Formula Master: Top-five Result for Castaneda in Series Debut
Troy Castaneda scored a top-five result in his first-ever Italian Formula Master event
(Photo: Castaneda)
VALLELUNGA, ITALY (June 10, 2008) - Troy Castaneda recently commenced his first season formula car competition in Europe, earning a top-five finish in the Italian Formula Master Championship.

After arriving at the Vallelunga road course on Friday, Castaneda got his first chance to get behind the wheel in official competition on Saturday via two 30-minute practice sessions in the morning, followed by a 35-minute qualifying session in the afternoon. After a few laps of track familiarization in the opening practice session, Castaneda began looking for a fast time. When the checkered flag waved, he had posted the sixth quickest time. Following some changes to the car, he headed out for the second practice session confident in the car and his abilities. Continuing to gain speed, the session ended with the American fifth on the timing sheets. Returning to the track a few hours later, Castaneda set about posting a quick time in qualifying. While the youngster showed good speed in various sectors on new tires, he was unable to better his best time to date. Pitting for some final changes another set of tires, he was just getting up to speed when the session as halted for a car off-course. Went the session resumed, Castaneda's chances a top spot on the grid came to abrupt halt as he ran out of gas. Having held fourth on the time charts for most of the session, Castaneda was eventually classified fifth for his first Formula Master's race.

Under ideal clear blue skies, Castaneda and the rest of the field rolled on-course for race one of the season-opening doubleheader. A little to get away from the false grid, the American was passed by several cars. Under instructions from his team, Castaneda retook his proper position on the warm-up lap prior to his first-ever standing start. While initially getting away cleanly from the line, Castaneda made a slight error while switching gears, losing multiple positions. Remaining composed, he battled all race long, eventually crossing the stripe in sixth place.

Unfortunately a short time after the race, Castaneda was summoned to the Race Director, where he was given 25 second penalty for passing on the warm-up lap, despite being given permission from a race steward. As a result, he was classified 10th in the final results.

Putting the incident behind him Castaneda enjoyed a superb start to race two later in the day. Using the draft to full effect, the American steadily passed several cars, advancing into the top-five. He maintained the position the entire second half of the race, earning fifth place at the checkered flag.

"It was a great weekend and this is just the beginning," stated Castaneda. "The team worked extremely well together and we know that we are in contention for the podium and wins. I’m so excited for the next race, which is in three weeks at Magione. I have never seen this track before so I’m going to see if I can drive down sometime next week just to get a look at it. I want to make sure that I am as prepared as possible for this next race."