Conor Daly Shatters Record For Most Pole Positions Won In A Season

Elkhart Lake, August 21, 2010: Conor Daly officially scored his eighth pole position of the season this morning at the famous 4.048-mile road course of Road America in Wisconsin, shattering the record for most pole positions won in a single season in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. Though two more events remain in the 2010 season, Daly has already surpassed Michael McDowell's 2004 record of winning sixty percent of the pole positions; even if Daly does not succeed in claiming the remaining two pole positions up for grabs this season, taking eight poles in a 13-race season would see his average go up just over sixty percent.

"It's been a great day so far and a great weekend," said Daly. "The team has worked really hard, and we've had a lot of success together. I really like the car they've given me this weekend, and I really like this track. It's going to be a fun and competitive race with the long straights here at Road America, so we'll see what happens this afternoon."

With today's pole position win, Daly has now extended his lead in the driver's championship by yet another point, giving him a 59-point lead over Andersen Racing's Anders Krohn.

Teammates Rusty Mitchell and Tatiana Calderon will start this afternoon's race in sixth and eighth positions, giving Juncos Racing three cars starting in the top eight positions. Rusty Mitchell's name appeared near the top of the time sheets throughout the entire session today, claiming the top spot by lap two and remaining in the top five for the majority of the session. With a sixth place starting position that was only .068 seconds off of fifth position, the Midland, TX native delivered his best qualifying result as a member of Juncos Racing and one of his best qualifying results of the season.

"Today was definitely one of the best qualifying sessions I've had all season," said Mitchell. "In fact, I think it was the best one I've had since St. Petersburg at the beginning of the season. The car was really good, and I think I could've gotten even more out of it, so it was a really good session. I want to thank the guys for their hard work, and I'm really looking forward to a fun race this afternoon."

Rookie Tatiana Calderon vastly improved her lap times over the course of the weekend; the 17-year-old started this weekend with times that were over two seconds off the pace but produced a lap time in today's qualifying session that was under one second off teammate Conor Daly's fastest lap time. As a result of her determination and efforts, Calderon will start this afternoon's race on the fourth row.

"I'm really happy with today's qualifying session," said Calderon. "I had a tough day yesterday, but with the help of the team and Peter (Dempsey), I really understand what I need to do to improve all day today. The car was great, and I definitely think this was one of my best qualifying sessions this season."

Today's race will commence this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. CST. Timing and scoring for the 45-minute-long event will be available through www.starmazda.com. For more information, please go to www.juncosracing.com.