Yuven Featured in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Written by: Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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His personal path has circled the globe, and his professional road hit a speed bump last year. But these days 18-year-old Yuven Sundaramoorthy is back in Wisconsin, studying computer science at UW-Madison, and back in the winner’s circle.
“I think I’ve improved significantly in this offseason into this year, and I definitely feel like we’re where we want to be,” said Sundaramoorthy, who leads the standings in Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship heading into a doubleheader weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake.
USF2000, is the first step on the IndyCar development ladder. The series is scheduled to race at 11:15 Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday as part of the REV Group Grand Prix NTT IndyCar Series weekend.
Sundaramoorthy, an Oconomowoc native, went to elementary school in China and then middle and high school in upstate New York as his father, Gopal, and mother, Sudha Maniam, pursued their careers.
With the help of manager Pieter Rossi, the father of IndyCar star Alexander Rossi, Sundaramoorthy hooked up with Pabst Racing Services out of Oconomowoc, one of the top teams in the Road to Indy series, for USF2000 in 2019.
The management and development company owned by the Rossi identifies young drivers with potential — such as Sundaramoorthy — and creates business plans, helps raise money, provides coaching and works to connect them with teams at the various levels of racing in North America and Europe.
“He starting to become really analytical and cerebral about engineering the car with his engineer and giving really precise feedback, which he never could have done two years ago,” Rossi said. “Now he’s a veteran in that category where he can really give feedback about the car and help make the car go fast.
Winning the USF2000 would give Sundaramoorthy a scholarship worth more than $400,000 to race in Indy Pro 2000 for the 2022 season. Ideally, he would spend one year there and could earn another scholarship to graduate to Indy Lights.
When Sundaramoorthy took the checkered flag at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama, in April, he became the first driver of Indian descent to win on the Road to Indy ladder system. He subsequently won two of three races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and now the 16-race season is at its midpoint.
“I definitely feel good about this season, but I should be way farther ahead in points if I did everything correctly,” Sundaramoorthy said. “I got a DNF (did not finish) when I got taken out at St. Pete … (and) I believe I was running third at the time. And also Indy, our team had a car put together that was way faster than the competition; I just messed up my qualifying (for the third race) and that just cost me a bit (third place).”
This weekend brings Sundaramoorthy to the track closest to his Oconomowoc-based team and one well connected to the Pabst name. His team owner, Augie Pabst, is the grandson of the popular sports car champion and local racing legend of the same name.
To call it a home race, though, wouldn’t be completely accurate. Sundaramoorthy has no more laps on the 4.014-mile, 14-turn layout in rural Sheboygan County than any of his competitors, and he hasn’t fared well. Qualifying hurt, and Sundaramoorthy struggled in the high-speed Kink and Turn 14.
“It’s definitely the coolest track to win at, because the team, the whole family and a bunch of my friends from college will be there,” he said.