Hi friends, how are you? I hope. Around here, as you know, the marathon continues and this time it will be in Canada. This Sunday 17, from 4:00 p.m. Brazilian time, I will participate in the Honda Indy Toronto, the tenth stage of the NTT IndyCar Series. There will be 85 towers along the 2,800 meter urban route, right in the center of the city.

The Toronto race was already part of the CART calendar, that is to say Championship Auto Racing Teams, when I entered Indy, in 1998, still with the Bettenhausen team. I took pole in 2000 and in 2002 when Penske moved to the Indy Racing League (IRL) I didn’t race in Toronto again until 2009 when it became part of the IRL calendar – which later became IndyCar.

In my second racing period in Toronto, so to speak, I came in 2nd place three times (2013, 2014 and 2016), 3rd once (2015) and scored another pole (2014). But really, I never won on this track. In the years of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship from 2018 to 2020, I raced in Canada but at Mosport Park.

All this to say that I am returning to the Canadian street track after five years, with a completely different car and no set-up reference. It’s quite a challenge, especially because by adding the two free practices before qualifying, it will only take two hours and fifteen minutes of practice to prepare the car. But if you take into account that the stage was off the calendar in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, I will not be alone in this situation.

+ The ranking of the best teams in the world puts the Brazilians in the lead; see the July list

Despite this difficulty, which is real, the business is to take advantage of every minute on the track and to be as efficient as possible. In practice, it works more or less like this. We come to the track with one type of information, based on past tests and computer simulations. This generates successful packages, so the company needs to test it quickly, not waste time on the one that didn’t work, and spend all the time available to refine the one that best suits the track. And since there’s also the asphalt of the street, with its inevitable complications, that’s a lot of information to process in a short time. Decisions must therefore be quick and precise. If you keep thinking about the death of the calf, then you’re screwed.

One thing I’m sure is going to be a very hot race, on and off the track. The events are very accelerated behind the scenes of the category and he is able to have last minute changes to make it even more electrifying.

As always, IndyCar fans can follow it all live on TV Cultura, with Geferson Kern and Rodrigo Mattar, and on ESPN/Star+, with Thiago Alves, Victor Martins and Edgar Mello Filho.

Note the schedule:

Friday 15

15:30 – Practice 1

saturday 16

11:00 – Practice 2

3:00 p.m. – Qualifying

sunday 17

Warm-up – 11:55 a.m.

Race: 4:00 p.m.

Big kisses to all and see you next week.