for the second round of the Indy Lights championship at Barber Motorsports park April 8th - 10th. Within hours of the finish of the race, he will be on a plane to Barcelona, Spain, for a three day GP3 test, April 12th-14th before immediately flying back to Long Beach, California April 15th- 17th, for round three of the Indy Lights Championship.

"We have discussed the travel requirements with my trainers at St. Vincent Sports Performance center, in Indianapolis, and we are all confident that with the correct preparation, I should be able to travel and be 100% for the on track activities. This is a great program that Mazda has helped me create and I want to be in a race car as much as possible. I will do everything I can to enjoy not just the races but also the travel adventures", said Conor.

After the race at Long Beach, he moves to his base in England for the remainder of the GP3 championship that begins in Istanbul, Turkey, May 6th - 8th. GP3 is a Formula One support series with sixteen races in eight different countries from May to September.

Later in the season, Conor will contest the Firestone Indy Lights championship races in Trois Rivieres, Canada, August 5th-7th, and on the streets of Baltimore, September, 2nd - 4th.

Conor is the 2010 Formula Star Mazda champion having set records for number of race wins (7), number of pole positions, (9), number of podium finishes, (12), number of laps led and largest winning points margin ever. In 2008, he won the Walter Hayes Formula Ford Trophy in England for Team USA scholarship, the Ontario Formula Ford Rookie of the Year title and the Mazda Skip Barber National championship.