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.

In an 11th hour deal that got him to the track race day morning, Nick Andries made his return to the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires (formerly the Star Mazda Championship) and his debut for JDC Motorsports for the season opening rounds of the 2013 season at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, his first race since a one-off Firestone Indy Lights drive at last year’s Long Beach Grand Prix.

The start of the newly re-branded Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires this past weekend (March 1-2) proved to be an up-and down affair for three-time series champion JDC MotorSports. While the talented foursome of Nick Andries, Zack Meyer, Juan Piedrahita, and Lloyd Read all showed good speed, some setbacks prevented them from securing the results desired during the Circuit of The Americas doubleheader in Texas.

Juan Camilo Acosta of M1 Racing got the 2013 season of the Pro Mazda Championship presented by Cooper Tires off to an exciting and very successful start on Friday when he finished fourth in the first half of a season-opening doubleheader at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.

American open-wheel rising star Spencer Pigot produced an impressive performance to finish second on his debut in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at Circuit of the Americas on Friday afternoon. His hopes of another strong finish in Saturday's Race 2 were unfortunately scuppered when he was taken out in a multi-car accident at the first corner, but the 19-year-old from Orlando, Fla., still took a lot of positives from the weekend.