Group-A Racing Signs Jackie Ding for Formula Lites

  By GroupARacing | January 9, 2015 - 2:41 am | Uncategorized
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Group-A Racing Signs Jackie Ding for Formula Lites

            Group-A Racing is pleased to announce they have signed Jackie Ding as their first driver of a four car planned program in the new Formula Lites Series.

Jackie is a 17 year old Chinese born driver currently living in Washington DC. He started racing just one year ago when he attended the Skip Barber Racing School. From

Jackie Ding joins Group-A Racing after being in there driver development program over the past year

Jackie Ding joins Group-A Racing after being in there driver development program over the past year

there he competed in the 2014 Skip Barber Summer Series while working with Jonathan Scarallo as his driver coach. He not only has shown immediate skill, but has worked very hard on and off the track to make tremendous progress in a short amount of time, capturing wins, poles and many podium finishes in his first year of racing. He is continuing to gain more seat time in preparation for his 2015 Formula Lites campaign competing in the Skip Barber Winter Series.

The new Formula Lites series, to be sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing beginning in 2015, is the brainchild of Dennis McCormack, Ryan Arciero and Max Crawford. Created to fill a longtime void in the United States open-wheel market, the FORMULA Lites concept incorporates the latest technology, high-quality engineering and a price point that offers a modern racing experience at a sensible purchase and operating costs.

“We are really excited about having Jackie join us for the inaugural season of Formula Lites,” said Group-A Racing team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “My son, Jonathan, has been his driver coach basically since the start of his career and we have been able to see his natural

Ding, captured wins working with team manager Jonathan Scarallo as his coach in his first year ever racing

Ding, captured wins working with team manager Jonathan Scarallo as his coach in his first year ever racing

abilities in the car, and also how he is getting better every weekend. He works very hard on and off the track and is a very pleasant person to be around, which is basically everything a team owner can want in a driver. We look forward to continuing to coach him as he runs with us in Formula Lites so he can continue his progress.”

“I am excited to be joining Group-A Racing and Formula Lites this year,” commented Jackie Ding. “Having been a Group-A Racing development driver for the past year, gaining valuable experiences along with successes, I am very proud to be taking the next step into pro racing with them. Moreover, with the strong support from Honda & Pirelli, I think Formula Lites is definitely the series to be in right now. For me to be a part of this series right from the start is very exciting and I can’t wait to get started!”

Jackie will drive FL-15 chassis 007 with partnerships from Zone District Clothing, Autobahn Speedway Karting & iTianpin Gifts.

Group-A Racing is planning a four-car program for the 2015 Formula Lites Series. While more seats are filled, they do still have some opportunities remaining. Interested drivers should contact them via 631-957-3901 or GroupARacing@aol.com

Group-A Racing Expanding Racing Program To Formula Lites

  By GroupARacing | October 30, 2014 - 9:32 pm | Uncategorized
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Jonathan Scarallo
Group-A Racing | Team Manager & Driver
“We became very excited as soon as we heard about the new Formula Lites series. We were initially intrigued with how great the car looked along with the specifications. After researching the program further, we knew we wanted to expand our teams’ efforts in the new series; between the partners involved such as Honda, Pirelli and Crawford Composites, combined with Ryan Arciero and Dennis McCormack’s involvement as owners, piled on the excited about the series for us.

Finally, all the things that Formula Lites has put in to motion to make this series economical to run, especially given the type of vehicle, this seems to be a win-win scenario for our team. We have been moving things forward to run a four-car Formula Lites championship effort and can’t wait to go racing next year.”

As Group-A Racing looks to expand their race efforts to include the Formula Lites program, they will be exploring rental ride opportunities, as well as searching for potential drivers. If you’re interested in participating in Group-A Racing’s Formula Lites program, contact the team through their website or Facebook page.

Founded in the early ’90s, Group-A Racing raced go-karts locally on Long Island, winning countless regional races and championships. Following success in Legend Cars, the team made its debut in pro racing with USF2000 in 1996 at Walt Disney World Speedway. They have gone on to race in many other categories including World Challenge GT, Trans-Am and AGT. The well established team currently campaigns three to four cars in F2000 competition.

