http://www.capaldiracing.com/index.htmlHot News!en2012-05-16T14:44:05-04:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Thu, 17 May 2012 14:50:13 -0400News2012-05-16T14:44:05-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-racing-returns-to-the-world-challenge-podium.html#unique-entry-id-12http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-racing-returns-to-the-world-challenge-podium.html#unique-entry-id-12

Capaldi and GSP Racing welcomed Aaron Povoledo to the team for round 5 of the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge season at Laguna Seca. The weekend was Aaron’s, who placed second in the World Challenge Touring Car championship last year, first time behind the wheel of the #26 Total/Dell’s Cherries/GSP Racing Mustang Boss 302S. Aaron spent the weekend’s practice sessions getting used to the Mustang and got up to speed quickly, posting the 5th fastest time in the weekend’s 2nd practice session. Aaron took his knowledge gained in the practice sessions into qualifying and came back with a 7th place starting position for the 50-minute race.

During the race, Aaron stayed out of trouble running consistent laps and worked his way thought the field toward the front. The race’s two full-course cautions helped keep the field together which made Aaron’s job easier and soon, he found himself in fourth place right behind the Acura of Nick Esayian. Aaron made his move on the last lap. He was able to get by Esayian to finish the race in 3rd, Capaldi Racing’s best finish this year. 

“Wow, what a fantastic first race with a new team and car,” said Aaron. “I cannot thank GSP Racing and Capaldi Racing enough for their hard work. The crew worked non-stop making set up changes and improvements to the car. I’d like to thank Total Lubricants, Dell’s Cherries, Ford Racing, SafeRacer, and Bell Racing for all their support. I can’t wait for the Detroit Grand Prix!” 

Capaldi Racing will be back on track with the Pirelli World Challenge on June 1 for the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. Until then, go to www.world-challengetv.com to watch coverage from Laguna Seca and Like us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on Team news.

Photo by Mark Webber, Pirelli World Challenge]]>News2012-05-04T12:28:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/first-fiesta-b-spec-pole.html#unique-entry-id-11http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/first-fiesta-b-spec-pole.html#unique-entry-id-11

B-Spec racing made its Pirelli World Challenge debut this past weekend at Miller Motorsport Park with the first three rounds of the season. Capaldi Racing traveled to Miller with team driver, Craig Capaldi, to contest the weekend’s three races with the Ford Racing/Capaldi Racing Ford Fiesta. Craig had very little seat time in the Fiesta as he headed out for qualifying for the weekend’s first race. A two-time NASA national champion in a Focus, Craig put his experience racing front-wheel drive Fords to good use and earned the first-ever pole position for the first-ever Pirelli World Challenge B-Spec race in his Ford Fiesta. 

In the first race, Craig was able to build a small gap during the first seven laps but was ultimately caught by the Mazda 2 of Shaun Bailey. During Craig and Shaun’s fight for position, Jonathan Start caught them in his Fiat 500. Start was able to get by the duo to take the lead, and Craig dropped to third where he finished the race. Craig started the second race third and spent the race battling with Shaun Bailey for second place. Again, Bailey was able to get the edge on Craig, causing Craig to finish third for the second consecutive race.  

Unlike races one and two, race three of the weekend featured a standing start. At the start, Craig jumped into the lead from his second place starting position. For the first four laps, Craig and the Honda Fit of Sage Marie battled for the lead, until Marie was able to pull away. After dropping to fourth during the race, Craig passed Start’s Fiat 500 for third on the last lap to claim the final step on the podium – his third third place finish and third podium finish of the weekend.

“That Ford Fiesta – what a great car! Last weekend featured some of the best racing I’ve ever been a part of,” said Craig. “This has a chance to be a really great class and it provided the closest racing of the weekend’s four World Challenge classes. It was literally door-to-door and mirror-to-mirror. I definitely see this class growing in the future. It’s an honor to earn Ford the first-ever pole in this new class and the fact that the car’s set up was never challenged is a testament to the package Ford Racing worked so hard to develop. I can’t thank them enough for all their support.”

Photo by Mark Webber, Pirelli World Challenge]]>News2012-04-09T08:00:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/bad-luck-at-barber-200.html#unique-entry-id-8http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/bad-luck-at-barber-200.html#unique-entry-id-8

Capaldi Racing traveled to Barber Motorsports Park for round 2 of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season with veteran team driver, Tony Buffomante, and also welcomed Brad Adams back to the team. Brad last raced with Capaldi Racing in the 2010 CTSCC season. The team arrived at Barber with their familiar silver and orange Mustang Boss 302R sporting new 2013 bodywork.   

The team spent the practice sessions setting the #68 Capaldi Racing/Wolverine Bronze Mustang Boss 302R up for the technically challenging 2.3-mile road course. Brad ended up qualifying the car 16th out of 37 cars in the GS class, his best CTSCC qualifying performance to date. When the green flag dropped, the 77-car field raced toward turn one. Unfortunately, a car carried too much speed into the turn and hit Brad and a number of other cars. 

