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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Kanaan, KV Racing Focus On Fixing Qualifying
"I’m not saying that if I start sixth that I’ll pass six cars, but it will make it easier," says Kanaan. "We aren’t winning because we aren’t qualifying well."
KV engineer Eric Cowdin, left, and his driver Tony Kanaan, right, know improving their qualifying performances will smooth the path to winning on road and street courses. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
Based on his performances during two seasons with KV Racing, the most apt nickname for 2004 IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan would be “The Closer.”
If you judge how most of the Brazilian’s Fridays and Sundays have gone since moving from Andretti Autosport to his new home at the Kevin Kalkhoven- and Jimmy Vasser-owned team, it would be easy to get the impression all is well within the three-car outfit.
In 2011, and after signing for KV just days before the start of the season, Kanaan kicked things off with almost no testing to draw from, yet rallied to finish fifth in the standings.
One year later, he’s locked in a fight for fifth in the championship once again, but if you add—and subtract—how he’s done it, you just might appreciate why the 37-year-old deserves a new moniker.
Last year, qualifying proved to be a challenge at many tracks, and from the 10 races where Kanaan improved his starting position, he picked up a rather incredible 95 spots—an average of 9.5 positions--during those events.
Things were downright absurd on four occasions where Kanaan improved 18 positions in a pair of races (24th to sixth at Alabama, 22nd to fourth at the Indy 500), 11 positions at Mid-Ohio (16th to fifth) and the mother of them all, 27th to third, at Baltimore--done after crashing in morning warmup and switching to the team’s spare car for the race.
Gaudy stats aside, Kanaan and the KV team expected to see a wholesale improvement in qualifying this season after making numerous personnel changes to the engineering and technical team that supports his Chevy-powered No. 11 entry, but Kanaan has started 17th or worse in six of the 10 rounds run so far.
Frustration has been building within the team as the past four races have seen Kanaan start 19th, 21st, 17th and 18th, and despite his heroics on Sundays (from the seven races where he’s improved his position, Kanaan’s picked up 76 spots, increasing his adjusted passing average to 10.8 cars), Kanaan and the team hope to find a fix for their qualifying issues before the end of the season.
“It’s simple, really,” Kanaan told SPEED.com. “Our qualifying results have been very, very poor, so there is something in the setup—a combination of myself and the [Firestone] Red tires—that is not working. My race pace is awesome; if you look at Mid-Ohio, I had 20 consecutive fastest laps in the race, we went off strategy and it worked well, but I started 18th and finished sixth. I’m not saying that if I start sixth that I’ll pass six cars, but it will make it easier.
"We aren’t winning because we aren’t qualifying well."
If you judge how most of the Brazilian’s Fridays and Sundays have gone since moving from Andretti Autosport to his new home at the Kevin Kalkhoven- and Jimmy Vasser-owned team, it would be easy to get the impression all is well within the three-car outfit.
In 2011, and after signing for KV just days before the start of the season, Kanaan kicked things off with almost no testing to draw from, yet rallied to finish fifth in the standings.
One year later, he’s locked in a fight for fifth in the championship once again, but if you add—and subtract—how he’s done it, you just might appreciate why the 37-year-old deserves a new moniker.
Last year, qualifying proved to be a challenge at many tracks, and from the 10 races where Kanaan improved his starting position, he picked up a rather incredible 95 spots—an average of 9.5 positions--during those events.
Things were downright absurd on four occasions where Kanaan improved 18 positions in a pair of races (24th to sixth at Alabama, 22nd to fourth at the Indy 500), 11 positions at Mid-Ohio (16th to fifth) and the mother of them all, 27th to third, at Baltimore--done after crashing in morning warmup and switching to the team’s spare car for the race.
Gaudy stats aside, Kanaan and the KV team expected to see a wholesale improvement in qualifying this season after making numerous personnel changes to the engineering and technical team that supports his Chevy-powered No. 11 entry, but Kanaan has started 17th or worse in six of the 10 rounds run so far.
Frustration has been building within the team as the past four races have seen Kanaan start 19th, 21st, 17th and 18th, and despite his heroics on Sundays (from the seven races where he’s improved his position, Kanaan’s picked up 76 spots, increasing his adjusted passing average to 10.8 cars), Kanaan and the team hope to find a fix for their qualifying issues before the end of the season.
“It’s simple, really,” Kanaan told SPEED.com. “Our qualifying results have been very, very poor, so there is something in the setup—a combination of myself and the [Firestone] Red tires—that is not working. My race pace is awesome; if you look at Mid-Ohio, I had 20 consecutive fastest laps in the race, we went off strategy and it worked well, but I started 18th and finished sixth. I’m not saying that if I start sixth that I’ll pass six cars, but it will make it easier.
"We aren’t winning because we aren’t qualifying well."
2013 INDY 500 Practice
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