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| June 24, 2012 News |
| Star Mazda: Karam Converts Pole Into Third Win at Iowa |
 | Sage Karam extended his Iowa Speedway win streak to three with the Round Six victory
(Photo: Star Mazda Championship - Eric McCombs) |
Starting from the pole for the third time in three years, Andretti Autosport driver Sage Karam completed his Iowa hat trick on Saturday night (June 23) with a flag-to-flag run the No. 88 Andretti Autosport/Comfort Revolution Mazda during Round Six of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.
The race was cut 10 laps short by a combination of lightning and rain, but not before championship points leader Jack Hawksworth - who qualified on the outside of the front row and was running in third hot on the heels of the leaders - spun and crashed in turn four at the three-quarter mark.
After a lengthy cleanup, the survivors were greeted not by a green flag and a 10-lap shootout, but rather by a checkered flag that favored the survivors. Martin Scuncio, who qualified fourth driving the No. 22 Juncos Racing/Pullman Bus Mazda finished second, and Connor De Phillippi, who started eigth with mechanical issues in qualifying, came home third.
De Phillippi's podium finish in the No. 2 Juncos Racing/ModSpace Racing/One24 Mazda, combined with Hawksworth's incident, moves him into the championship points lead as the series heads into a trio of Canadian street races. This is Karam's first pole and first win of the season. Scuncio won race two of the Barber Motorsports Park doubleheader, and De Phillippi has wins at the St. Pete season-opener and the Night Before the 500 at the Lucas Oil Raceway oval.
"The Star Mazda field is so close and competitive this season that you never know the results until the checkered flag waves," said Karam, who won from the pole at Iowa in USF200 in 2010 and in Star Mazda in 2011. "We had a really good car here and I don't think the race going the full distance instead of ending 10 laps short would have made any difference. This win was really important because it gives us some momentum going into the Canadian races, where we were fast last year, and puts us in the hunt for the championship."
Rounding out the top-five were Finnish racer Petri Suvanto driving the No. 81 Team Pelfrey/Mazda Road to Indy Mazda and Gabby Chaves in the No. 19 JDC MotorSports/COMCEL/Marca Colombia Mazda. Suvanto is the 2011 USF2000 champion and is racing in the Star Mazda Championship with scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy.
De Phillippi, who came to Iowa second in the points, leaves with 139 and the lead. Hawksworth, who has led the championship battle since the first race, was credited with a last-place finish and drops to second with 135 points. Scuncio remains in third with 122, while Karam moves up from sixth to fourth with 117. Chaves sits fifth in the points with 109, and Suvanto is sixth with 105.
This weekend's Round Six of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear was 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.
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 on Saturday (July 28)
The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear title chase resumes on July 7-8, with two races during the Hondy Indy Toronto.
The top-three will be posted following every session on the EFCN Facebook page, and EFCN Twitter page.
Star Mazda Championship
Round 6 - Race Results
June 23, 2012
Iowa Speedway - Newton, Iowa
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | Sage Karam | Andretti Autosport | - | 22.052 | | 2. | Martin Scuncio | Juncos Racing | 0.826 | 22.188 | | 3. | Connor De Phillippi | Juncos Racing | 1.795 | 22.211 | | 4. | Petri Suvanto | Team Pelfrey | 2.636 | 22.157 | | 5. | Gabby Chaves | JDC MotorSports | 7.567 | 22.333 | | 6. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 8.102 | 22.233 | | 7. | Bruno Palli | Juncos Racing | 1 Lap | 22.317 | | 8. | Diego Ferreira | Juncos Racing | 1 Lap | 22.440 | | 9. | Zack Meyer | AIM Autosport | 2 Laps | 22.550 | | 10. | Ashley Freiberg | JDC MotorSports | 3 Laps | 22.790 | | 11. | Andre Mendez | Team GDT | 3 Laps | 22.945 | | 12. | Camilo Schmidt | Linares Racing | 6 Laps | 23.653 | | 13. | Gustavo Menezes | Team Pelfrey | 10 Laps | 22.171 | | 14. | Juan Piedrahita | JDC MotorSports | 12 Laps | 22.508 | | 15. | Jack Hawksworth | Team Pelfrey | 13 Laps | 22.114 | |
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