Chastain Motorsports drivers Sam Chastain (above) and Brandon Newey will make their only appearance in the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship on the streets of Toronto.
Noblesville, Indiana – Chastain Motorsports will make a special one-off event appearance on the streets of Toronto with a two-car F1600 program for Brandon Newey and Sam Chastain in a pair of Mygale/Hondas, contesting the July 18-20 Toronto IndyCar event which includes the Canada-based Toyo Tires F1600 Series.
Chastain Motorsports is a full-time multi-car F1600 team, and has IndyCar roots, running the 1997 and 1998 IndyCar seasons, including starting the Indianapolis 500 both years, and again in a one-off effort in 2007. Now, the team comes full circle, racing in Toronto in one of the support events for the popular street race.
"Our goal is to try to develop young open-wheel drivers," said team owner Tom Chastain. "It's time to give something back to the sport we all love so much."
The team's two drivers, Newey and Chastain, are no strangers to Formula F success in the proven Mygale/Honda platform. Newey has competed in Pro Mazda this season and recently won the F1600 Formula F Championship Series race at VIR in the No. 29 Mygale/Honda for Chastain Motorsports, and finished second in the 2012 Championship. Newey continues to seek funding to run more Pro Mazda races.
Chastain, meanwhile, has a strong F1600 season going and is coming off a pole position at Mid-Ohio on July 6.
Newey has laps on the Toronto circuit, running in the USF2000 series in 2013.
On the engineering side, IndyCar driver Jay Howard serves as the team's driver coach and engineer, and recently the team has added David Cripps to its staff as a consultant. Cripps is a long-time IndyCar engineer.
While running the full F1600 Series schedule in the United States, the team and its engineering staff are fully prepared to take on a street circuit and new tire option in the Toyo Tires spec rubber.
Chastain has partnered with Bryan Herta Autosport for event transportation and logistics support in Toronto. The Bryan Herta IndyCar and Indy Lights squads leave on Monday for Toronto, and that has given Chastain just a few days to turn around two Mygales from Mid-Ohio and prepare them and all their supplies for a street race north of the border.
As for the circuit, the track is set against the famous Toronto Princess Gate and features a long backstretch down Princess Blvd. to a wide and confrontational turn three. Toronto is an 11-turn, 1.755-mile street circuit that has hosted IndyCar races since 1986.
Giving Chastain and Newey more open-wheel experience, the team also hopes to show off its program in front of a large crowd. In addition, activities are planned with perspective Formula F drivers for the weekend and the team has been busy building a third Mygale/Honda for interested drivers.
Learn more about Chastain Motorsports on the web at www.ChastainMotorsports.com