Interested parties should contact the team directly to inquire about testing and race opportunities. 631-957-3901 or GroupARacing@aol.com

Article Published by High Performance Group at www.FormulaLites.com

Group-A Racing Sets Blistering Pace at NJMP USF2000 Test

  By GroupARacing | February 14, 2014 - 4:35 pm | Uncategorized
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Lindenhurst, New York – Group-A Racing Racing continued their off-season testing program this past weekend. This time the test took place at the New Jersey Motorsports Park Thunderbolt Course. They had former F2000 race winner and polesitter Jonathan Scarallo in the car.

The day started off in wet conditions with it raining in the New Jersey area that night and early morning. While this would not allow the team to work on set-ups, it did allow them to do install checks since it was the first time out with the spec Mazda MZR engine. They wanted to log miles to check reliability and break everything in.

The track finally started to give a dry line in the afternoon allowing the team and driver to start to push the car. The car would continue to run flawlessly with no glitches permitting the team to log as many miles as the day allowed. To top it off, the baseline set-up was a fantastic one, allowing the team to set extremely quick lap times in non-ideal conditions. The times being set in just the first dry session would have put them in contention for the pole based upon times the series did at NJMP.

“Today would have to be looked at as a tremendous success,” said team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “It was our first time out in a 100 percent full spec USF2000 car and we continued to have no issues. The car was completely reliable, which was fantastic. The Mazda engine and everything was great and performed very well. The pace of the car just made the day go from great to incredible.”

“I cannot remember the last time I had this much fun in a race car,” commented Jonathan Scarallo, who handled the driving duties for the day. “The set-up with how we rolled off the truck was so good right out of the box once the track finally got dry enough to push. It was so well balanced and it allowed me just go faster and faster every lap. We certainly had hoped to set the type of times we did, but with the conditions, did not expect to, so the fact we did really says a lot about the whole Group-A Racing effort.”

Group-A Racing has two more days of testing scheduled at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Interested parties in testing and racing with the team in the USF2000 Series can contact them via phone 631-957-3901 or E-Mail GroupARacing@aol.com. For more information on the team can go to www.GroupARacing.net.

 

Group-A Racing Kicks Off 2014 Campaign with Testing Program

  By GroupARacing | October 30, 2013 - 4:18 pm | Uncategorized
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LINDENHURST, NY (October 30, 2013) – IMAG0622After two years of doing partial season programs in the F2000 Championship Series with drivers from around the globe, Group-A Racing is making a big push for the 2014 title. The team is wasting no time to get prepared as possible and started testing last week at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

The test took place at NJMP Thunderbolt course, which the F2000 Championship Series last raced at in July of 2012. The day presented ‘Haru’ his first opportunity to drive a F2000 car after having competed in the F1600 Championship Series one offs in 2012 & 2013. ‘Haru’ adapted to the additional horsepower and downforce very quickly, and went faster every time he went out, showing constant improvement through out the day.

The test also allowed the Group-A Racing team to do some research & development work on some new aero parts. To test was done to check productivity along with reliability of some new pieces that have been added to the car since the last time out.

IMAG0628“Haru did a very nice job today,” commented team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “He came up to speed pretty quick and got used to the wings and more power pretty easily. Most importantly he did it without making any real major mistakes, which is good. Another great thing he did was listen and applied the coaching that provided by the teams driver coach, data and in-car video. We were able to get good feedback on the new aero pieces we had on the car and confirmed what we were expecting the new pieces to do which was good. It was a win-win day from every perspective.”

“I want to thank Group-A Racing for taking care of me during my stay in the United States. Everything from them was fantastic. The setup, coaching, and mechanical work was great. I am very happy with everything.” Said ‘Haru’

Group-A Racing will be continue to test November 9th, 10th, 16th & 17th at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Interested drivers who would like to participate in these test days can contact the team GroupARacing@aol.com 631-957-3901

Group-A Racing’s Armida Demonstrates Tremendous Race Craft Despite Bad Luck

  By GroupARacing | August 14, 2013 - 2:03 pm | Uncategorized
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8FA734746187-LINDENHURST, NY. (August 13th, 2013) After a promising debut in the F2000 Championship Series two weeks earlier, Jose Armida looked to build upon that this past weekend with the Group-A Racing team. Although the race results may not show it, Armida made great progress along with displaying great race craft.

