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Karam Earns Pole for Round 1
Of USF2000 National Championship
Saturday at St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 27 - Saturday morning Andretti Autosport's Sage
Karam set an automatic track record and earned a $500 bonus from Cooper
Tires when he won the "Cooper Tires, Don't Give Up a Thing Award" for winning
the pole position for Round 1 of the Cooper Tires presents the USF2000
National Championship powered by Mazda. That race, the first half of a
doubleheader, will start at 12:20 p.m. Saturday on the St. Petersburg street circuit,
while the second half of the doubleheader will be at 8 a.m. Sunday.
The 15-year-old from Nazareth, Pa. took just 1:13.384 to travel over the
1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit Saturday morning as the revitalized series
made its first appearance ever on this particular course configuration set up
on alongside Tampa Bay. That works out to an average speed of 88.303 miles
per hour.
Karam's qualifying time was significantly faster than the 1:14.675 (86.776
mph) he ran when he set the fastest time recorded during the series' two
practice sessions here yesterday in his Van Diemen Mazda, which is sponsored by
the Michael Fux Foundation, Comfort Revolution, Bell Helmets, Alpine Stars,
Walters Web and artrotundo.com.
"We ended up qualifying P1 by seven-tenths of a second," Karam said. "We
definitely picked up some speed. It really gives me a strong mental game going
in knowing that I'm on the front row, and I really have a good shot at
winning the race. I couldn't have done it without the crew; my manager, Michael
Fux; Michael Andretti; Comfort Revolution and all of our sponsors. I'm so
happy with our results today!"
Although Karam threw down the gauntlet early by dominating the practice
sessions on Friday, Pabst Racing Services' Martin Scuncio made a statement of
his own when he qualified second, just 0.715 of a second off Karam's time.
Scuncio, of Concepcion, Chile, didn't turn any laps in the first practice
session Friday and he was sixth in the second practice session that day, but
on Saturday morning he earned the other spot on the front row with a
1:14.099 in the No. 6, which is sponsored by Fuerza Chile. Scuncio led the early
portion of the qualifying session until Karam set his fastest lap on his 12th
of 16_laps, right before a red flag waved so the track crew could tow in a
car that was experiencing mechanical difficulties. Scuncio's average speed
was 87.451 mph and his fastest lap came on lap 14 of the 17 he ran in the
qualifying session.
Qualifying third was Patrick McKenna of Dublin, Ireland, who drives the No.
2 Van Diemen for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. McKenna's
fastest lap was a 1:14.516 (86.961 mph). He is sponsored by Motorsport Ireland,
Willsborough Transport and the Irish Sports Council.
Sharing Row 2 with McKenna for the start will be Benjamin Searcy of
Tuscaloosa, Ala., who represents ZSports Midwest. His qualifying time was a
1:14.574 (86.894 mph) in the No. 20, which carries advertising for Combustion
Technologies.
Rounding out the top five in qualifying was Martin Sala of Bogota,
Columbia, who drives the Aero Gal/Lubricantes Gulf No. 19 prepared by JDC
MotorSports. His fastest lap in qualifying was a 1:14.691 (86.757 mph).
One of his teammates, Raphael Abbate of Sao Paulo, Brazil, will be one to
watch in the race. He had the second-fastest time in practice but only made
five laps in the qualifying session due to mechanical difficulties. If his
car can be repaired he'll start scratch and will try to come from the rear of
the field this afternoon.
The complete 13-car grid, as well as live timing and scoring, can be found
on the Internet at usf2000.com.
Each driver's fastest lap during Saturday's race will determine his
starting position in the second half of the doubleheader on Sunday at 8 a.m.
About Mazda:
On any given weekend there are more Mazdas on the road courses of America
than any other brand of vehicle. MX-5 Miata, RX-8, MAZDA3, MAZDA6, RX-7 and
other vintage Mazda models are all popular race cars because every Mazda has
the soul of a sports car. In fact, the largest road-racing class in the
world is Spec Miata. With more than 2,500 first- and second-generation Miatas
tearing up America's racetracks, it the most-raced production car in the
world. Mazda's involvement in motorsports extends to its relationship with one
of the world's premier road courses, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey,
Calif., and the Skip Barber Schools for driving and racing.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in the United States in 2010, Mazda North
American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. It oversees the
sales, marketing, parts business and customer service of Mazda vehicles in the
United States, Canada and Mexico through nearly 900 dealers. Operations in
Canada are managed by Mazda Canada, Inc., located in Ontario. Operations in
Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City.
For more information see MazdaUSA.com.
About Cooper Tire & Rubber Company:
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is a global company that specializes in the
design, manufacture, marketing and sales of passenger car and light truck
tires and subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle and racing
tires. With headquarters in Findlay, Ohio, Cooper Tire has manufacturing,
sales, distribution, technical and design facilities within its family of
companies located in 10 countries around the world.
For more information visit Cooper Tire's Web site at coopertire.com.