Dario Franchitti drove the #27 Canadian Club car to a seventh place starting position in the Indy Japan 300. Franchitti posted a best-lap speed of 203.723 mph (26.8600 secs) on his first qualifying lap.
"The Canadian Club car has been okay this weekend. I was running wide open in the qualifying run. I think we're in good shape for the race. I think all four AGR cars will do well."
Andretti Green Racings IndyCar Series program wrapped up its first test of the 2007 season Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. All four of AGR s driver participated in the two-day road course test and offered the following thoughts on their first outing of the year:
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone The Canadian Club guys had a decent test plan and we made some good progress yesterday. Today, I think we took a little bit of a step backwards, but that is part of what you deal with when you're testing.
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone I think we did some positive things during the test to the Team 7-Eleven car. We seemed to go back a step in the last session today but I think we learned some things and that's what we were here to do. It felt good to finish at the top yesterday and to post the overall top speed during the test. I m really happy for the guys on the Team 7-Eleven crew and the rest of the team. We've made up some ground and have to keep working to get better.
Road Course Open Test An Important Starting Point For 17-race Season
From a team standpoint, Target Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull will be looking for execution, communication and at the competition. His team's drivers, 2005 IndyCar Series champion Dan Wheldon and 2003 series title holder Scott Dixon, each won two races last season. But Wheldon came up one point short in the season-long championship race to Team Penske's Sam Hornish Jr.
"Basically in testing, what we do is you've got to understand the tuning changes and the parameters that affect the car the greatest, and we can learn all of those things at Daytona," he said. "So testing is very important for us. Everybody works hard during the winter to try to improve their individual product. It's the first opportunity that you really have to come out and test with everybody that's represented in the IndyCar field.
AN INTERVIEW WITH DARIO FRANCHITTI AND DARREN MANNING
THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined by Dario Franchitti. Tell us a little about the testing, so far?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: The track conditions have changed a little bit for yesterday, so the entire team is stuggling to adjust to that. Other than that it’s been a good test.
Q. Is there any difference from methanol to ethanol and the new 3.5-liter engine?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Well it smells a little different when you are following a car. Actually, in the past when you race with methanol when you would sit in the car the fumes would sting your eyes. It doesn’t do that with the ethanol. The engine has a lot of torque and you can feel that.
Q. About a possible race at Daytona
DARIO FRANCHITTI: “If we’re going to go racing here, I would like us to see us use the full 24-hour course. It’s my opinion. I think that would be good fun. There are a couple of things that maybe we would have to change because of the higher speeds of these cars but I would definitely be interested in doing that.
Can we learn anything? Yeah, we can. In a perfect world, we would go run down the streets of St. Pete or up at Mid-Ohio just now. I think that’s under snow so that could be a problem. But we sort of look at a corner and say yeah, this is similar to this type of corner. We try to get a general amount of information first of all and then try to get a specific corner to corner.
Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan Had The Fastest SpeedAt Daytona
The IndyCar Series wrapped up a two-day preseason test session at historic Daytona International Speedway on Thursday. Seventeen IndyCar Series teams have been navigating the twists and turns of the 2.72-mile road course at the “The World Center of Racing” for the last two days as they prepare for the five road/street course events on the 2007 IndyCar Series schedule. Even though the IndyCar Series doesn’t hold a race at Daytona International Speedway, drivers say they can pull information from the course and utilize it in their future setups. Overall, Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan had the fastest speed of the entire two-day session with a speed of 135.549. The stock portion of Speedweeks 2007 will kick off with the Budweiser Shootout and ARCA 200 on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Overall Speeds
1. Tony Kanaan, 135.549 2. Helio Castroneves, 135.335 3. Dan Wheldon, 135.226 4. Dario Franchitti, 135.134 5. Sam Hornish Jr., 135.056 6. Scott Dixon, 134.438 7. Vitor Meira, 134.149 8. Marco Andretti, 133.887 9. Scott Sharp, 133.456 10. Jeff Simmons, 133.260 11. Kosuke Matsuura, 133.006 12. AJ Foyt IV, 132.821 13. Tomas Scheckter, 132.663 14. Darren Manning, 132.124 15. Buddy Rice, 131.766 16. Danica Patrick, 131.645 17. Ed Carpenter, 130.843
The preseason test is the second visit for the IndyCar Series to Daytona International Speedway. Last September, the IndyCar Series held a compatibility test at Daytona International Speedway with four teams – Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske Racing, Panther Racing and Andretti Green Racing. “The name says everything,” said Andretti Green Racing’s Tony Kanaan, who was the fastest driver of the day with a speed of 135.549 mph in the four-hour afternoon session. “I walked into this place in September, it was my first time ever here, and I was pretty impressed. Again, last night when I walked in again, it always gives you that.”
