IRL's Kanaan Ready for Repeat in Sonoma Valley

Defending Champion Kanaan Cherishes
Victory in 2005 IRL Event in Sonoma

 

            SONOMA, Calif.  - Years from now when
Tony Kanaan has retired from racing and is looking back on his career,
he will smile fondly at the memory of winning the first-ever IRL IndyCar
Series(r) event at Infineon Raceway in 2005.

 

            The Team 7-Eleven driver for Andretti Green Racing dominated
the Argent Mortgage Indy Grand Prix, leading the final 38 laps for a
1.1826-second victory over Buddy Rice.  He will return to the scene of
his victory for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway, Aug.
25-27.

 

            From his early days of racing go-karts in his native Brazil,
and throughout his career climb that ultimately led to IndyCar, Kanaan
has done a lot of road course racing. With Infineon Raceway joining the
IRL schedule in 2005, Kanaan saw an opportunity to apply the skills and
experience that he hadn't made much use of in recent years while racing
exclusively on oval tracks.

 

            He also had a special incentive, with the event at Infineon
Raceway being the initial IRL race to be held on a natural-terrain road
course.

 

            "Coming from a road-racing background, I wanted to be the
first to win (on a natural terrain road course)," Kanaan said. "I had
won races on road courses before, but never since I started racing with
the 'big boys' so it meant a lot."

 

            That 'big boys' aspect of his career started in 1998 when he
was named the top rookie in the CART series. Kanaan raced with a few
different teams before making a fulltime switch to the IRL and joined
Andretti Green Racing in 2003. The new pairing was immediately
successful, with Kanaan taking the pole position for the first two races
of the season and winning from the pole at Phoenix in only his second
start. While he didn't win again the rest of the year, Kanaan had enough
good finishes to wind up fourth in the series point standings.

 

            Then came the dream season of 2004, which brought Kanaan his
first IRL championship and wins at Phoenix, Texas and Nashville. He only
finished out of the top five once in 16 races. And while he didn't
repeat as champion, Kanaan finished second in the championship in 2005
to former AGR teammate Dan Wheldon and won twice, his effort definitely
hurt by two races in which he was sidelined and did not finish.

 

            With AGR teammates Bryan Herta, Marco Andretti and Dario
Franchitti, Kanaan hopes to bring the team its third straight IndyCar
title in 2006. 

 

            Kanaan was one of many IndyCar drivers who had never
competed at Infineon Raceway prior to the inaugural event. The first
time he saw the track in person was at a press conference held in 2004
to announce the scheduling of the race, and he was able to drive around
the track that day in a street car. The team returned for a private test
session later in the year before the race weekend.

 

            "It's a very challenging circuit with different kinds of
corners," said Kanaan. "It's very fun to drive. I was very happy when
the IRL added three road racing events. I wish there were more."

 

WHAT:  Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma

WHERE:  Infineon Raceway, Highways 37 & 121, Sonoma, CA 95476

WHEN:  Aug. 25-27

COURSE:  12 turns, 2.26 miles

2005 WINNER: Tony Kanaan

RECORDS: Qualifying - Ryan Briscoe, 2005, 108.25 mph.; Race - Tony
Kanaan, 2005, 105.74 mph 

IN ADDITION: The weekend will also feature the Grand American Rolex
Sports Car Series, Indy Pro Series(tm) and the Historic Grand Prix.   

SCHEDULE (All times Pacific):  

Friday, Aug. 25: Grand-Am Practice 9 a.m.-9:45 a.m.; IndyCar(r)
Practice, 10 a.m.-12:05 p.m.; Indy Pro Series(tm) Qualifying, 12:15
p.m.-1 p.m.; IndyCar(r) Practice, 2 p.m.-3 p.m.; Indy Pro Series(tm)
Qualifying, 3:40 p.m.-4:25 p.m.; Grand-Am Qualifying, 4:45 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 26: IndyCar(r) Practice, 9:30 a.m.-10:35 a.m.; IndyCar(r)
Qualifying, 12:05 p.m.-1:20 p.m.; Indy Pro Series(tm) race, 1:45 p.m.,
Grand-Am main event, 3 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 27: Indy Pro Series(tm) race, 10:20 a.m.; Indy Grand Prix
of Sonoma, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN)

TICKETS:  $10-$85, parking is free.  800-870-RACE,
www.infineonraceway.com <http://www.infineonraceway.com/>  or
www.ticketmaster.com <http://www.ticketmaster.com/> .  Gates open at 7
a.m. each day.