Prototype Lites newcomer Whelden Opens Eyes

Subtitle:Series Newcomer, World Speed Make Big Impression With Strong Debut

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 14, 2016) – Michael Whelden stood on the podium after Round 2 of the Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires in mid-March at Sebring International Raceway, drenched from a champagne spray after finishing in third place.

Whelden’s eyes squinted as he smiled while rubbing away the sting of the bubbly. But the eyes of the rest of the paddock were wide open, knowing newcomers Whelden and World Speed Motorsports had emerged as Lites 1 title contenders after their first event in the series.

Former open-wheel racer Whelden, from Sausalito, California, finished fourth in Round 1 and third in Round 2 at Sebring in the No. 14 World Speed Motorsports car. He is fourth in the Lites 1 championship standings, eight points behind leader and top series returnee Clark Toppe of JDC Motorsports.

“I say we definitely opened some eyes,” Whelden said. “I know (2015 series champion) Kenton Koch was extremely surprised to hear from my engineer that we had just shown up that weekend, had just gotten the car.

“The only person there who knows me from racing outside of my team is (Lites 1 Masters driver) Dave House. We had been teammates at World Speed in the Formula Car Challenge. He knows I can go fast. I just don’t think he warned anybody.”

Whelden, 27, first attended an auto race with his parents in 1992, at age 3, at Sonoma Raceway and was hooked. He started racing at age 10 in a Yamaha junior sportsman kart, traveling to races with his father.

But Whelden’s racing career went on hold three years later. His father passed away when he was 13, and Whelden sold the kart and focused on his high school studies and other pursuits, including sailboat racing.

Still, the auto racing bug lingered near the surface. At age 17, Whelden no longer could resist the lure. He attended the Jim Russell Racing School in 2006 at Sonoma Raceway and competed in the school’s series that summer, with a victory and five other podium finishes in six starts.

“I got faster, better and was really starting to enjoy it,” Whelden said.

But then another crossroads arrived. Whelden graduated from high school and decided to enroll at Eckerd College, a waterfront campus in St. Petersburg, Florida. The school had a competitive sailing program, and Whelden stepped out of the cockpit and back into the boat to satisfy his need for competitive speed.

“I really enjoyed sailing,” Whelden said. “The opportunities for sailing, where I was (in St. Petersburg), were much greater than racing. Having more opportunities to be on faster boats, doing it collegiately, getting immersed in that.”

Whelden graduated from Eckerd in 2011 and returned to his native Northern California, where he learned how to race as a boy and a teen. The desire to race with open wheels instead of the open sea bubbled up again.

He started talking with officials from World Speed Motorsports, based at Sonoma Raceway, just 30 minutes from Whelden’s home in Sausalito. The team has raced successfully in a variety of series, including the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires.

Whelden returned to the cockpit in 2012, driving the Formula Speed junior open-wheel car developed by World Speed in the Formula Car Challenge series.

He then jumped to Pro Mazda with World Speed in 2013, also winning a national championship in the Formula Car Challenge. That success landed him a spot in the Mazda Club Racer Shootout, in which he finished second.

In 2014, Whelden competed in selected Pro Mazda events and repeated as the Formula Car Challenge national champion. He jumped at an opportunity to try a race car with fenders in 2015, winning three of his four starts in the United States Touring Car Championship in an all-wheel-drive, turbocharged sedan.

“Coming from open-wheel stuff, it was coming from the opposite direction,” Whelden said. “But I figured it was good to get experience with bigger, heavier cars.”

That successful experience outside of open-wheel racing opened Whelden’s eyes to a potential new world of competition – in sports cars.

He always had paid attention to the Mazda Prototype Lites Presented by Cooper Tires since his return to racing in 2012. So when looking for a 2016 racing destination last fall, Whelden planted Prototype Lites seeds with World Speed Team Principal Telo Stewart.

“I had spoken to World Speed about it, and they were definitely interested in running the series,” Whelden said. “I know them very well; I know they’re a very good team. I have a very good rapport with them.

“I asked them how serious they would be if I was capable of building the funds. Telo and I stayed in touch. Early in the year, I made sure he knew about the whereabouts of cars that we could run and where we would be budget-wise.”

Whelden and Stewart put together a deal shortly before the season opener March 16-18 at Sebring. World Speed competed the previous weekend at the Pro Mazda event during the IndyCar opener at St. Petersburg, Florida, so the team already was in the Sunshine State.

“As for the team, we are impressed with the series for a number of reasons,” Stewart said. “We have been a part of the Mazda family for a long time, although in open wheel, but really appreciate both of the Mazda ladders. We have always enjoyed running with IMSA, along with IndyCar, and were pleased to be back with them.

“Possibly the biggest reason is that the Mazda Lites series is just the right fit for some drivers. We look forward to doing more there.”

There were plenty of obstacles to scale for Whelden and World Speed at Sebring. Whelden first saw and sat in his Mazda-powered Élan DP02 car during a promoter test the day before the Sebring event started. The team was very familiar with Mazda-powered cars, but this was the first time it had worked with a Lites car in 2016 specifications.

Whelden also never had turned a lap on the bumpy, tricky, 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit at Sebring.

But Whelden’s immense learning curve was flattened somewhat when he was paired again with engineer Kevin Harrison, who guided him to the 2014 Formula Car Challenge national title.

“It was great to work with him again,” Whelden said.

The experience gained from that relationship – and Whelden’s growing aptitude with the paddle shifters and high downforce of the Prototype Lites car – helped him climb from the ninth starting spot in a truncated qualifying session to fourth place in his series debut in Race 1.

Whelden became embroiled the next day in a thrilling, four-driver race for the win in Round 2 with JDC returning standouts Toppe and Austin Versteeg and fellow rookie Patricio O’Ward of series veteran team Performance Tech Motorsports. He ended up third, just 1.637 seconds behind winner Versteeg.

“We definitely had a mountain to climb,” Whelden said. “Thankfully they (World Speed) know what they’re doing. They know my driving style and where we could start with the car setup. I had just gotten used to where we wanted to be and was getting used to the bumps. We just slowly made changes.

“Our first qualifying session was disappointing because it was so short. We knew we were faster. But the first round there, going from P9 to P4 was awesome, as was getting the second-fastest lap of the weekend. We knew we had the speed. The second race I had an awesome battle with Clark Toppe, Austin Versteeg and Patricio O’Ward, and it was a four-car race for first place. We were so stoked about that. We showed up literally with nothing and wound up with a podium and the first race, really good points on the board for later on.”

That strong debut event has caused Whelden to create a two-fold focus for 2016: Win the Lites 1 Drivers Championship and hopefully pave a road into the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and a drive in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“Going into this season, I knew we would be competitive,” Whelden said. “I knew it was going to be a little tough having no time in the car before Sebring since everything came together late.

“I thought Sebring might be our throwaway race where it wasn’t going to be our best finish, but it wound up still being a very solid weekend for us. And it put us in a spot where we can definitely challenge for the championship, and that’s my goal.

“Prototype Lites is a good fit mainly for the fact the competition is there. There are a lot of good, young drivers in it. I think that makes the series so much stronger, pairing us off against each other.

“This is a perfect stepping stone to make a name for myself, to hopefully open up some doors going further into the future.”