Kanaan penalized for race incident

[Schwartz Fan]

Kanaan penalized for race incident
14 hours, 10 minutes ago
By Bruce Martin PA SportsTicker Contributing Editor

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Ticker) - IndyCar officials laid down the law to Tony Kanaan on Friday.

Kanaan was told to park his car for 30 minutes in the first practice session for Sunday’s Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The penalty stemmed from an incident in last Saturday night’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kanaan had refused to enter pit lane for the final restart of the race when his IndyCar was running on three wheels.

Kanaan was the race leader when he clipped the crashed car driven by Ernest Viso with seven laps to go in the race.

IndyCar officials let Kanaan continue around the track at pace car speed but wanted him to pull off for the restart.


Kanaan took the green flag and that stacked up the group of cars behind him. He got black-flagged and pulled into the pits on the following lap.

“The IRL (Indy Racing League) said I should not have taken the green flag but I did,” Kanaan said. “Maybe it was a miscommunication but I came in right after the green flag. I agree with Brian Barnhart (IndyCar president of competition). With 3 1/2 wheels on my car I should have not even attempted to restart that race. If the wheel had fallen off and hit somebody it would have been dangerous.

“If you put myself in my shoes and I’m leading the race and with seven to go, something happens, I wasn’t thinking really clear. I had no intention I was going to win the race. I just wanted to hang in there with three laps to go to minimize the damage. I think it was a fair penalty.”

Kanaan said he never was informed by race control to get off the track but said that message had been relayed to his Andretti Green Racing team. He then was notified by the team to come into the pits.

“On an oval, if the car had washed up and collected the two leaders, how bad was I going to look?” Kanaan said. “I rely on the team and that’s why we got the penalty. I only follow what my team said. They obeyed the orders and then we got the penalty.”

Kanaan said the car was up to 100 miles per hour on three wheels and turned fine so he was surprised with that.

“Brian told me in our meeting, ‘Knowing you, the experience you have, the sensible driver you are, I thought you were going to come in,’” Kanaan said. “It wasn’t intentional but I deserved the penalty.

“I did not do it on purpose but it’s like when you are speeding and you get a ticket, you can tell the cop that you were looking for a radio station but you are still going to get a ticket.”

WHO’S IN THAT CAR? With nine new drivers in the IndyCar Series, some of the regular drivers admit they still need a scorecard in order to tell the newcomers apart.

But in Helio Castroneves’ case, he gets confused by his own teammate.

“I still think Ryan Briscoe sometimes is Sam Hornish,” Castroneves said, referring to the driver that has moved on to NASCAR this season. “For me, I have no idea who is who except the guys who kept the same colors on their cars. It’s interesting.”

NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT: While the IndyCar Series uses the unique Saturday Six qualifying format, where the six fastest drivers are allowed to improve their speed in a final 10-minute session, the qualifications will take on a new twist.

Cars will be placed in two groups through a random draw. The fastest six cars from each group in the first segment of qualifications will advance into the second segment. After the second segment, the fastest six cars from that group will advance into the six-car, 10-minute shootout to determine the first six positions of the starting field.

It’s similar to the Formula One format but different than single-lap qualifications that have been used on street and road course races in the IndyCar Series since 2005.

“It will be interesting to see how the draw comes out,” Kanaan said. “On paper it looks good. We’re going to see a very strong group maybe in one group and not so strong in another. But I’m exciting about it. It’s a new format. Personally, I loved the single-lap qualifying but I’ll give it a try tomorrow. If some of us make it to the end you will see our arms falling off, because for a full hour it’s going to be tough.

“This is a very difficult track to pass and with 26 cars it is going to be very critical to start up front. It’s going to be almost impossible to pass and qualifying will be very important.”

RAHAL BACK ON TRACK: After sitting out last week’s season-opening race on an oval, Graham Rahal made his IndyCar Series debut in Friday’s practice session.

Rahal was 14th fastest out of 26 drivers on the 1.8-mile street course with a lap at 101.062 mph.

“This morning we were pretty strong and I still think we are OK,” Rahal said. “It was just tough to get a clear lap out there and there were so many yellows because so many people were going off. It was impossible to get a clear lap and I was getting stuck behind some drivers.

“Unfortunately, the second session just didn’t go as well. The car was still pretty good. The car is close to where it needs to be. Obviously there is still some work to be done but I find no reason we can’t be running in the top five like we were. It was just tough to get a clear lap.”

The 19-year-old son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, his first time behind the wheel of an IndyCar Series car on a road/street course was Tuesday, when the team tested for three hours at Sebring International Raceway. He will attempt to become the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history.

Marco Andretti holds the record for his 2006 win at Infineon Raceway at 19 years, five months and 14 days old. Nelson Philippe holds the Champ Car record for his 2006 win in Australia at 20 years, two months and 29 days.

With his second-place finish at Houston in 2007, Rahal became the youngest Champ Car driver (1979-2007) to finish on the podium at 18 years, three months and 18 days.

But first, Rahal has to get ready for the race.

“We have learned a lot today and the car was pretty good right out of the box and we were quick,” Rahal said. “It brought some smiles to the guys’ faces and it would be good to do it again tomorrow. It would be ideal if we could have a day like today, which was awesome, but if it rains I’m fine with that.”


Kanaan penalized for race incident - IRL - Yahoo! Sports

[SmokeFan14]

Sounds like Tony took a page out of The Smoke Book of Temper Technique!

"It's easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission!"

[blueyedfairy_1]

I love him!!! He's the reason I watch IRL

[Dirt track racer]

As long as you do not answer their radio instructions, you can say that you never heard them.As long as the crew chief does the same.