<< The Aim Autosport Star Mazda team came away from their first race on home soil in 2005 with all three drivers in the top ten. The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal was the scene were Mark Wilkins, Brandon Thomas and James Hinchcliffe were ready to race in front of their countrymen, delivering some “spectaculaire “results at the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit.

The weather was a big part of the story during practice #1 as the Formula Mazda’s were first to take to the track on Friday on a damp but drying track. James turned in a time of 1:42.865 good for third fastest while Mark was just behind in fourth at 1:43.221 and Brandon managing a 1:46.232 good for 12th.

With the track completely dry practice #2 saw Mark second quickest at 1:38.903, James fifth fastest at 1:39.292 and Brandon 13th with a time of 1:39.962.

At the start of the race all three AIM drivers got away very well with James shooting into second place from his fifth place start, Mark moving up from 12th to tenth and Brandon passing ten cars on the first lap!

James’s great run began to sour as he overheated his brakes and began sliding backwards eventually finishing eighth, Mark ran a steady consistent race coming home in sixth place while Brandon had the drive of the race starting in 40th and finishing tenth!

#96 Mark Wilkins (AIM Autosport/Trizec Canada)
Qualified: 12th / Finished: 6th
Quotes from Mark:
"I have quite a bit of experience at this track- racing here three times before so I was comfortable pushing hard from my 12th place starting position," Mark said. "Today's results moved me up the points from 13th to 8th so I’m quite happy.”


#97 Brandon Thomas (AIM Autosport/Western Union)
Qualified: 40th / Finished: 10th
Quotes from Brandon:
"I always do well when I'm racing in Canada, these fans are nuts about racing and I'm nuts about racing so it works out," Brandon reasoned. "My mechanics and engineer gave me a great car that had lots of traction coming out onto these long straights which really helped me move up the field."


#98 James Hinchcliffe (AIM Autosport/Emexis/Noco/Mobil 1)
Qualified: 5th / Finished: 8th
Quotes from James:
“To finish 8th was quite the accomplishment having had contact both with competitors and the walls, dealing with lapped traffic - plus a spin. According to James, "My car handled it all so well. It was incredible after all that, we did not have a problem with anything else. It is a testament to the car's construction that we could still bring it home with a top-ten finish."

Race Results:
1 Raphael Matos
2 Graham Rahal
3 Robbie Pecorari
4 Scott Jenkins
5 Marco Andretti
6 Mark Wilkins (#96 AIM Autosport/Trizec Canada)
7 Pablo Donoso
8 James Hinchcliffe (#98 AIM Autosport/Emexis/Noco/Mobil 1)
9 Jonathan Branam
10 Brandon Thomas (#97 AIM Autosport/Western Union)
11 Ryan Justice
12 Doug Peterson
13 Dan McMullen
14 Jonathan Klein
15 Ross Smith
16 William Daniel
17 Sean Guthrie
18 Brian Thienes
19 Mark Patterson
20 Robbie Montinola
21 Adrian Carrio
22 John Faulkner
23 Jim Malackowski
24 Dan Tomlin III
25 Patrick O'Neill
26 Emmett Murphy
27 Frank McCormick
28 Richard Haskell
29 Anthony Downs
30 Tom Mabey
31 Jon Brownson
32 Mickey Gilbert
33 Phil Fogg Jr.
34 John Pew
35 Maryeve Dufault
36 Steve Cook
37 Mike Anderson
38 Dan Tomlin Jr.
39 Dan Weyland
40 Luis Schiavo
41 CR Crews
42 Phil Saville

AIM Autosport Notes:

- Round Four from Montreal will be televised on Speed Channel on July 3rd at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.

- The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear now prepares for it's only oval race of the season at Pikes Peak International Raceway for Round Five of the championship on July 2-3.

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