Trent Hindman and car owner Brian Graham celebrate win at Mosport (photo by Christine Mouraux)

Wayside, N.J. – MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver Trent Hindman has had a busy six weeks since he picked up his first career Skip Barber National victory Memorial Day weekend at Lime Rock Park.

Two weeks after his triumph in northwest Connecticut, the Wayside, N.J. driver headed even farther north to Montreal, where he competed with BGR Team Grote in the Formula Tour 1600 event at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in support of the Canadian Grand Prix. Hindman qualified eighth and finished Race 1 in sixth place before storming to the front on a wet track to take the victory in Sunday morning’s Race 2. After returning home to complete his high school final exams for the year, Hindman returned to Canada this past weekend, making his Ontario Formula Ford Championship debut with BGR Team Grote at Mosport International Raceway as part of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Vortex Brake Pads 200.

“Learning the track was easy, but getting up to the speed of the leaders and getting comfortable with the car took longer than I thought”, noted Hindman during an afternoon phone call. “I broke the shift linkage and the repair cost me most of one session, but I really liked the track and the rain made it even more fun.”

Hindman qualified second Saturday morning for the first of two races on the weekend, winning in wet conditions later in the day. On Sunday, for the annual Can-Am Cup race, he again qualified second and was running a close third when a serious crash involving the first and second place cars of Matthew DiLeo and Shane Jantzi, along with a lap car, stopped the race.

“I was right behind the leaders going into Turn 1. When Matthew was passing traffic in the turn, he locked wheels with the lap car, spun and hit the Jantzi’s car, sending him into the wall, hard. I was lucky to get through the mess undamaged.”

The red flag came out so workers could attend to the drivers and their cars, and to rebuild the tire wall. All drivers would be okay. The incident left Hindman with the lead, but officials soon decided that there wouldn’t be enough time to restart the race after the clean up, so the race was called. Timing and scoring reverted back to the last green flag lap for the final result, awarding the Can-Am Cup to DiLeo, followed by Jantzi with Hindman credited with third.

“I’m just glad that Shane is okay because that was a big hit. It’s unfortunate how things ended because we had 11 minutes to go when the red flag came out and it was setting up to be a good battle at the end. I really have to thank Brian Graham and everyone at BGR Team Grote for the awesome job they did all weekend, putting me in a competitive car again.”

After the busman’s holiday north of the border, Hindman returns to the familiar confines of a Formula Skip Barber race car for Rounds 7 and 8 of the 2011 BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by Mazda this weekend at Road America. After breaking through last month at Lime Rock Park, Hindman is realistic about his chances at the big Midwest track.

“No win is easy. Winning does boost your morale and your confidence, but I’m not a believer that the second win or any subsequent win is easier. The talent pool in the Skip Barber National pool is just too deep to say that. It would be nice to get a win or even a pole but I want to do the best I can and come out of Road America with as many points as possible and no issues.”

Road America
A little more than an hour north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin sits the Town of Elkhart Lake and the four-mile Road America circuit. The track is a favorite amongst Skip Barber competitors and that is no different for Hindman, who took an important step in his racing career there.

“The last time I was at Road America with Skip Barber was in 2009, when I participated in my first ever car race. I always liked Road America. It is so different from any of the other tracks we race at because it is just so big. The draft is going to be insane. I’m expecting there to be some good racing. I hope we’ll keep it clean.”