INDY LIGHTS: Tristan Vautier Earns 2012 Championship At Fontana

IndyCar

INDY LIGHTS: Tristan Vautier Earns 2012 Championship At Fontana

French Firestone Indy Lights Series rookie Tristan Vautier earned the 2012 FILS championship Saturday at Fontana driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

Marshall Pruett | Posted September 15, 2012

Tristan Vautier was too tough to beat as a Firestone Indy Lights Series rookie, taking four wins in 2012 with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. (Photo: LAT)

French Firestone Indy Lights Series rookie Tristan Vautier earned the 2012 FILS championship Saturday at Auto Club Speedway driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, finishing fourth behind Andretti Autosport's Carlos Munoz.

Vautier's fast track to open-wheel success in America started with earning the 2011 Star Mazda championship, and added his second title on the Mazda Road To Indy at Fontana after starting fifth for the Auto Club Speedway Foundation 100.

"I came over to the USA because of the Mazda Road to Indy," said the 23-year-old native of Saint-Martin-d'Hères. "I was struggling getting up the ladder in Europe and I knew that if I was coming over here and was able to win the Star Mazda Championships I would be able to get into the bigger cars. That was the goal. I won the championship last year.

"I cannot be thankful enough to Mazda for what they do for young drivers. Obviously, you have to earn it. You have to win championships. But it really rewards the winners, and you know, they don't pick you up because they like you the pick you up because you earned it. You have to win to get into this scholarship system so I'm really thankful to that, I wouldn't be here without them."

Vautier's final tally in Lights includes seven podiums, five poles and four wins. It also represented the sixth Lights championship for his team owner.

"I'm not really sure where to start," said Schmidt. "But this story started exactly one year ago when Tristan came to me and said, look, I have not been able to raise a lot of money for Indy Lights, and I need you to give me your advice as to whether I should do Indy Lights or Star Mazda. And I said unequivocally same thing you tell a 14-year-old go karter or Tristan in that situation Race where you can win. Race where you can dominate. And with the laws of the Road to Indy Scholarship, it was a pretty easy decision for him to go back to Mazda and compete there for the championship. Then it's a no brainer to step up with the scholarship.

"I knew then it would happen just like this. We had all the confidence in the world, especially after we tested Tristan."

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, and covers the IndyCar Series. Before joining SPEED, Pruett worked in open-wheel racing for 20 years as a mechanic and engineer. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.