The weekend started with Thursday testing. The Group-A Racing team & Armida were looking to take full advantage of the 4 hours of track time to develop new pieces on the car & get Jose more experience. Sadly, just as Jose was getting in the car the clouds opened up. With the weather looking clear for the rest of the weekend everybody decided to not go out, to not risk the car.

Friday morning presented the first opportunity on track for the F2000 competitors. Jose picked up where he left off two weeks ago ending the session in 10th. But with that position, he had closed the gap between his time & the leaders. Just after lunch time was the second practice session of the day. Unfortunately, on the opening flying lap Armida caught a puncture in his left rear tire causing him to hit the tire wall in the keyhole. This put a big whole into the program in terms of development of the setup and gaining Jose the very precious seat time.

Going into Saturday Group-A Racing & Jose were behind the eight ball since they had missed 50% of the practice time with the puncture the day before. Despite that, Jose put in his best qualifying position to qualify 10th for the first race of the weekend. In the A722E000D95A-race Armida was moving up through the field until coming upon a slow WISCO Car driven by Mosconi. The two went into a hard battle for the 8th position. Jose tried the outside pass multiple times with Mosconi being very ‘defensive.’ On the second to last lap it looked to be that Armida had finally cleared Mosconi on the outside in turn four. Sadly, Mosconi slid wide on the exit of the turn making contact with his left front to Armida’s right rear. This sent Jose into the air and spinning into the grass.

The Group-A Racing team got the car back together again from the contact for Jose to get back out the next morning for qualifying for the second race of the weekend. However, with changing track conditions Jose struggled with the balance of the car and could only manage 13th. Jose & the team had an extensive debrief at the end of the session using data acquisition, video & good communication to come up with the proper changes to make the car better for the race.

The changes worked and Jose was displaying tremendous race craft again. He got a great start to gain positions and continued to move forward throughout the race. Jose would get as high as 7th before running into a problem with oil on the track from a lap car. This caused him to fall back a bit & yet again not get the result he deserved in the race with uncontrollable bad luck.

“It was a good weekend overall, we had some issues out of  our hands, the Group-A Racing team worked very hard along the weekend and that was one of the keys to make the great progress we made. I want to thank everyone who was involved for the great job!” said Jose Armida

“Jose did a tremendous job this weekend.” Commented team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “He has had a lot of bad luck with the puncture and other issues. The thing that really impressed me is how he put a bad situation that happened behind him immediately and moved up to continue to improve. He never let any of the uncontrollable drama effect him, which is not an easy thing to do. To top it off, he passed alot of cars here, and showed very good resilience in being passed in the races. He continues to improve with more experience and I hope we can continue to put programs together for him.”

For more information on testing & race opportunities with Group-A Racing you can contact them via GroupARacing@aol.com or (631) 974-4379, along with visit their website www.GroupARacing.net. You can see the races from Jose’s car on their YouTube channel www.YouTube.com/GroupARacing

Armida Captures Top 10 Result in Series & Rain Debut

  By GroupARacing | July 30, 2013 - 1:53 am | Uncategorized
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1011599_488452361237028_548534706_n19 year old Mexican driver Jose Armida made a successful F2000 Championship Series debut this past weekend at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course with Group-A Racing team. During his debut weekend he was able to capture a top 10 finish along with valuable experience to build upon.

The weekend started with Thursday Twilight testing, along with more practice sessions on Friday, giving Jose his first sessions at Mid Ohio & in an F2000 car. Armida did a very nice job coming up to speed, making progress every session. After each session he would take full advantage of the video, data, and track notes that the driver coach, Jonathan Scarallo was providing. He would take all the notes on what he can do different and apply it very nicely to help him to go faster every session. With that he would also work with the teams lead engineer Angelo Zarra to work on the balance of the car to help build his confidence to gain more sped as well.

After two days of running in dry conditions the entire F2000 paddock was thrown a curve ball when they woke up to heavy rain Saturday morning. The Group-A Racing team did a great job of changing the setup over from dry conditions to get it ready for a wet qualifying.

As if it was not difficult enough for Armida to be making his series debut with no experience beforehand, he had never raced in the rain before either. But, he continued to pay close attention to the driver coaching from the Group-A Racing team about techniques & lines to be used in the rain and applied them in a very mature manor. The session did not offer many laps due to black flag causing Jose to only be able to place a time for 16th.

