Sage Karam had a great day on Saturday in Iowa. Not only did he get his first pole position in career despite the cold, damp qualifying conditions, but he managed to transform that success into his second victory in a row.
"These two wins have really given me my confidence back from last season. Hopefully we can carry it over to Mosport next month. Now the goal is to stay on the podium," said Karam.
Karam's second victory was not as easy as it may seem. Martin Scuncio, starting from second, was not going to let himself distanced that easily and there was no more than a second between the drivers during the first six laps of the race.
Unfortunately for Scuncio, a mechanical problem was to end his day mid-way in the race.
Karam nevertheless led every one of the 100 laps to a 7.8 seconds gap victory over J.V. Horto and Gustavo Menezes, who gets a first podium in career in the Star Mazda series.
Current championship leader Tristan Vautier and Tatiana Calderon completed the top-5 of this race.
Vautier still leads the championship, eight points ahead of Karam. Connor De Phillippi, 11th in Iowa, slipped in third place in the standing with a six points gap to Karam.
J.W. Roberts took the win in the Expert division with a 10th place overall finish.
Interesting fact about this race's result: Karam and Menezes are the youngest drivers of the field with a six months age difference.
Race Results - Iowa Speedway:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap
1 88 Sage Karam 100 39:01.725
2 7 J.V. Horto 100 39:09.562 7.837 7.837
3 28 Gustavo Menezes 100 39:10.116 8.391 0.554
4 5 Tristan Vautier 100 39:10.626 8.901 0.510
5 10 Tatiana Calderon 100 39:22.934 21.209 12.308
6 39 Joao Jardim 99 39:04.356 1 Lap 1 Lap
7 81 Nick Andries 99 39:20.914 1 Lap 16.558
8 20 Carlos Linares 98 39:09.160 2 Laps 1 Lap
9 27 Nick Mancuso 98 39:17.211 2 Laps 8.051
10 65 J.W. Roberts 98 39:21.564 2 Laps 4.353
11 11 Connor De Phillippi 96 39:02.430 4 Laps 2 Laps
12 60 Martin Scuncio 44 16:32.251 56 Laps 52 Laps
"These two wins have really given me my confidence back from last season. Hopefully we can carry it over to Mosport next month. Now the goal is to stay on the podium," said Karam.
Karam's second victory was not as easy as it may seem. Martin Scuncio, starting from second, was not going to let himself distanced that easily and there was no more than a second between the drivers during the first six laps of the race.
Unfortunately for Scuncio, a mechanical problem was to end his day mid-way in the race.
Karam nevertheless led every one of the 100 laps to a 7.8 seconds gap victory over J.V. Horto and Gustavo Menezes, who gets a first podium in career in the Star Mazda series.
Current championship leader Tristan Vautier and Tatiana Calderon completed the top-5 of this race.
Vautier still leads the championship, eight points ahead of Karam. Connor De Phillippi, 11th in Iowa, slipped in third place in the standing with a six points gap to Karam.
J.W. Roberts took the win in the Expert division with a 10th place overall finish.
Interesting fact about this race's result: Karam and Menezes are the youngest drivers of the field with a six months age difference.
Race Results - Iowa Speedway:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap
1 88 Sage Karam 100 39:01.725
2 7 J.V. Horto 100 39:09.562 7.837 7.837
3 28 Gustavo Menezes 100 39:10.116 8.391 0.554
4 5 Tristan Vautier 100 39:10.626 8.901 0.510
5 10 Tatiana Calderon 100 39:22.934 21.209 12.308
6 39 Joao Jardim 99 39:04.356 1 Lap 1 Lap
7 81 Nick Andries 99 39:20.914 1 Lap 16.558
8 20 Carlos Linares 98 39:09.160 2 Laps 1 Lap
9 27 Nick Mancuso 98 39:17.211 2 Laps 8.051
10 65 J.W. Roberts 98 39:21.564 2 Laps 4.353
11 11 Connor De Phillippi 96 39:02.430 4 Laps 2 Laps
12 60 Martin Scuncio 44 16:32.251 56 Laps 52 Laps