Star Mazda - Ryan Tveter Set To Tackle Star Mazda

OYSTER BAY, Feb. 17, 2012: Ryan Tveter, who will advance to the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear this year, epitomizes the new breed of open-wheel driver that the Mazda Road to Indy program strives to produce.

He’s serious, intelligent, well educated, eager to learn, mature beyond his 17 years, accomplished in a wide range of subjects, well traveled, very technically oriented and he wants to be part of the solution to some of the world’s biggest problems. Tveter’s powerful work ethic and talent have earned him not only top-10 finishes in several very high-profile races, but have also won him academic honors as well as a place in one of the country’s top universities.

Remi Lanteigne, one of the most successful engineers in the history of junior open-wheel racing, is so impressed with Tveter both on and off the track that he’s agreed to serve as his lead engineer and program manager for the foreseeable future.

Executives from several corporations who see Tveter’s long-term potential as a marketing partner are also paying attention, since he’s comfortable in both the cockpit and in the world of business-to-business and consumer marketing.

So who is this kid?

Born in New Canaan, Conn., Tveter hails from both Oyster Bay, N.Y. and Meilen, Switzerland. He’s a senior at an academically renowned boarding school in Wallingford, Conn., called Choate Rosemary Hall, where his focus is on physics, environmental science and jazz trombone. His current classes include physics, calculus, environmental science, French and comparative literature. Yes, he speaks French. He’s also doing a capstone project, which is similar to a master’s thesis for undergraduates, entitled “Physics and Sustainability in Motorsport” – something that took him to Birmingham, England where he participated in the MIA’s Low Carbon Racing Conference and the Autosport International Show last month. In addition to racing Tveter supervises and mentors younger boarding students at school, he’s the goalie on the junior varsity hockey team, he used to be on the varsity rowing team, and he’s played trombone since the age of 8.

He’s already been admitted to the engineering program at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., where he’ll start classes in August. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks Lehigh in the top tier of national research universities each year.

Tveter has been a master diver and rescue diver since the age of 14, with numerous specialties in marine conservation. He’s explored the state of coral reefs by diving at The Great Barrier Reef, East Africa, South Africa, Belize, Mexico and the Caribbean. He visited Antarctica on a marine research trip. He’s lived in the United States, Austria, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and he’s visited over 50 countries.

In addition to excelling at racing and his education, Tveter wants to harness race fans’ passion for the sport to help solve our planet’s environmental problems. He’s the founder of a Web site, SustainableSpeed.org, which he is developing to educate race fans about sustainability in motorsports. Its volunteer advisory board consists of sustainability and climate change experts, educators and businesspeople.

Tveter made his debut on the racing scene last year, competing in two Formula Tour 1600 events and two USF2000 races. He had a tenth-place finish in a field of 44 cars at the Montreal Grand Prix in June, following that up with an 11th-place finish at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres in August. Making the jump into the USF2000 Series, Tveter finished tenth in Race 1 and eighth in Race 2 at the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix. It was all excellent experience, especially since he’ll revisit two of those three venues (Trois-Rivieres and Baltimore) this year in Star Mazda.

He plans to compete in seven of the 10 Star Mazda events scheduled for 2012 as a member of Team GDT, which is based in Dallas. His car number will be 33.

He’ll compete in the season opener March 24-25 at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida with the IZOD IndyCar Series, but then he’ll miss the races at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.; Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis and the June 22-24 date whose location is yet to be announced due to conflicts with his school schedule. He’ll rejoin the circuit July 7-8 at the Grand Prix of Toronto and compete full-time from that point. After Toronto comes the Grand Prix of Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) July 21-22; the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres (Quebec, Canada) Aug. 3-5; the Grand Prix of Baltimore Sept. 1-2; Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (Sonoma, Calif.) Sept. 8-9 and the season finale at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta (Braselton, Ga.) Oct. 17-20.

He isn’t slated to participate in the series’ open test at Barber Motorsports Park on March 19-20, but he did do a two-day test recently at Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, Texas.

Lanteigne said that Tveter set extremely competitive times at that test despite cold tire temperatures due to the seasonable weather.

“We were smiling ear to ear after that test,” said Lanteigne, who has worked with drivers like Helio Castroneves, Jacques Villeneuve Sr., Katherine Legge, Alex Barron, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Lloyd, Anders Krohn, Conor Daly, Tristan Vautier and Alex Rossi, among a host of others, in the last 20 years. “Ryan is very technically oriented, hardworking and eager to learn. He’s very smart, and I’m anxious to see how far we can go.”

The relationship between a driver and his engineer is crucial to success in modern-day motorsports. The driver has to learn to give good feedback, the engineer must be able to develop a set-up that fits each particular driver’s driving style, and they have to trust each other completely.

Lanteigne said that if everything goes as well as hoped Tveter will do a full season in Star Mazda in 2013 and then advance to other series both in North America and Europe. Most Star Mazda races are run as support events to the IZOD IndyCar Series. Star Mazda is an official step on the Mazda Road to Indy, a program that strives to develop future stars for the IZOD IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500.

“Racing has always been my passion. My goal this year is to learn as much as I can and to be in the top 10 as much as possible,” Tveter said. “A podium or a win would be great, but it’s a very competitive series and I’m a rookie. I’m really looking forward to being part of Team GDT and working with Remi this year. I’m confident of meeting both my own goals and the expectations of our marketing partners. We plan to have some announcements on those programs soon.”