In the race Jose started 16th, but drove the race with great maturity. He was consistently dropping his times, as he was getting a hold of the treacherous rain conditions at Mid Ohio. He drove a smart race and patiently moved his way up the field, without making any major mistakes. With this he was able to get all the way up to 10th, to earn a top 10 result in his first race in the series, but also in the rain.

After a good race on Saturday Armida & Group-A Racing team was hoping to carry that momentum into Sunday. Sadly on the second lap of qualifying Jose had a minor off. With the wet grass it caused him to hit the tire wall damaging the car. The Group-A Racing team did a great job of turning the car around to get him out in time for the race. With him only getting 2 laps he was buried in the field in 20th. Armida got a great start to pass a few cars and just like the day before patiently moved his way forward. In the 15 laps race Jose managed to move p from his 20th qualifying spot to a 13th place result. Along with that he set his personal fastest lap of the weekend on the last lap of the race, showing the constant improvement and learning in full motion.

“Jose did a great job in his first weekend in the series.” Commented team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “He was really thrown in the deep end with having never raced in the rain, never driven a F2000 car or driven at Mid Ohio. He did a great job listening to the coaching that was provided, applied what he was told to do and therefore made constant improvement all weekend. He was a pleasure to have & we hope to be back very soon with him.”

“It was a great weekend for me” said Jose Armida “I learned a lot about the car, track and also diferent conditios. The team did a really great job with the car, specially after the crash. I want to thank everyone who was involved. We hope to be back soon as we can and fight for the firsts places.”

For more information on Group-A Racing you can go to www.GroupARacing.net or contact them GroupARacing@aol.com or (631) 974-4379.

 

Group-A Racing Signs Armida for Mid-Ohio

  By GroupARacing | July 23, 2013 - 3:31 am | Uncategorized
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1045045_10151722106556007_2066250156_nGroup-A Racing is happy to announce the signing of 19 year-old Mexican driver Jose Armida for the next rounds of the F2000 Championship Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Armida comes from a wide variety of experience. He got his start, like most race car drivers in the karting ranks, where he is a Mexican National Champion in Enduro Karts. After that he made the move up to Mexican Formula Vee Championship, where he won that championship in his sophomore season. Next he moved into the Skip Barber Race Series, capturing the Rookie of the Year honors. Most recently he has been competing on Formula Car Challenge in the Formula Speed 2.0 class. He was able to capture his first win in that series recently at Thunderhill Raceway last month.

The race weekend in Ohio will be the debut for the young driver in both the F2000 Championship Series, and at the very technical Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Armida and Group-A Racing join the F2000 Championship Series in the fifth weekend of the overall 936923_10151624172636007_1353894371_nchampionship. The weekend is the first for the smaller Buck Eye Championship, which is a championship within the main championship for the two Mid-Ohio weekends. Armida will be driving one of Group-A Racing Van Diemen Zetec cars most recently piloted by Brazilian Gustavo Rizzo and Jamaican Collin Daley.

“We hope to have a good weekend, I know it’s a new car and a new track but I am sure that with this team we can fight for good results & learn a lot during the weekend.” said Armida.

“We are very excited to be working with Jose at Mid-Ohio” said team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “We have been working with him for a while now to try and put something together for him to compete with us in the F2000 Championship Series, and it has finally come together last minute to race at Mid Ohio. He has had some good success in the past, but certainly this will be a step up in the type of car, track and competition in terms of difficulty. But we are going to supply him great private coaching, engineering and everything he needs to be improving all weekend, and hopefully end it with two good results.”

Group-A Racing To Reward Its Drivers With Atlantic Test

  By GroupARacing | December 10, 2012 - 8:44 pm | Uncategorized
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Lindenhurst, NY – Group-A Racing is happy to announce an in house prize package to reward its F2000 Championship Series drivers. Through partnerships of GroupAWheels.com & Vredestein Tires the team will award any of their drivers that win the championship with them, a free Formula Atlantic test.

This is just one more thing that shows the dedication and desire of the Group-A Racing organization has for developing young talent. With this, the team becomes the only team in the F2000 Championship Series to have its own prize package to reward its drivers for their contribution to the team. This reward was strategically picked due to it will continue to help the driver become more prepared for the next season.

