1st year, 3rd place

After an exciting day leading up to the final race, Rossi finished sixth in the final race of the Formula BMWUSA series and ended up third in the driver standings.

Racing at Mosport International Speedway in Bowmanville, Onterio, Canada, Rossi won the qualifying session for round 13 after a shrewd choice on tires was made.

Rossi and his Team Apex Racing squad decided to go with rain tires to begin with but changed their minds to slicks as race time approached. Then, at the last minute, Rossi and his teammate Robert Thorne switched back to rain tires despite sunny skies.

Two laps into the race the skies opened up. With other competitors heading back to the pits for rain tires, Rossi took a commanding lead which he held until the end.

"My engineer had been going ... very frequently to check on their radar system," Rossi said in a statement. "Every other team was on dry tires, the sun was shining. They thought we were being ridiculous, but about two laps in it started to pour down rain. Thorne moved up from ninth to second when the rain started.

Rossi, 15, sat just eight points behind the second-place driver heading into the next day's race.

With a sixth-place finish in the final, the rookie Rossi finished up the series in third.

"Of course I set out trying to win the championship," Rossi said. "But it being my rookie year we had to have realistic expectations. I'm very pleased to finish third in the championship.

"Our breakout win at my "home" event at San Jose in front of all the friends and family that came out to watch me was pretty incredible. Also, racing at Indianapolis was pretty cool just to be able to say I'm one of the very few who have gotten to drive there."

Rossi said he's looking forward to competing in the FBMW World Finals in Valencia later this year.