In hopes to getting the season off to a strong start, Tony Kanaan did that last weekend at IndyCar’s season opener at St. Petersburg, finishing fourth.
“It’s always good to have a good start obviously,” he said. “I had a few of those in the past years.
“I think as a team we did a great job. Still got to do better. We want to win races and finish both cars on the podium. But it was a good weekend.”
One of the things that Kanaan credits to their early season success is the off-season preparation, recalling they didn’t have time to prepare last year.
“If you remember right, I was signed already, but Rubens (Barrichello) and E.J. (Viso) signed like late March, right before the championship started, so we had to hire people and do a bunch of things,” he said. “We already started a little bit behind. My engineer (Eric Cowdin) couldn’t come to work until January for contract reasons. We didn’t have a lot of time to really get organized the way we wanted.”
He added that with him and teammate Simona de Silvestro, they’ve been able to work on their program since last September. As a result, he finished fourth while she finished sixth.
“Simona brought a lot of spark and light into the team,” he commented. “I enjoy working with her. I have no problem teaching her whatever I can. But I like to see this young girl that wants to do well, because that’s her opportunity. That obviously pushes me to my limit. I’m going to admit that she’s extremely fast. I said that even before she was my teammate, so I’m not trying to make any excuses.”
He added that the key is that they keep working together to make KV Racing better as the year goes on.
“I’m going to beat her sometimes, she’s going to beat me sometimes,” he continued. “We’re going to be cool. She’s not going to like the days I finish ahead of her and likewise. As long as we use that to our advantage, it’s going to be awesome.”
The top five finish at St. Pete marked Kanaan’s 107th top five finish in his career, tying him for 10th all-time with Helio Castroneves and Gordon Johncock.
“I’m nowhere near ready to retire yet,” Kanaan pointed out. “So hopefully being part of the record book, it’s awesome, you’re part of history, you did well in your career. I didn’t know about my top -5 finishes. That’s awesome. I don’t count them a lot.”
On top of that history, Kanaan is closing on the consecutive start record that is currently held by Jimmy Vasser.
“Trying to beat Jimmy Vasser on the most consecutive starts will be great,” Kanaan commented. “I think by the time we get to Baltimore, that’s when it’s going to be. Hopefully him being my boss, he will let me do that. Hopefully he won’t sit me out for a couple races because I’m going to beat his record.”
The race at St. Petersburg saw a lot of passing, including a three-wide finish just behind Kanaan. He also predicts that will continue on to Barber Motorsports Park this weekend with everyone having a chance to test there.
“I think the racing will be really exciting,” he added. “Last year we already witnessed that with a lot of passing, a lot of action. I don’t expect anything different.”
One of the changes that was made this year to add to the competition is some weekends will see back-to-back races, with a race on Saturday and then a race on Sunday. Kanaan feels that it’s going to be tough on the mechanics and equipment.
“I’m not going to make a judgment call before we do it because, I don’t know, that my work will be extremely successful as far as fans and TV ratings,” he said. “But as far as me, I’m extremely concerned about it. I know the way I finished the St. Pete race on Sunday. If you told me I had to race on Monday, it was going to be a tough ask. It’s going to be hard on us. Obviously I’m a workout maniac. On that matter I’ll be well-prepared. But you never know.
“It’s going to be tough. I’m not going to say I like it or dislike it right now, but that is definitely a concern as far as how we’re going to deal with that.”
