Sage Karam was one of five drivers who had to fight for the final three spots on the Indy 500 grid last year. In the race, he placed seventh.
With the confirmation of 33 entries for the 106th edition of the Indianapolis 500, the traditional Bump Day will be absent this year. But although it is always an extra attraction in the traditional race, especially for fans, there are some who feel relieved for not having to face the battle to secure a place on the grid, as is the case of Sage Karam.
In 2021, the driver was one of the five who had to fight for the three final Indy 500 grid spots, and he lined up 31st. In the race, Karam achieved a great seventh place. But despite the result, the American preferred caution when trying to make any predictions for the qualifying that takes place this weekend.
"That's the tricky part: not getting too excited too soon," Karam told Autosport. "It's cool to be fast, but that doesn't mean anything. I felt really good last year and I think I was in the top-10 almost every day until Fast Friday. Then I came out of Fast Friday thinking, 'Man, I might have trouble with Bump [Day],'" Karam said
"Luckily I don't have to deal with that this year. It's unfortunate for the fans, because they love the whole thing...but me? I'm totally happy not to go through all that drama again!" the American admitted.
Last year, Karam explained that he struggled on Fast Friday because of a power adjustment on his engine that caused him to lose aerodynamic balance. "When I went out for my qualifying lap, I had a lot of downforce and was very conservative," he said.
"At the end of the day, I took downforce out and was better, but at that point, you can't cool the car enough and the track is hotter than before, so there's no way to be faster. The first exit is your real chance. So the first qualifying day last year was to make sure the balance was right for that one chance we would have on Sunday [Bump Day]. For sure, we did well. We were faster on Sunday than we were on Saturday," added the driver.
Karam also explained that this extra difficulty in finding the ideal setup in the qualifying is the disadvantage that the teams that participate only in the 500 Miles have in relation to the others that race the entire season in the category.
"That's the hardest part of being an exclusive team, to find out these little things that other teams have found out at other tracks. But I feel we have more control over this than in previous years," added Karam, who also highlighted the presence of Santino Ferrucci at Dreyer & Reinbold as a positive point for this year's race, and also offered many compliments to the team.
"What I love about racing with Dreyer & Reinbold is knowing that I'm going to enter a car that is properly ready to run in May. There is nothing wrong with it, it is very smooth, the fit to the body is perfect. It's the best car they have. We will go the extra mile for sure," he concluded.
The Indianapolis 500 will take place two weeks from today, on May 29th. GRANDE PRÊMIO is following all track activities taking place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.