Brad had to be towed back to the paddock and the team quickly assessed the damage. The impact broke the car’s steering rack and the team worked like crazy to replace that and fix the broken bodywork. The team got Brad back on track 45 minutes to the race and since there was another crash at the restart after the first lap incident the race hadn’t run a green flag lap. Brad reentered the race 15 laps down and began making up time. Brad pitted for fresh tires and fuel with about an hour left in the race and Tony jumped into the car. Tony spent the last hour running with the top 10 cars, but kept his distance since he was several laps down. Tony ran a clean stint and ended up finishing 22nd.  

“The first lap, first turn crash was a huge disappointment,” said Tony. “The team did a great job getting the car set up and it felt like a top 10 car. Brad had a great qualifying session, coming back with his best qualifying performance in the CTSCC. I’d like to give a huge thanks to the team for getting the car back out into the race so we could score some championship points.”

“It was great to be back racing with Capaldi Racing,” said Brad. “This was my first time racing the Boss 302R and it’s a blast. The team did a great job getting the car set up, and unfortunately we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is a really big disappointment. The team worked like crazy to get us back out on track and I can’t thank them enough for their efforts.”

Photo by Wes Duenkel]]>News2012-03-30T08:00:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-gsp-racing-success-at-season-opener.html#unique-entry-id-7http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-gsp-racing-success-at-season-opener.html#unique-entry-id-7

Capaldi Racing arrived in St. Petersburg for the 2012 Pirelli World Challenge season opener with a brand new car and a new driver. Car owner GSP Racing brought Alfonso Perri in to drive the Total/Dell’s Cherries/GSP Racing 2013 Mustang Boss 302S for the 2012 season. Although Alfonso has an extensive karting background, and years of experience in open wheel racing, this will be Alfonso’s first season in the World Challenge series. St. Petersburg was only to be the second time Alfonso drove the Mustang. 

The weekend looked promising in the practice sessions with Alfonso quickly learning the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course and posting lap times in the middle of the pack. After practice, the team made a few adjustments to the car and fitted a fresh set of Pirelli tires for qualifying and ended up qualifying 11th for the weekend’s first race. During the race, Alfonso ran clean, consistent laps and stayed out of trouble, moving up three positions by the end of the race to finish in 8th place. 

Alfonso started the second race in 7th. When the green flag dropped, the car stalled and Alfonso was forced to start the race at the back of the 47-car field. Alfonso pushed hard throughout the race making up time and worked his way back up to 17th overall (10th in GTS). Unfortunately, toward the end of the race, Alfonso got into the wall at turn 10 and was forced to retire, finishing the race 18th in GTS and 31st overall.  

“Overall we had a great weekend,” said Alfonso. “We were making progress all weekend and finishing in the top 10 (8th) in my first World Challenge race was fantastic.  We had a great starting position for the second race and even though the car stalled at the start, we had a great race making up time every lap. I’m very sorry to the team for getting into the wall and ending our race early. They never missed a beat all weekend and delivered a consistently great car. I’d like to thank Total, Dell’s Cherries, Picture Cars Inc., GearUp Safety Equipment, Eurokart Racing, and GSP Racing for their support.”

Capaldi Racing will be back on track with the Pirelli World Challenge April 13 for round 2 of the 2012 season on the streets of Long Beach. Coverage from St. Petersburg will air on NBC Sports Network Sunday, April 8 at 4:30 p.m. EST.]]>News2012-03-21T08:00:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-racing-gsp-racing-team-up.html#unique-entry-id-6http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-racing-gsp-racing-team-up.html#unique-entry-id-6

After a successful 2011 Pirelli World Challenge Season, finishing 2nd in the GTS championship, Capaldi Racing is returning for the 2012 World Challenge season with an all-new car and team. GSP Racing and Capaldi Racing have teamed up with driver Alfonso Perri, Total Performance Engine Oil, and Dell’s Cherries to campaign the #26 Total/Dell’s Cherries 2013 Mustang Boss 302S in the GTS class. 

This will be Alfonso Perri’s first year in the Pirelli World Challenge. He started racing karts when he was 11 years old and quickly moved to Europe to race on the international stage. After karting, Alfonso moved to Formula F competition and also coached other drivers. The team’s first race is March 24 on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. 

“I can’t wait for the season to start,” said Alfonso. “Our test was the first time I drove the Boss, and I had a blast. I can’t thank Gino Lucci (President of GSP Racing) enough for the opportunity to race in the World Challenge this year. I’d also like to thank Total, Dell’s Cherries, Picture Cars Inc., GearUp Safety Equipment, Eurokart Racing, and GSP Racing for all their support. I’m really looking forward to working with Capaldi Racing. They are a great group of people who have had a lot of success in World Challenge. I’m going to do my best to give everyone a great year!” 

“It’s great to be back in World Challenge this year,” said Leo Capaldi, team principal. “We had a lot of success in the older Mustang FR500S last year, so I can’t wait to see how things go with the all-new Boss 302S. Gino and Alfonso are fitting right in with the team, so we are going to have a great year. Like last year, we are going to be racing to build awareness for a great charity - the Carroll Shelby Foundation - and it’s an honor to help out.”

