Sage Karam gets a shot at a second NTT IndyCar Series race in 2019 as the driver from Nazareth, Pennsylvania was named to the No. 31 Chevrolet at Carlin on Tuesday. He will join the team’s primary driver, Max Chilton, in a two-car Carlin effort in Canada.
Karam started 31stand finished 19th in the 103rdIndianapolis 500 driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Dreyer & Reinbold.
“I want to thank everyone at Carlin for giving me the opportunity to compete in an Indy car again in the NTT IndyCar series,” Karam said in a Carlin team statement. “I’m extremely excited and grateful to get back behind the wheel on a road course again for the first time since 2015 and I’m thrilled to carry a great sponsor like SmartStop Self Storage on the side of the No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge and working closely with everyone on the team to achieve a successful result and take advantage of this incredible opportunity.”
Karam began karting at the age of four and worked his way up through the karting ranks until he joined the Road to Indy Series in 2010. He competed in all levels of the Road to Indy Series winning both the USF2000 and Indy Lights Championships before joining the NTT IndyCar Series in 2014.
Karam has made 17 IndyCar Series starts. He finished ninth in his first Indianapolis 500 in 2014 driving for Dreyer & Reinbold. He joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2015 for a limited schedule of 12 races in the 16-race campaign.
Karam displayed flashes of promise and speed in 2015 with a fifth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California and a third-place at Iowa that year.
The Toronto race will be Karam’s first start in an IndyCar Series race other than the Indianapolis 500 since Pocono in 2015.
The Carlin entry will be sponsored by self-storage company SmartStop® Self Storage.
“We are extremely excited to partner with SmartStop Self Storage and to be a part of their debut into the NTT IndyCar Series,” said team principal Trevor Carlin. “The Honda Indy Toronto is such a great event and will be the perfect introduction for them into the series.
“We’ve obviously been following Sage’s career closely since he won the Indy Lights Championship in 2013 and he’s done a really great job. I think he’ll be a great addition to the team and a good teammate for Max Chilton this weekend.”
The Honda Indy Toronto on the streets of Toronto will take place on Sunday, July 14th at 3:00 pm ET and will be televised on NBCSN.