SUNDARAMOORTHY EARNS MAIDEN USF2000 WIN
LEEDS, Ala. – The opening two rounds of the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship at Barber Motorsports Park saw Yuven Sundaramoorthy claim his maiden victory and becoming the first race winner of Indian origin to win in the Road to Indy ladder program or the IndyCar Series.
On Friday, Sundaramoorthy made a dream start to his third full season by claiming his first Cooper Tires Pole Award. The lap of 1:21.1201, an average speed of 102.071 mph, comfortably eclipsed the old track record set by Englishman Michael Epps way back in 2014.
In the race, the 18-year-old college freshman took advantage of pace and experience to maintain his advantage at the start. Sundaramoorthy remained under pressure from second place finisher Prescott Campbell for a few laps following an early full-course caution, but refused to become distracted. Instead he turned a series of 10 ultra-consistent laps, all within a couple of tenths of a second, to eke out a little breathing space and ensure a finely judged maiden victory by 2.3321 seconds.
Due to some bad luck with track position, Sundaramoorthy had to settle for a P15 qualifying spot for race number two. But using the energy and confidence from his win earlier that day, he was able to gain 5 positions during the race, making moves on a track notoriously hard for passing. He finished 10th and sits third in the Championship.