INDIANAPOLIS – Overlooked by Helio Castroneves’ fourth Indianapolis 500 victory, Alex Palou’s incredible near-miss that resulted in a second-place finish, and Simon Pagenaud’s charge through the field to finish third was an impressive performance by Sage Karam.
The 2013 Indy Lights champion from Nazareth, Pa., started 31st and finished a career-best seventh in Sunday’s 105th Indianapolis 500.
It was Karam’s eighth Indianapolis 500, and he was once again driving for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
Karam also led two laps in the 200-mile race. He was in the top 25 by lap 40, up to 16th by lap 50 and up to seventh on lap 173. Two laps later, he was in the lead before he had to make his final pit stop.
Karam battled with Ed Carpenter and Santino Ferrucci for a top-five position late in the race, but he had to settle for seventh at the checkered flag. Castroneves won his fourth Indianapolis 500 title on Sunday.
“It was a long day, but I feel so good for the DRR team and our sponsors AES Indiana and the 500 Festival,” Karam said. “With about 60 laps to go, my water bottle broke, and I was pretty thirsty at the end.”
Prior to Sunday’s seventh-place finish, Karam’s previous best was ninth place during his rookie season in 2014.
“I was looking at pylon each lap at the end and I could see we were getting in the mix,” Karam said. “The DRR crew were awesome today on our pit stops. I made a mistake on one stop, but they made it up for me. The crew did an amazing job today and all month.
“It feels so good to go from 31st to seventh. It even beat my rookie run in 2014. I am so proud of this team. We are a little one-off race team, and we were battling with the big dogs all day. Dennis (Reinbold) has had faith in me and, today, I was able to bring home a good finish at the biggest race in the world. If we can qualify better, I think we can be in the mix for the win at this place.
“This was the hardest I have driven here in my career. I have been learning this new car each year and today it paid off. I think I drove the most patient ever here at Indy. You made to be that way today. You couldn’t force things. And that was the key today.”