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IndyCar
INDYCAR: Kanaan Lands At KV Racing
As SPEED.com's Robin Miller broke on March 10th, Tony Kanaan has formally joined KV Racing for the 2011 season, partnering with E.J. Viso and Takuma Sato.
New colors, new team and a new engineer for Tony Kanaan this year. (Tony Kanaan)
It took five months and 19 days for the 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion to sign a firm contract after being released by Andretti Autosport last October, but with his new home at KV Racing Technology now secure, Tony Kanaan will likely find it was worth the wait.
With financial support from Geico and a few additional sponsors he's found on his own in the off-season, Kanaan joins KVRT as a time when the three-car program needs to rebound after a fruitless 2010 season. While the team has built a strong and talented infrastructure, its lack of a clear leader amongst the driver ranks showed as Takuma Sato, E.J. Viso and Mario Moraes found themselves in an endless run of crashes and altercations last year.
Adding Kanaan's veteran presence to the cockpit and under the KV tent should add a new level of clarity and direction and could reestablish the team as a regular challenger for top 10 finishes.
READ: Tracy Joins DRR For Indy 500
On a personal level, Kanaan and KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser have been friends for more than a decade, dating back to their days as competitors in the CART Indy car series. The bond between the Brazilian and Californian obviously played a role in bringing the two parties together when Kanaan’s deal with de Ferran Dragon Racing fell apart.
“Jimmy (Vasser) and I started talking about joining forces at the end of last season," Kanaan said, "but the timing was not ideal and I ended up signing with Gil (de Ferran). When I became a free agent in mid-February, calling Vasser seemed like a natural thing to do since KVRT was one of the top teams still looking for a driver. Jimmy and I go back a long way, we were rivals during the CART days, but more than that, we have always been good friends, which helped a lot with our negotiations.
Now that the paperwork has been signed, Kanaan and KVRT will get down to the business of gaining mileage for the driver of the No. 82 KVRT-Lotus entry at Homestead-Miami before driving north to unload for this weekend's opening round of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Season at St. Petersburg.
“I’ve spent the last six months looking for sponsorship and not thinking about racing. so I missed all the pre-season testing, but I really can’t complain. With a group of guys like Vasser and his team backing me, plus the help of my new teammates, Takuma Sato and E. J. Viso, the only thing I can say is that I’m ready to do what I do best, drive a racecar and push hard to give KVRT–Lotus their first IndyCar win."
Kanaan's efforts this season will aided by one of the most respected engineers in the paddock as Michael Cannon joined KVRT to engineer the No. 82 Dallara-Honda.
Cannon, who came to prominence at Forsythe Racing and nearly won the 2006 Champ Car title with AJ Allmendinger, previously served as Simona De Silvestro's engineer at HVM Racing before making the switch to the team co-owned by Vasser, his former charge.
While Vasser and Kanaan have been friends since the late 1990s, the Vasser and Cannon relationship dates back more than two decades when Cannon acted as Vasser's engineer in the Toyota Atlantic Championship at Genoa Racing.
It will take time for the new driver/engineer combo to jell, but in time, and with the proper resources dedicated to the program, Kanaan and Cannon could pose serious problems for the top teams in the paddock.
Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports car racing for the site. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. You can email him .
With financial support from Geico and a few additional sponsors he's found on his own in the off-season, Kanaan joins KVRT as a time when the three-car program needs to rebound after a fruitless 2010 season. While the team has built a strong and talented infrastructure, its lack of a clear leader amongst the driver ranks showed as Takuma Sato, E.J. Viso and Mario Moraes found themselves in an endless run of crashes and altercations last year.
Adding Kanaan's veteran presence to the cockpit and under the KV tent should add a new level of clarity and direction and could reestablish the team as a regular challenger for top 10 finishes.
READ: Tracy Joins DRR For Indy 500
On a personal level, Kanaan and KVRT co-owner Jimmy Vasser have been friends for more than a decade, dating back to their days as competitors in the CART Indy car series. The bond between the Brazilian and Californian obviously played a role in bringing the two parties together when Kanaan’s deal with de Ferran Dragon Racing fell apart.
“Jimmy (Vasser) and I started talking about joining forces at the end of last season," Kanaan said, "but the timing was not ideal and I ended up signing with Gil (de Ferran). When I became a free agent in mid-February, calling Vasser seemed like a natural thing to do since KVRT was one of the top teams still looking for a driver. Jimmy and I go back a long way, we were rivals during the CART days, but more than that, we have always been good friends, which helped a lot with our negotiations.
Now that the paperwork has been signed, Kanaan and KVRT will get down to the business of gaining mileage for the driver of the No. 82 KVRT-Lotus entry at Homestead-Miami before driving north to unload for this weekend's opening round of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Season at St. Petersburg.
“I’ve spent the last six months looking for sponsorship and not thinking about racing. so I missed all the pre-season testing, but I really can’t complain. With a group of guys like Vasser and his team backing me, plus the help of my new teammates, Takuma Sato and E. J. Viso, the only thing I can say is that I’m ready to do what I do best, drive a racecar and push hard to give KVRT–Lotus their first IndyCar win."
Kanaan's efforts this season will aided by one of the most respected engineers in the paddock as Michael Cannon joined KVRT to engineer the No. 82 Dallara-Honda.
Cannon, who came to prominence at Forsythe Racing and nearly won the 2006 Champ Car title with AJ Allmendinger, previously served as Simona De Silvestro's engineer at HVM Racing before making the switch to the team co-owned by Vasser, his former charge.
While Vasser and Kanaan have been friends since the late 1990s, the Vasser and Cannon relationship dates back more than two decades when Cannon acted as Vasser's engineer in the Toyota Atlantic Championship at Genoa Racing.
It will take time for the new driver/engineer combo to jell, but in time, and with the proper resources dedicated to the program, Kanaan and Cannon could pose serious problems for the top teams in the paddock.
Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports car racing for the site. He also contributes to Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. You can email him .
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