“We are all about developing drivers. We look to make them better drivers on and off the track and now with this program we are able to help them, to make the next step up the ladder with this prize. The Atlantic Championship Series is the next step up after the F2000 Championship Series, so it’s a great opportunity for the driver to test the equipment. Even if they do not choose Formula Atlantic, the test will be a great opportunity for the driver to get experience in a car with a lot more horsepower and downforce.” Commented team owner Joe Scarallo Sr.

Group-A Racing originally came back to F2000 competition in 2009 with two rookie drivers (Jonathan Scarallo & Collin Alexander) straight out of the Bertil Roos Racing School. It was a great year yet again for Group-A developing two young talents, scoring top-10 and top-five results all year long. They have continued to do the same with similar type of drivers along with international drivers making the transition from karts to cars. The organization is currently planning a 2 car championship effort with its 2 Van Diemen Zetecs which is the package that has won every single F2000 Championship Series race except for one.

Drivers interested in testing and racing with Group-A Racing are invited to contact them via GroupARacing@aol.com or (631) 974-4379.

Group-A Racing Enters USF2000 Series

  By GroupARacing | November 27, 2012 - 4:09 pm | Uncategorized
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Lindenhurst, NY – Group-A Racing is happy to announce an expansion of its racing organization with a two-car entry into the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.

Group-A Racing was formed in the ’90s racing go-karts locally on Long Island. As time passed it grew to be a major force, winning countless regional races and championships along with two Duffy National Championships. The team then moved on to have success in Legend Cars on the ovals and made its pro racing debut with the USF2000 category in 1996 at Walt Disney World Speedway as a part of the inaugural event for the Indy Racing League. The rookie team, with a rookie driver, came out with guns blazing, placing the car on the outside pole in a field that had over 60 cars entered. Group-A Racing went on to race in many other categories including World Challenge GT, Trans-Am and AGT. Most recently in 2011 it dominated a reality show TV race series, Circuit Battles.

“I am excited to be joining the USF2000 Series again,” commented team owner Joe Scarallo Sr. “We really enjoyed being a part of it in the ’90s. The F2000 platform is a great category that has large fields and trained a lot of today’s big names back then. It seems the series has picked up right where it left off and that’s why we want to be a part of it again.”

Group-A Racing originally came back to F2000 competition in 2009 with two rookie drivers (Jonathan Scarallo & Collin Alexander) straight out of the Bertil Roos Racing School. It was a great year yet again for Group-A developing two young talents, scoring top-10 and top-five results all year long. The team has continued to do the same with similar types of drivers, along with international drivers making the transition from karts to cars. Now it is re-entering the USF2000 category with even more knowledge and plans to be contending for wins and podiums straight out of the gate.

Drivers interested in testing and racing with Group-A Racing are invited to contact the team via GroupARacing@aol.com or (631) 974-4379.

Group-A Racing Signs Rizzo for Remainder of the Season

  By GroupARacing | August 21, 2012 - 4:08 pm | Uncategorized
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Group-A Racing is happy to announce the signing of young Brazilian talent Gustavo Rizzo for the last two races of the F2000 Championship Series at Summit Point & Watkins Glen International.  Gustavo will drive the #21 PGR/Sat Log/GroupAWheels.com Van Diemen Zetec.

Gustavo Rizzo is a young driver from Brazil that competed in the first 5 weekends of the F2000 Championship Series last year as a rookie. He did a very nice job of coming up to speed with unknown tracks and cars to the international driver. With that he was consistently running in the top 10 at tracks he had never seen before.

The season for Gustavo sadly came to an abrupt end last year when he got injured in a crash at the F2000 Championship Series races at Mosport. The injury has kept him out of a car until now when he will get in a Group-A Racing prepared Van Diemen Zetec at Summit Point for the F2000 Championship Series.

“We are really excited to welcome Gustavo to the team. He did a nice job in the car last year and he is a very pleasant person to have around out of the car as well. With our proven expertise in developing younger drivers we are sure we can help him end the season on a great note.”

Group-A Racing has a 1 seat still available for drivers that are interested in participating in the final two double header race weekends in the F2000 Championship Series. Along with that they have testing opportunities for drivers to get there a taste of the F2000 machinery. Interested parties can contact Group-A Racing via (631) 957-3901 or GroupARacing@aol.com.