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| June 23, 2012 News |
| Star Mazda: Karam on Pole at Iowa |
 | Sage Karam secured his third consecutive Iowa Speedway pole with the fast time in Saturday qualifying
(Photo: Star Mazda Championship - Eric McCombs) |
After setting the fast time in practice, Nazareth, Pa., native Sage Karam waited patiently for a light rain shower to pass and the jet blower to dry the track before taking his No. 88 Andretti Autosport/Comfort Revolution Mazda out to win the PEAK Performance Pole Award for Saturday's (June 23) Iowa Speedway Foundation Star Mazda 100. His lap of 21.907 (146.912 mph) marks his third straight pole at this track - 2010 in USF200 and 2011 in Star Mazda. If he wins the evening race, he will have scored a 'hat trick' in the most complete sense of the word.
Staring on the outside of the front row will be the current Star Mazda championship points leader, English racer Jack Hawksworth in the No. 82 Team Pelfrey/TORGOEN Swiss Watches/EXA Networks Mazda. His lap time of 21.931 (146.751 mph) is, like Karam's, under the existing Star Mazda lap record at Iowa Speedway, a 21.933 set in 2010 by Conor Daly.
Completing the all-star top-three is Finnish racer Petri Suvanto, the 2011 USF2000 champion who is racing in Star Mazda this season with scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy. He turned a lap of 21.982 (146.411 mph) in the No. 81 Team Pelfrey/Mazda Road to Indy Mazda - part of a 13-car lead pack that all qualified within 8/10ths of a second of each other.
"I just love this track and look forward to coming here every year," said Karam, a 17 year-old high school student who is a top-ranked wrestler when not behind the wheel of his race car. "The whole trick is to be perfectly smooth, and that's one of the things that the Andretti team teaches; my steering traces look like perfect curves, and when a tenth of a second can make all the difference, that's where you find the time. Anything can happen in an oval track race, but I'm feeling good about tonight... if the weather holds."
This weekend's Round Six of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is the second of two ovals on a 2012 schedule that includes a well-rounded menu of ovals, street circuits, and natural-terrain road courses. Most are doubleheaders with two races per weekend, and most are with IndyCar. Following these two ovals in a row is a string of three Canadian races in a row, beginning with the Indy Toronto, followed by Indy Edmonton and then by the legendary GP3R Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres, where Star Mazda will share the stage with Indy Lights.
The green flag for the start of the 1-hour Iowa Speedway Foundation Star Mazda 100 will wave at 5:20 pm local time on Saturday (June 23).
Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, July 28.
The top-three will be posted following every session on the EFCN Facebook page, and EFCN Twitter page.
Star Mazda Championship
Round 6 - Qualifying Results
June 23, 2012
Iowa Speedway - Newton, Iowa
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Fast Time| 1. | Sage Karam | Andretti Autosport | 21.907 | | 2. | Jack Hawksworth | Team Pelfrey | 21.931 | | 3. | Petri Suvanto | Team Pelfrey | 21.982 | | 4. | Martin Scuncio | Juncos Racing | 22.087 | | 5. | Gustavo Menezes | Team Pelfrey | 22.119 | | 6. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 22.222 | | 7. | Diego Ferreira | Juncos Racing | 22.264 | | 8. | Connor De Phillippi | Juncos Racing | 22.326 | | 9. | Gabby Chaves | JDC MotorSports | 22.381 | | 10. | Bruno Palli | Juncos Racing | 22.399 | | 11. | Juan Piedrahita | JDC MotorSports | 22.613 | | 12. | Zack Meyer | AIM Autosport | 22.634 | | 13. | Andre Mendez | Team GDT | 22.710 | | 14. | Ashley Freiberg | JDC MotorSports | 23.073 | | 15. | Camilo Schmidt | Linares Racing | 25.007 | |
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