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| September 02, 2012 News |
| Star Mazda: Karam Continues Title Charge with Baltimore Win |
 | Sage Karam added another win to his 2012 championship effort on the streets of Baltimore
(Photo: Star Mazda Championship - Eric McCombs) |
Coping with an ever-evolving racing environment Sage Karam, rebounded from a big crash in race one on the streets of Baltimore to score a commanding Round 14 win on Sunday (September 2), giving the No. 88 Andretti Autosport/Comfort Revolution Mazda a third victory in the 2012 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.
Following behind the under the flag – albeit 10 seconds back – was race one winner and championship points leader Jack Hawksworth in the No. 82 Team Pelfrey/TORGOEN Swiss Watches/EXA Networks Mazda. Even with a second-place finish, he now has a 61-point lead heading into the final three races of the season. The final podium spot was taken by Connor De Phillippi in the No. 2 Juncos Racing/ModSpace Racing/One24 Mazda, his second podium of the weekend.
"This was really a validation for me after yesterday's crash, that we are consistent championship contenders," said Karam. "The Andretti team did a tremendous job getting my car back together yesterday and they gave me the quickest car in the field for today's race. Jack has a really big lead in the championship right now, but I'm good at coming from the back, and we won't give up fighting for the race win and the championship until it's all decided. I want to thank Michael Andretti, my family, sponsors and team for helping me get here."
With a maximum of 91 points remaining to be won, four drivers remain in contention for the championship; Hawksworth (342 points), Karam (281), De Phillippi (259) and Gabby Chaves (273) whose remarkable top-three or top-five consistency during the season suffered a blow on Sunday with a ninth place finish. Contact with another car early in the race affected the handling of his No. 19 JDC MotorSports/CLARO/Marca Colombia/Tecpro Mazda, and he did well to keep it in the top-10.
While the defining action in race one took place in the closing laps with Karam's crash into the wall exiting the controversial chicane, the shape of race two was dictated on the first lap, when Hawksworth grazed the wall with his left front tire. From there he was in 'points preservation mode.'
"The hit happened early and from there on I was just trying to drive smart instead of as fast as possible to keep my championship points lead," said Hawksworth. "In many ways, today's result was one of the most important of the season, because if I had hit a bit harder, it would have changed the complexion of the championship considerably. As it is, we go into Mazda Raceway next weekend with a 61-point lead; now we just have to maintain focus and try and clinch the championship there."
Hawksworth's Team Pelfrey teammate, Finnish racer Petri Suvanto, also put in a tremendous drive, falling back through the field after contact when Chaves tried an overly-optimistic passing move. He survived and raced his way back up to a fourth place finish in the No. 81 Team Pelfrey/Mazda Road to Indy Mazda. Suvanto was the 2011 USF2000 champion and is racing is Star Mazda this year with scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy.
Ashley Freiberg, the lone female in the field scored yet another top-10 finish in her No. 91 JDC MotorSports/TrueCar Mazda.
Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the Baltimore race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, September 29.
The penultimate race meeting of the 2012 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear season, takes places next weekend, September 8-9, during the Grand-Am weekend at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Northern California.
The top-three will be posted following every session on the EFCN Facebook page, and EFCN Twitter page.
Star Mazda Championship
Round 14 - Race Results
September 2, 2012
Streets of Baltimore - Baltimore, Maryland
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | Sage Karam | Andretti Autosport | - | 1:28.860 | | 2. | Jack Hawksworth | Team Pelfrey | 10.170 | 1:29.281 | | 3. | Connor De Phillippi | Juncos Racing | 11.911 | 1:28.959 | | 4. | Petri Suvanto | Team Pelfrey | 22.418 | 1:29.222 | | 5. | Diego Ferreira | Juncos Racing | 23.869 | 1:29.772 | | 6. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 24.819 | 1:29.605 | | 7. | Bruno Palli | Juncos Racing | 32.834 | 1:29.647 | | 8. | Gabby Chaves | JDC MotorSports | 33.489 | 1:29.384 | | 9. | Juan Piedrahita | JDC MotorSports | 35.208 | 1:29.854 | | 10. | Ashley Freiberg | JDC MotorSports | 46.075 | 1:30.825 | | 11. | Stefan Rzadzinski | JDC MotorSports | 1 Lap | 1:30.961 | | 12. | Ryan Tveter | Team GDT | 1 Lap | 1:31.709 | | 13. | Walt Bowlin | AIM Autosport | 3 Laps | 1:36.082 | | 14. | Camilo Schmidt | Linares Racing | 4 Laps | 1:31.127 | | 15. | Zack Meyer | AIM Autosport | 9 Laps | 1:32.289 | | 16. | Gustavo Menezes | Team Pelfrey | 9 Laps | 1:30.399 | | 17. | Martin Scuncio | Juncos Racing | 12 Laps | 1:29.614 | | 18. | Andres Mendez | Team GDT | 24 Laps | 1:39.758 | |
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