Dan Wheldon, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Sharp, Buddy Rice, Darren Manning, Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter are participating in the two-day testing session just after competing in last weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona.
“No question that it’s a challenging place – especially when you are coming from a 24 hour,” Helio Castroneves said.
“To make the change from the DP (Daytona Prototype) car to the Indy car – it’s a big change. You can ask anyone that did the 24. It’s kind of a relearning. “The only time I ran here is with the DP cars, so for me to find the braking points and the turning and everything in an Indy car, and all of the sudden becoming three times faster than I am used to. Again, after two laps I got used to it and back to the same rhythm.”
At last, some good news. The word of Bobby Hamilton's passing has really put my week on a low. But now I have a silver lining. My favorite IRL driver, Dario Franchitti will be back with AGR for another year. This is good news.
It should mean a competitive race car for Dario. But he will have to overcome last year's poor performance. And he may have to face being the fourth wheel on the crowded team where Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti will get all the good stuff leaving Tony Kanaan and Dario to suck the hind teats. But hey, how bad can it be having to go home to meet Ashlie Judd every night?
Still, "he will continue to provide a lot in the development areas we are working on." = Scary
Dario Franchitti will remain with Andretti Green Racing for a fifth consecutive season in the IndyCar Series this year. The team has confirmed the news that the Scot will complete their four-car line-up, joining Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick on the team. He said: "I haven't been this excited to get back in a race car for quite a long time. We had some very good race cars last year and I expect to be contending for race wins this season." Andretti Green Racing is the winningest team in Indy Racing League history.
Franchitti had a difficult year in 2006, but team boss Michael Andretti believes the experienced Scot can recapture his race-winning form this year. "Dario has proven over and over that he is one of the best drivers in the world," said Andretti, "and we are happy he's going to return to the Indy Car Series. He is a fantastic leader and along with Tony Kanaan, he will continue to provide a lot in the development areas we are working on."
Franchitti, received the first track time of ’07 this week at California Speedway during a Honda manufacturer test along with Dan Wheldon and Vitor Meira. “We had some very good race cars last season and I expect to be contending for race wins when we return to the track in March.” This will mark Franchitti’s 10th season with the Andretti Green team. He spent five seasons with Team Green before joining Andretti Green Racing in 2003.
In announcing it has re-signed Dario Franchitti for 2007, Andretti Green Racing adds another seasoned driver for the 17-race IndyCar Series season. Franchitti has four IndyCar Series victories and three pole starts in 50 starts. Last season, AGR cars visited Victory Lane twice, Kanaan at Milwaukee and Andretti at Infineon, after compiling 19 aggregate victories the previous two years. Franchitti, 33, recorded seven top-10 finishes in 13 races last season, with a high of second to Andretti on the Infineon Raceway road course in August. He’ll drive the No. 27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone.
Michael Andretti is glad to have all of his deals done. I'm encouraged with the changes we've made in the off-season and it should produce better results for us on the track. " It's very important to us that Canadian Club has returned for the 2007 season. We've had a long relationship with Beam Global Spirits & Wine and we appreciate their support and activation. The season-opening race on the IndyCar Series schedule is Saturday, March 24, from Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Canadian Club, in its second season of partnership with AGR, will also be an associate sponsor on AGR's IndyCar Series entries driven by Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick. A member of the Beam Global Spirits & Wine family, Canadian Club is one of the largest and most prominent Canadian whisky brands in the world. The brand features Canadian Club 6-year old, Canadian Club Reserve, Canadian Club Sherry Cask and Canadian Club Classic® 12. Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. is the fourth largest spirits company in the world. With nine of the world s top-100 premium spirits in its portfolio, the company s brands hold global and national leadership positions in key categories, including Jim Beam® bourbon; Canadian Club® Canadian whisky; Courvoisier® cognac; Laphroaig® Scotch; Sauza® tequila; Larios® gin; Whisky DYC®; Teacher s® Scotch; and DeKuyper® cordials.
Franchitti will also team with Bryan Herta and his brother, Marino Franchitti, in the XM Satellite Radio-sponsored Acura-powered Courage as AGR ventures into the American Le Mans Series LMP2 class in 2007. Franchitti will see some time in the #26 XM Satellite Radio ALMS car at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the first event on the 2007 ALMS schedule where Canadian Club will also be an associate sponsor on that car. Dario stated, "On the ALMS front, to be able to drive with Acura power will certainly give us plenty of great opportunities on tracks where I've been successful in the past. I've driven with Marino before and we're both excited about being together in a world-class car."
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