EDMONTON, ON (July 22, 2012) – Star Mazda Championship driver Zach Veach would have a hard time arguing his best weekend moment was putting in a one-two qualifying effort for his Andretti Autosport team and starting second alongside his best friend and teammate Sage Karam. He went on to finish ninth in that race, which in turn gave the teen a third-place start in race two. During that race, Veach finished 18th, following a late-race incident which beset the driver of the K12 Mazda.
“All of my K12 guys worked hard all weekend,” said Veach. “We started second yesterday and third today, and I had the fastest lap of the race at some point (today). On the restart, I tried to go high to get a little bit of air and I got into the turn nine wall. It’s frustrating two races in a row, but we go on to Three Rivers (Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres, Canada, August 3 -5) and we’re going to strive for a better result there. I know I can count on my crew and everyone at K12, as well as the rest of my sponsors Zakoski Data Backup, Young Marines, Replay XD, ADS, OMP, and Arai Helmets for their continued support.”
It looked like Andretti Autosport would likely win the first race of the weekend as teammates Sage Karam and Veach put in a one-two qualifying effort for the opening race with their times separated by just .005 seconds. Veach was matching his front-row qualifying effort two weeks ago in Toronto.
Veach had a strong run in his K12 Mazda from the second starting spot and kept a tight hold to it until pitting for rain tires late in the race, which sent the teen to the 11th position while the race was under caution. When the green flag flew again, Veach was caught in a multi-car mess in Turn 1. He then finished ninth.
“It was definitely a really tough race for us, but getting an all-Andretti Autosport front row was really was a good feeling for us,” said Veach. “We started on slicks and as we ran the race, it got progressively wetter and wetter. My teammate Sage (Karam) was running P1 and I was P2 and we thought it was going to be a one-two finish for us. Ultimately, the rain came down pretty hard and we had to switch to (rain tires) and then just had some bad luck on the restart as we fell back on the wet tires.”
During the second Star Mazda race of the weekend, Veach would start third, following turning the third quickest lap from race one. During the 45-minute feature race, Veach was jumped on the start and quickly fell to fourth. He held tight to that position for much of the race, before backing to fifth after a restart following a full-course caution. A late restart mired Veach in heavy traffic, and he brushed the wall in Turn 9 and spun into the infield grass, sending him to the sideline for the balance of the race and an 18th place finish to close out the weekend.
If you missed the action in person on the 2.224-mile 13-turn temporary circuit at the Edmonton City Centre Airport near the downtown area of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Veach’s Star Mazda races will be prepared for network distribution via tape delay on Discovery’s Velocity Network, Canada’s Rogers SportsNet, and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air at 12 Noon, EDT on Sat., Aug. 25. For international dates and times, check local listings.
Following the busy race weekend, Veach will continue his hectic summer schedule, jetting straight to the annual National Leadership Academy this week, as a honorary Young Marine on behalf of the Young Marines youth organization, one of his sponsors. As part of the conference, Veach will be addressing the value of maintaining a healthy, drug free lifestyle to achieve personal goals.
Returning to the racetrack for rounds 11 and 12 of the Star Mazda Championship season, Veach will make his third straight trip to Canada for the 43rd annual Grand Prix of Trois-Rivieres. Practice is scheduled to begin on Fri., Aug., 3 at 1:20 p.m. EDT followed by qualifications at 6:35 p.m. EDT. Race #1 is scheduled for Sat., Aug., 4 at 1:20 p.m. EDT while Race #2 while be contested on Sun., Aug., 5 at 11:00 a.m. EDT.
Veach’s 2012 effort in the Star Mazda Championship is primarily supported by K12 with additional backing provided by: the Young Marines youth organization, Zakosi Data Backup, ADS IT Solutions, Replay XD, OMP, and Arai Helmets.
Sanctioned by INDYCAR, the Star Mazda Championship is one of two series part of both the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver program. Andretti Autosport is currently the only INDYCAR team to compete in each level of the Mazda Road to Indy.
For more information, please visit www.ZachVeach.com or www.AndrettiAutosport.com.
About Zach Veach:
Zach “Ziggy” Veach is a 17-year-old autoracing driver who competes in INDYCAR’s ‘Mazda Road to Indy’ Star Mazda Championship Series, an important open-wheel stepping-stone to a career in the IZOD IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500. In 2012, Veach captured the Formula Car Challenge Winter Series Championship and in 2011, he secured the USF2000 Cooper Tires Winterfest Championship and was voted the “Most Popular Driver in USF2000”. Named by ESPN The Magazine as a NEXT athlete in motorsports, Veach keeps an active pace both on and off the race track. In 2010, Michael Andretti signed Veach to his team, Andretti Autosport, while also being named one of CNN’s “Intriguing People” and being nominated for the Sports Illustrated “Sports Kid of the Year” award. In addition to his racing, Veach is an advocate for safer driving as the national spokesperson for FocusDriven, an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using their cell phones and has campaigned for Oprah Winfrey’s “No Phone Zone.” Veach designed a phone application through his phone-app building company, ZaAPP, releasing urTXT, in the Marketplace for Android to help consumers avoid dangerous text messaging while driving. Like most of his peers, Veach was bullied as a kid and works to combat the growing epidemic as part of the Cyber Safety Academy’s “No BULL Challenge” as a key ambassador. Veach has been a guest or profiled on a variety of national platforms including NBC’s The Today Show, CNN’s Headline News, ABCNews.com, Oprah Radio’s The Gayle King Show, The Los Angeles Times, AOL.com and is a blogger for RACER magazine and The Huffington Post. The son of a national truck and tractor-pulling champion, Veach is sponsored by K12, Zakosi Data Backup, the Young Marines youth organization, Replay XD, Arai Helmets, OMP, ADS IT Solutions, and artrotondo.com. He enters his senior year of high school this fall and released his first book, 99 THINGS TEENS WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE TURNING 16, in 2011. For more information, please visitwww.ZachVeach.com.
About Andretti Autosport:
Based in Indianapolis and led by racing legend Michael Andretti, Andretti Autosport fields multiple entries in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Andretti Autosport competes in Firestone Indy Lights, the Star Mazda Championship and in the USF2000 National Championship. The company boasts three IZOD IndyCar Series championships (2004, 2005 and 2007), two Firestone Indy Lights titles (2008 and 2009), one USF2000 championship (2010) and has won the Indianapolis 500 twice (2005 and 2007). For more information, please visit www.AndrettiAutosport.com.
About the Star Mazda Championship Series:
For 2012, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will again be a major part of the “Mazda Road to Indy”. The 2012 schedule consists of 17 races on 10 weekends, most with IndyCar. Rising stars from around the world will compete on road courses, street circuits and ovals in front of more than a million fans as they battle for prizes valued at $1.5 million, including a scholarship to move up and race in the 2013 Firestone Indy Lights series. Drivers 16 and older are welcome to compete and the Star Mazda Championship also features the Expert Series for drivers 30 and older. The Star Mazda Championship features standing starts, wheel-to-wheel racing at 160 mph and budgets a fraction of other top open-wheel ladder series. For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.StarMazda.com.
Source: BRANDed Management for Zach Veach Racing, Press Release
Related Stories:
- Veach Hopes To Continue Momentum In Canada With Grand Prix of Edmonton
- Veach Records Career-Best Star Mazda Result On Streets of Toronto
- Veach Records Top-10 Result At Iowa Speedway Following Rain-Shortened Race
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