Speedway, IN (May, 2012) – At the end of the test last weekend, I was P2 by .05. We feel the car is excellent and I can’t wait for the race Saturday night, May 26^th. We did a lot of race runs and my consistency was the best that we observed all day. We really didn’t work on the qualifying setup until the afternoon session.

The #88 Andretti Autosport/Comfort Revolution Star Mazda car performed perfectly throughout the test. We didn’t have any close calls and the car was very stable. My physical conditioning felt great and we did close to 200 laps. We were the fastest in the most important session until a competitor put on new tires to bump us a notch down. We only used two sets of tires and a backup practice engine, we maximized each set’s potential.

Winning the race at Lucas Oil Raceway has become an obsession on mine, and it has brought my competitiveness to a new level. I am training very hard for this event, harder than ever. I have a real passion to win it and get introduced the morning of the Indy 500 as the race winner.

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Race #1 went well right from the start. I got a great start and moved from third into second. I battled hard with the third place competitor, Gabby Chaves of JDC. I saw his car was handling well and he is a very experienced driver from the GP3 series. I have a lot of respect for Gabby and I knew it would be a long race. I didn’t make a mistake or drop a wheel all weekend off course and I think that was the key in our ability to bring home a second place finish in race #1. We harvested good points and I jumped a slot in the standings to 6th place.

In race #2, I was forced to start in the 5th position. Starting position for this race was determined by our fast laps of race #1. My start wasn’t the best but came out of turn two in 5th place. I passed for 4th several laps later. I was under heavy attack by the #83 car and we banged wheels several times. There was one time where we were on the straight, flat out, and he turned into me. I had to avoid the contact, as the in-car video reveals, and I still managed to keep the car in front of him.

the yellow flag came out and I had a decent lead on the #83, which hurt us. I knew it would take everything I had to hold off the opposition because my car balance was very loose. On the restart going into turn 5, the competitor through his car into the turn. His car was out of control and his rear end would have hit me if I didn’t take corrective action. I dodged him but had to give up the position.

With two laps to go I was settled in at the 5th position but under attack by #81, which is the teammate of #83. In his desperation to get by me, he punted me off the track. I kept the car running and got it back on track. With one lap to go, I passed five cars and finished in 13th place.

We dropped back down to 7th in the series standings, but I am still optimistic about the season. I will maintain my professionalism, but won’t forget what happened. I plan on making a career out of racing, and I know how short irresponsible driving lasts. My team is awesome and we will work even harder to climb back up in the standings.

Practice at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, wasn’t stellar, but we found the reason for our lack of speed the night before qualifying. The changes were made and I was looking forward to qualifying and then the skies opened up and it began pouring and lightening at the track. Our qualifying was delayed and and the race was pushed to Sunday. We will have race #1 before the indyCar race and then race #2 after the IndyCar race on Sunday.

We qualified in a lite but steady rain . I was confident that I would qualify well in the rain and I was on pole for a majority of the session. I had contact late in the session with another car and it through off my rhythm as the track was drying. My fast lap was surpassed and I finished qualifying in third.

The field is deep with talent and experience in the Star Mazda Series this year. We have former GP3 racers, F3 competitors, Formula Renault and even racers with three years of Star Mazda experience. The tough competition will make me a better racer. I was pleased to out-qualify a lot of seasoned racers in the rain. I only have one real session in Star Mazda car in the rain.

Hopefully we solved the concern and we will be competitive on Sunday. The Comfort Revolution/Andretti Autosport #88 team is committed to excellence!

It was an true honor to have the opportunity to meet the children at the St. Pete’s All Childrens Hospital. The children were excited to see and me and my teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay on Thursday’s visit. But, I think I was just as excited to bring a little joy to them . Ryan was very patient and really showed a lot of genuine care with the children. I learned a lot about the childrens situations and conditions. I also learned a lot by watching Ryan.

One of two memories that stand out the brightest for me is when I presented a Hot Wheels IndyCar to a young patient and told him I drive a car like this. He responded, “how do you fit in it?”. It really brought a lot of lightheartedness to the scene for sure!

The other memory that stands out from the visit was a  kind gesture by Ryan. A very young patient made custom pen decorations out of duct tape. Ryan asked what it would cost him to buy one from her? She told him $50. Ryan pulled out $100 bill and told the young girl that he’d take two!! I think that was so cool that he did that!

I enjoy performing charity work and can’t wait until I’m in a position to do more. I have done some trips to Honduras for Operation Smile and I am always available for Racing for Cancer.

Here is a link to the Andretti Autosport site that carries the story: http://andrettiautosport.com/news/?p=1548#.T3DNJ3ju-uN

St. Petersburg didn’t go exactly the way I planned for it to go. Leaving the weekend 7^th in the Star Mazda Series Championship points was not part of the plan. During my first practice session on Friday, on lap two, I was pushing the car a little too much and tapped the wall with my right front. This impact caused the rear of my Andretti Autosprt/Comfort Revolution #88 to hit the wall hard enough to cause serious damage to the gear box and the suspension.

The team worked very hard to get the car together and replaced the gear box with a new one. To make the situation even worse I was assessed a 15 minute penalty during qualifying because of the wreck and the oil I put on the track and a driving infraction.

As I sat anxiously on the qualifying grid waiting for my 15-minute penalty to lapse, I was just about to take the green flag when another car hit the wall. I had to sit and wait for cleanup, while the time for qualifying was passing by. With six minutes left in qualifying, I was given the green and I took off to qualify! Shortly into the first lap of the run, I noticed my car wouldn’t shift. I had to abort the qualifying attempt and would be forced to start the race on Saturday in last, twenty-second position. Upon further inspection, the team found that the new gearbox we purchased was missing a circlip on the internals. This really hurt.