Capaldi Racing will be on track with the Pirelli World Challenge this weekend, March 23-25 for the season opening races on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Go to www.world-challenge.com to watch live streaming of the races and visit www.capaldiracing.com and Like Us on Facebook to stay up to date with team news.

About Total Performance Engine Oil. Total is a leading multinational energy company with 96,387 employees and operations in more than 130 countries. Total engages in all aspects of the petroleum industry, including upstream operations (oil and gas exploration, development and production, LNG) and downstream operations (refining, marketing and the trading and shipping of crude oil and petroleum products) and is also a major actor in chemicals (base and specialty chemicals). 

About Dell’s Maraschino Cherries. Dell's Maraschino Cherries was founded in 1948 as a and since then, three generations of hands-on management has made Dell's the premier Maraschino Cherry company. Only the choicest cherries are hand harvested direct from select farmers across the country and arrive in their fully automated establishment. With this high level of control, they stay committed to providing the best quality and largest variety of cherries nationwide.]]>News2012-02-04T12:00:00-05:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/strong-finish-at-daytona.html#unique-entry-id-5http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/strong-finish-at-daytona.html#unique-entry-id-5

After signing a last minute deal with Wolverine Bronze, Capaldi Racing headed down to Daytona International Speedway for the 2012 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season opener. Team drivers, Tony Buffomante and Craig Capaldi, had their work cut out for them after missing Grand-Am’s pre-season testing sessions earlier in the month. Since this was Craig’s first time racing at Daytona, he went out in the first practice session to learn the 3.56-mile track. Tony and Craig worked together in the following practice sessions to get the car set up for the 2.5-hour race. Craig went out for qualifying having only driven 15 laps during practice and put the car 23rd on the grid for the race.]]>News2012-01-25T12:00:00-05:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/tony-buffomante-raceday-interview.html#unique-entry-id-4http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/tony-buffomante-raceday-interview.html#unique-entry-id-4

Capaldi Racing’s Tony Buffomante was a featured guest on Rob D'Amico’s RaceDay on Fox radio show on Sunday, January 22.  The show aired live on Fox Sports Radio (XM Channel 169) and was streamed on www.foxsports.com and www.iHeartRaceDay.com.  During the interview, Tony and Rob discussed Capaldi Racing’s upcoming season in Grand-Am’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC), the team’s impressive performance toward the end of the 2011 CTSCC season, the new partnership between Capaldi Racing and Wolverine Bronze, and the Team’s new Ford Racing Boss 302R race car.  

CLICK HERE to listen to Tony’s interview. 

Also on the show was Ford Racing’s Mark Wilson.  Mark and Rob talked about Ford Racing’s turnkey race car program and the success they had last year with the Boss 302S in World Challenge and the Boss 302R in Grand-Am.  

CLICK HERE to listen to Mark’s interview.]]>News2011-09-23T12:00:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/grand-am-season-finale-2011.html#unique-entry-id-3http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/grand-am-season-finale-2011.html#unique-entry-id-3

Capaldi Racing traveled to its home track, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, for the EMCO Gears Classic - the final round of Grand-Am's 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) season. The team finished preparing the #68 Capaldi Racing Ford Mustang Boss 302R just days before team drivers Tony Buffomante and Kyle Gimple got behind the wheel for practice. Tony and Kyle spent the weekend's practice sessions working with the team to get the new car dialed in. Tony took the car out for qualifying and set the 6th fastest time for a spot on the 3rd row of the grid for the 2.5-hour race.]]>News2011-10-10T12:00:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/world-challenge-season-finale-2011.html#unique-entry-id-2http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/world-challenge-season-finale-2011.html#unique-entry-id-2

Capaldi Racing traveled to Road Atlanta for the Pirelli World Challenge season finale looking to end the bad luck streak that plagued them for the past two races at Infineon Raceway and Laguna Sega.  Road Atlanta is the home track for team driver, Eric Foss, and Eric has a lot of experience there.  Needless to say, the team was hopeful going into practice.  ]]>News2011-11-02T12:00:00-04:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-racing-sema-focus.html#unique-entry-id-1http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/capaldi-racing-sema-focus.html#unique-entry-id-1

Racing in both the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and the Pirelli World Challenge this year has left Capaldi Racing with very little down time.  Even though the racing season is over, Capaldi Racing hasn't slowed down a bit. Since the team's last race at Road Atlanta in early October, they have been working non-stop getting their latest build ready for display as a feature vehicle in Ford Motor Company's major indoor exhibit in this year's SEMA Show in Las Vegas.  ]]>News2012-01-17T12:00:00-05:00http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/daytona-2012.html#unique-entry-id-0http://www.capaldiracing.com/files/daytona-2012.html#unique-entry-id-0

After an up-and-down beginning to the 2011 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) Series for Capaldi Racing, the team got hot in the final two races with the arrival of theirnew Mustang Boss 302R. With their first pole, a track record, and a top 10 finish in the last two races, Team Principal, Leo Capaldi, was excited about the momentum heading into the off-season. "We learned a lot as a team in 2011", Capaldi said, "and I am confident we are well positioned for more success as we head into 2012!"]]>