Karam Wins Cooper Tire-backed USF2000 Championship

Fifteen-year-old American, Sage Karam, has marked himself out as a race star of the future by dominating the 2010 Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda. Sanctioned by the IRL, the USF2000 National Championship is part of the IRL’s “Road to Indy” ladder system and was restarted this year, with Cooper immediately initiated as the sole tyre supplier to the series.

Karam, who won $350,000 to help him advance to the Star Mazda Series for 2011, said: “Winning the championship feels great. It’s such an honour to represent Andretti Autosport. The team worked insanely hard for me this year and I can’t thank them enough. I would also like to thank Michael Andretti, Michael Fux, Comfort Revolution, Mazda, Cooper Tires, Alpinestars, Art Rotondo and especially my family for making this possible. I will always remember this year for the rest of my life. I’m really looking forward to what next year brings.”

Patrick McKenna finished closest to Karam in the championship, albeit 82 points behind, while third-placed Mikhail Goikhberg was a further 75 down. Goikhberg, Raphael Abbate and Karam’s teammate, Zach Veach, all finished within five points of each other in what proved to be a close battle for third.

After Veach followed Karam home in the final race their team boss, former Indycar champion, Michael Andretti, said of his team’s season, “I’m so proud of both Sage and Zach for the job they did this year. Finishing the season with a ‘1-2’ finish and a championship for Sage is fantastic. He is a special talent, and I’m glad we were able to introduce both him and Zach into the ‘Road to Indy’ program this year and have it go as well as it did.”