I was hoping Saturday would bring better luck and it did – mostly. I immediately dashed towards the front after a great start. I think I passed seven cars on the first lap. Shortly into the race, I noticed my car wouldn’t downshift properly. It would take seven or eights attempts for each gear that I wanted to downshift to. I managed to drive the car with the problem, but it was way off the pace I should have gone. I finished in 8^th position, which was not too bad. Unfortunately, qualifying for the second race (Sunday), goes off of Saturday’s fastest lap of the race. I was relegated to start in the 12^th position on Sunday’s race.

We were then notified that my car was randomly selected to face technical inspection after the race. I felt really bad for my team, because I know how late the guys worked on my car the night before to fix the problems from the wreck. Everything went well in tech and the team finished up preparing for Sunday’s race. Without going into specifics, they identified the part of the gear box that was causing my problem during the race and it was repaired.

I went out to dinner Saturday night with fellow Andretti Autosport teammates Zach Veach (Star Mazda #77) and Shelby Blackstock (USF2000 #8) and my family. We talked about the racing and the plan for Sunday’s race.

I took the grid on Sunday in the 12^th spot and was set on picking off cars on the start. My standing starts are a lot better than last year’s starts. The lights went green and I was off to another great start. Picking as many cars I could by turn one I think I moved from 12^th to 8^th. I got to 6^th during the race and eventually had to settle for 7^th. I got dive-bombed in a turn for position and I could have prevented it, but with everything that happened this weekend, it wasn’t the smartest thing for me to risk doing to my team. Live to fight another day, you know?

Overall I think we learned a lot. My team worked very hard to keep me competitive after my mistake. Michael Andretti and I had a conversation about the incident and how it affected my whole race weekend. The thing with Michael, is that I can tell him anything because he’s been there before and knows what I am feeling or experiencing. I have total respect for what he has done as a driver and he is my number one resource for advice. He laid into me pretty good for the mistake, but I deserved it.

I was watching some in-car camera action of my race with my parents and cousins while waiting to come home in the airport.  My car looked pretty good and I was fast on Sunday. I wish I could have had more green flag racing because I easily could have finished in the top 5 or even the podium. I set the 3^rd fastest lap of the race coming through traffic. Oh, and there was this one brake check a competitor gave me on track that was real dirty – but I will address that with him at another time…

I turn 17 years-old today. It’s kind of a special day because I am now old enough to start testing in the Firestone Indy Lites car. I don’t have any solid plans for testing yet, but I certainly want to be in a FIL car this year. I also understand that my first priority is the Star Mazda championship.

We have been testing more than ever at Andretti Autosport. I have been personal fitness training for this season harder than ever. Considering the testing and training, I feel that I am in the best shape to do well than I have ever been. I just completed a  very successful wrestling season for my high school. I missed qualifying for the Pennsylvania State Championships by only one point!

I depart tomorrow for a private two-day Andretti Autosport Star Mazda test. I am turning mu focus 100% to racing now that wrestling is complete. I sense a seriousness amongst myu team that can’t be described. I can just sense a commitment  for results. Then in a week and a half, we depart for the first official series test at Barber Motorsports Park. It will be exciting to see the new DW12 up close and personal at that test.

Sage

As I sit in West Palm Beach airport waiting for my return flight to Nazareth, Pa, I decided to update my blog on the test. I was way quicker than I was here (PBIR) last year. I was the quickest of each and every session over the two days of testing. Some sessions I was almost .9 quicker than the next closest car. Most impressive, was the fact that I could turn up 8 laps on new tires quicker before my tires dropped off to match my next closest competitors fast lap.

I am a totally different driver than I was at this point last season. The ability to manage my tires and still go quick has progressed immensely. The Andretti Autosport team of Poppy, Yancy and Fred, worked very hard with me and the #88 Comfort Revolution car. The weekend was without an incident. We put way too many laps on this track and cut things short a little early today.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @sagekaram88

I will soon depart for this weekend’s testing at Palm Beach International Raceway. This is the most testing that I have ever done prior to the start of a season. The team is very excited about my ability to win the Star Mazda Championship this season and everybody is totally committed to perfection. This test will be a two-day test run in conjunction with the USF2000′s Winter Series. The team has some new parts they are going to try on my car and I am excited to see what we can do. I feel that I have such a stronger grasp on the characteristics of car, than I did last year.

I have never been in this type of physical shape in my life! Between wrestling and my dad’s personal training, I believe my level fitness will enable me to drive hard the time. I look to add some swimming and cycling to my program once the warmer weather approaches.

The new ArtRotondo designed helmets will not have the new radios installed in time for this weekends test. I was hoping to get some action photos posted on my site, but I guess it will have to wait.

I am excited to hear about all of the Star Mazda series signings that are happening. The series is very strong and extremely competitive. I look forward to the challenges.

Sage

I just returned from a two-day test at Firebird Raceway, outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The test went extremely well and I turned fast laps consistently. Surprisingly, I turned my five fastest laps, consecutively all within a tenth of each other at the end of day two. I feel the Andretti Autosport’s crew ability to secure a solid setup and my physical conditioning contributed to this feat. My engineer, Yancy, was impressed with the consistent fast laps we were able to produce.

We learned some valuable new setup points and discovered some interesting tendencies of the Star Mazda chassis. We are already planning my next test for the #88 Comfort Revolution car and I can’t wait to turn laps again. I will return to the mat again today and pickup wrestling for the Nazareth High School wrestling team.

The Andretti Autosport Indy Lights car was on-site testing too. I can’t wait until the day comes that I can jump into that ride. Because of my age (16), I am not permitted to test in the Lights car. Hopefully, if this season goes well, I may get some FIL races in before the season ends. However, my focus remains on Star Mazda and winning this Road to Indy scholarship.

Sage