Diego Ferreira and Matthew Brabham shared the victory spoils when the new Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires commenced at the state-of-the-art Circuit of The Americas road course in Austin, Texas, earlier this month, and duly head the point standings as the contenders travel to Florida this weekend for two Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Petersburg races in support of the opening round of the IZOD IndyCar Series.

Andersen Promotions, promoters of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, is pleased to announce that Allied Building Products has expanded its partnership and title race sponsorship for 2013 to include the Pro Mazda Series in addition to USF2000.

Sage Karam, the third-place finisher in the 2012 Pro Mazda (formerly Star Mazda) Championship, will drive in the 2013 Firestone Indy Lights Series for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (SPM).

As he bids to make it back-to-back crowns across the other side of the Atlantic this year, Jack Hawksworth has received a timely pre-season boost with the venerable British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) elevating him within its ranks from the status of Rising Star to SuperStar.

Matthew Brabham was disappointed to finish third in yesterday’s opening round of the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at the Circuit of The Americas, especially after setting the pace consistently during pre-season testing. Last year’s winner of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda more than made amends in this afternoon’s Round 2, run over 12 laps on the 20-turn, 3.41-mile road course, sweeping from third to first at the drop of the green flag and never being seriously challenged.