Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal (June 11, 2010) – Rising American open-wheel racing star Conor Daly, current championship points leader in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, gets his first hands-on experience with Formula One racing this weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix courtesy of iRacing.com, Grand Prix Tours, Dell and Intel.

Twenty Star Mazda Championship iRacers from around the world are poised to race online against Formula One driver Lucas di Grassi (Virgin Racing) and Daly, son of F1/Indy Car racing legend Derek Daly and winner of the last three Star Mazda Championship races in a row.  The event is the Finals of the Grand Prix Masters Tournament and will take place in Montreal on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix.  The finalists were the highest scoring iRacers during the Grand Prix Masters Tournament, held April 27- May 3 and sponsored by Grand Prix Tours, Dell and Intel. 

In keeping with the international flavor of Formula One and iRacing, the qualifiers represent nearly a dozen international clubs and range in age from 14 to 31.  The qualifiers are: Alberto Baraldi (Italy), Kevin Bartsch (France), Andre Boettcher (Germany), Richard Crozier (Scotland), Max Dell’Orco (Italy), Evgeniy Donstov (Russia), Danny Engels (Germany), Dave Gelink (Netherlands), Philippe Gosselin (Canada), Klaus Kivekas (Finland), Darryn Lobb (South Africa), Martin Macjon (Germany), Aritan Maia (Brazil), Mikko Niemi (Finland), Luke McLean (Australia), Jeffrey Rietveld (Netherlands), Victor Szabo (Hungary), Jonathan Stewart (Canada), Blake Townend (England) and David Williams (England).

“I’m confident of being able to hold my own against these guys because I use the iRacing.com Star Mazda Championship simulation quite a bit to stay sharp between races and learn new tracks,” says Daly.  “The iRacing.com simulation is as close as you can get to actually strapping yourself into the car, and the detail of each track is particularly realistic.  The Star Mazda Championship car is one of the most popular simulations on iRacing.com and you’ve got to be really good to be a top racer in one of these international clubs.  They get a lot more track time than drivers who race the real thing, but it’s an interesting new challenge and I’m looking forward to it.”  

The twenty finalists will compete online, from their homes around the world, with di Grassi and Daly in simulators on a stage in Montreal’s Rue de Fortification before a live audience at 5:30 pm ET (21:30 GMT) on June 12.   The 20 lap race at Canada’s Mosport International Raceway, will feature Star Mazda cars painted in Dell and Intel liveries. 

The event will be broadcast live on iRacing.com (http://www.iracing.com/multimedia/live-broadcasts/), with highlights shown on an upcoming edition of the Inside Grand Prix television show.  The three top finishers (excluding di Grassi and Daly) will receive a Dell Studio 17 laptop computer (first place), Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook (second place) and iRacing.com Prize Pack ($100 in credits, a diecast car and iRacing hat).  Additional information on the event can be found at:

http://www.iracing.com/grand-prix-masters

http://www.iracing.com/multimedia/live-broadcasts

http://www.gptours.com/index.php?command=show&what=drivercast&video=177