One of the reasons that Versus is very pleased to be the home to a dozen of the Izod Indy Racing League is because they have a roster of international drivers who love what they do and put on an impressive and entertaining show week after week. (ABC has five races including the Indy 500)
This week the action on the network Sunday starts at noon with flag to flag coverage of the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300. It should be a wide open race with the usual cast of characters battling it out for a trip the Victory Lane.
Dario Franchitti of the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team, Tony Kanaan in the KV Racing Technology-Lotus , Danica Patrick of Andretti Autosport and Will Power of Team Penske all have a real chance at winning in Brazil.
Earlier this week I had a chance to speak with Will Power who was relaxing at his home in Charlotte before leaving for Brazil. The native of Australia is a talented driver who is known for his candor and his sense of humor.
Powers on the IRL season thus far:”We are very pleased that our team has been able to really put ourselves in position to win every week and that is exactly what we did in Birmingham. In Long Beach we had a very unfortunate outcome, we were running in 3rd at the time when my teammate Helio Castroneves and I got into a bit of a tight squeeze both of us wanted to finish up front. We were both racing heavy into the corner. It was a racing accident but we recovered and were able to finish 10th overall and that was a good result under the circumstances. All that being said being second in the points race thus far is very good for now but we want win the championship and we think we have we have the team and the car to do just that.”
Powers on Brazil:”I love the road courses and there is no question that I really can’t wait to run a few laps on the course in San Paulo. It will be very challenging and frankly it is just the type of course that suits our team very well. There are great long straight-a-ways that offer good passing lanes and super racing and some really challenging tight turns where we can’t have any mistakes. So overall this should be a great driver’s race and a fun one for the fans to watch on Versus.”
Powers on the move next year to more motor options:”Right now all the cars use the same Honda engines and that is fine they make a wonderful product and all the cars have the exact same engine set ups and it is super racing for the fans and for us. Next season we at Penske will be making the move to Chevy and we are excited about the move we think it will be a good move for us. Others will choose to keep the Honda engine while Lotus will be the engine of choice for a number of teams. I think however with Chevy, Lotus and Honda all on doing all they can to outdo each other the competition will really be taken to a new level and that is great for the sport.”
