Catchfence

“Sophomore Driver Veach Uses Two Race Wins To Capture The $10,000 Championship”

Homestead, FL. (Jan. 13, 2011) Andretti Autosport driver Zach Veach used two race wins and three pole positions to capture the Cooper Tires USF2000 Winterfest championship, his first career championship in the “Mazda Road to Indy” developmental ladder system. Veach was $10,000 richer when he crossed the finish line Thursday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway, capping a five-race winter tour in his No. 7 ZAKOSI Data Backup Mazda.

“It’s an honor to be the first champion in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Winterfest along with getting my first two wins in the Series,” said Veach, who away from the racetrack serves as a spokesperson for FocusDriven to help put an end to distracted driving. “I’m really excited to see what we can do with the Zakosi Data Backup car in the main season and go for that championship as well. We have some stuff to work on when we get home between now and the first in-season race at Sebring but I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish. I can’t thank my team, Andretti Autosport, enough for giving me a good car, my crew for working so hard and to Mazda and Cooper Tires for putting on this winter series.”

The 16-year-old from Stockdale, Oh., opened the 2011 USF2000 Winterfest championship at Sebring International Raceway on Jan 3 by dominating all four USF2000 practice sessions and earning the pole position for both Sebring race events. While his first race ended with a gearbox failure, he connected in Race No. 2 to take his first career USF2000 race-win.

Veach then resumed the USF2000 Winterfest tour by heading farther South to Homestead-Miami Speedway where he’d continue to clean up on the racetrack. He traded the top position in the two practice sessions with his Andretti Autosport Teammate Spencer Pigot, before landing in at a starting and finishing position of second in the third race event.

While Veach was a nominee for Sports Illustrated’s annual ‘Sports Kid of the Year’ award in 2010 for his performance on the racetrack, the sophomore driver knew his final two Winterfest races would need to be his best demonstration of his racecraft to clinch the championship.

The 5’2” teen racer wasted no time in making sure he’d be best positioned to win the overall USF2000 Winterfest championship by opening Thursday’s early-morning qualifying session with a pole award. He led every lap in race No. 4, positioning himself five points in the lead going into the final USF2000 Winterfest event.

His final race began from Row 2 as driver-starting positions were based off of the driver’s best time in Race No. 3 the day prior. Rolling from the third position, Veach battled with teammate Pigot down to the wire before finishing the race second and sealing his title fate.

In all, Veach earned three $500 Cooper Tires ʻDonʼt Give Up a Thingʼ Pole awards, was awarded $1,000 for each of his two race wins, put in four top-five finishes and four podium results on his way to the overall championship. Veach plans to use his championship check in the amount of $10,000 for his race entries throughout the 2011 USF2000 National Championship race season which kicks off March 17 at Sebring International Raceway.

Veach also gave his team, Andretti Autosport, their second USF2000 championship following former teammate Sage Karam, who captured the 2010 USF2000 National Championship before advancing to the Star Mazda Championship for the 2011 racing season.

Sanctioned by INDYCAR, the USF2000 National Championship, presented by Cooper Racing Tires and powered by Mazda, is one of three series part of both INDYCAR’s “Mazda Road to Indy” ladder system and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development driver program.

For more information, please visit www.zachveach.com, www.AndrettiAutosport.com or www.USF2000.com.

About Zach Veach

Zach “Ziggy” Veach is a 16-year-old autoracing driver who competes in INDYCAR’s ‘Mazda Road to Indy’ USF2000 National Championship Series for Andretti Autosport. In 2010, Veach was signed by Andretti Autosport, named one of CNN’s “Intriguing People” and was a semi-finalist for Sports Illustrated “Sports Kid of the Year” award. Veach began his racing career at age 12 in go-karts. It was in 2007, where Veach caught the eye of Dave Fisher, father of IZOD IndyCar Series team owner, Sarah Fisher. For the next two years Fisher [Dave] coached and developed Veach’s talent, as he progressed through karting and then to Formula BMW. In addition to his racing, Veach is an advocate for safer driving in conjunction with Oprah Winfrey’s “No Phone Zone” and is the national spokesperson for FocusDriven, an advocacy group for victims of motor vehicle crashes involving drivers using their cell phones.

In 2010, Veach released his first published Droid application, urTXT, in the Marketplace for Droid, to help consumers avoid dangerous text messaging while driving. Veach has been a guest or profiled on a variety of national platforms such as, CNN’s Headline News, Oprah Radio’s The Gayle King Show, The Los Angeles Times and AOL, to name a few. The son of a national truck and tractor-pulling champion, Veach entered his sophomore year of high school this past fall and plans to release his first book, 99 THINGS TEENS WISH THEY KNEW BEFORE TURNING 16, this February 2011. For more information, please visit www.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 also campaigns multiple cars 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.

- Andretti Autosport Press Release