De Phillippi Wins Star Mazda Night Before the 500

On Carburetion Day at the Indy Motor Speedway, Tony George Jr. was asked by a member of the media, "So where are all the Americans in the field?"

His eloquent answer? "They're coming."

Indeed. And leading the charge are three of the top young American open wheel racers on the Mazda Road to Indy. In tonight's Round 5 of the 2012 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the Night Before the 500, Californian Connor De Phillippi, winner of this event last year, won again from the PEAK pole, leading the entire way in his #2 Juncos Racing / ModSpace Racing / One24 Mazda.

Finishing 2nd was last year's Star Mazda Rookie of the Year, and winner of two of the three oval races on the schedule, Nazareth, PA native Sage Karam in the #88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda.

And claiming the final spot on the podium was one of the youngest drivers in the field, Zach Veach of Stockdale, OH, driver of the #77 Andretti Autosport / K12.com / Zakoski Data Backup Mazda. Each finished where they qualified… which says little about how fast and competitive this race actually was.

This is De Phillippi's second win from the PEAK pole so far this season, including his victory in Race 1 of the season-opener at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg…. but still leaves him second in the points championship, albeit only by 12 points, behind Jack Hawksworth, who has also win two races and finished 8th tonight. Karam has now scored his second 2nd-place finish of the season, benefiting from the points shuffle as he moves up from 7th to 6th and is headed next to Iowa Speedway, where he won last year. The tonight's 3rd-place finish is Zach Veach's first podium finish of the season, and jumps him up the championship ladder from 12th to 9th.

"Our plan was to build a lead over four or five laps and then control the pace of the race, which, even with two short yellows and two re-starts, is what we did," said the thoughtful winner. "This is probably my favorite victory so far because when we came here for the series test on May 5, we were about three-tenths off the pace. So we went back to the shop and went to work and figured it out as a team, and this is absolutely a victory not just for me but for the entire Juncos Racing organization. And what we achieved here really provides a good foundation, both operationally and mentally, for the next race on the schedule, the 1-mile oval at Iowa Speedway."

Rounding out the top-5 were Martin Scuncio, who started 7th in the #22 Juncos Racing / Pullman Bus Mazda and moved up to finish 4th. Finnish racer Petri Suvanto, who won the USF2000 race here last year and went on to win the championship, along with the Mazda Road to Indy scholarship that is funding his 2012 Star Mazda campaign, started 5th and finished 5th… all the more remarkable for missing the three-hour test session on Friday as his team chased 'electrical gremlins' in his #81 Team Pelfrey / Mazda Road to Indy / RKM Building Mazda.

And it would be remiss not to mention the efforts of Gustavo Menezes, who qualified an uncharacteristic 11th in his #83 Team Pelfrey / TrueCar.com Mazda and raced through the field to finish 6th.

Results

Pos

No. Name Laps Diff Gap Sponsor
1 2 Connor De Phillippi 100 0.000 0.000 ModSpace Racing / One24
2 88 Sage Karam 100 1.737 1.737 Comfort Revolution
3 77 Zach Veach 100 3.463 1.726 K12.com / Zakosi Data Backup
4 22 Martin Scuncio 100 4.664 1.201 Pullman Bus
5 81 Petri Suvanto 100 6.052 1.388 Mazda Road to Indy / RKM Building
6 83 Gustavo Menezes 100 7.859 1.807 TrueCar.com
7 82 Jack Hawksworth 100 8.557 0.698 TORGOEN Swiss Watches/ EXA Networks
8 9 Juan Piedrahita 100 12.129 3.572 Petrosur / GFK Motors
9 19 Gabby Chaves 99 1 Lap 1 Lap OMP
10 57 Diego Ferreira 99 1 Lap 0.375 Team Viso Venezuela
11 20 Carlos Linares 98 2 Laps 1 Lap Mindeporte
12 53 Andre Mendez 98 2 Laps 0.487 GrupoKriterion.com / DataFile.com.co
13 21 Camilo Schmidt 97 3 Laps 1 Lap
14 15 Bruno Palli 79 21 Laps 18 Laps Team Viso Venezuela
15 91 Ashley Freiberg 76 24 Laps 3 Laps TRUECar.com
16 66 Zack Meyer 30 70 Laps 46 Laps Partners III

Points:

Pos

No. Name Total
1 82 Jack Hawksworth 129
2 2 Connor De Phillippi 117
3 22 Martin Scuncio 97
4 19 Gabby Chaves 92
5 9 Juan Piedrahita 89
6 88 Sage Karam 86
7 81 Petri Suvanto 86
8 57 Diego Ferreira 63
9 77 Zach Veach 53
10 83 Gustavo Menezes 53
11 93 Stefan Rzadzinski 48
12 91 Ashley Freiberg 40
13 20 Carlos Linares 36
14 21 Camilo Schmidt 36
15 53 Andre Mendez 33
16 15 Bruno Palli 29
17 72 Larry Pegram 23
18 66 Zack Meyer 19
19 10 Jerimy Daniel 18
20 23 Walt Bowlin 13
21 33 Ryan Tveter 0

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