Tony Kanaan Tag

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer Earlier this evening, the Verizon IndyCar Series made its much-anticipated return to Phoenix International Raceway. When all was said and done, it was Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon standing tall in victory lane at the Diamond Desert West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix. “It was tough, definitely one of the toughest races on these short ovals.” said Dixon, a four-time series champion, “The car was super-fast. I think we had the best car out there on strategies and pit stops.” Dixon was followed to theRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer AVONDALE, AZ. April 2, 2016 – Heading into tonight’s Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix, Honda teams are left scratching their heads as Chevrolet-powered cars swept the first ten grid positions led by Penske Racing’s Helio Castroneves. After completing a two-day test in February, all the Verizon IndyCar Series teams reported that track conditions were remarkably different upon returning to the 1.022 mile oval.  The track had hosted the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in the interim and, despite a power-washing of the surface, quiteRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Staff Writer The Verizon IndyCar Series will make its return this weekend to the Valley of the Sun for the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix. About the Race The race will be the second race of the sixteen-race schedule for the Verizon IndyCar Series. It will be the first oval track event of the season, in a schedule that compromises five oval races. IndyCars will be returning to the iconic track for the first time since 2005. Staged as a a Saturday Night event, theRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – The Verizon IndyCar Series held its season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg seeing Juan Pablo Montoya take victory in the Penske Chevrolet. The win was Montoya’s second consecutive win at the track, and the eighth overall for Team Penske at the venue. Allow me to share some observations from the weekend. 1)Aleshin is for real Almost lost in the shuffle of the weekend’s headlines was the solid performance from Schmidt-Peterson driver, Mikhail Aleshin. The Russian driver qualified his Honda-powered machineRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service The No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Daytona Prototype was running an extremely competitive race until brake failure in the eighth hour forced the car to the garage for repairs. The “Star Car” piloted by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regulars Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson and IndyCar champions Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan was vying for a second straight Rolex 24 at Daytona title before the brake pedal went to the floor with Kanaan behind the wheel. The No. 02 lost five laps whileRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Driving a brand new Prototype developed and built in his native Russia, IndyCar driver Mikhail Aleshin won the top starting spot for the Rolex 24 at Daytona — with the ninth fastest time of Friday’s qualifying sessions at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway road course. Englishman Nick Tandy had the afternoon’s fastest lap, leading a Porsche sweep of the top two starting spots in the highly competitive GTLM Class, touring the course in 2:01.408 (105.561 mph) and edging fellow PorscheRead More

By Josh Farmer, Journalist When the upcoming IndyCar season’s schedule was released recently, the reaction was rather muddled. The schedule features 16 races, 13 of which are returning events. The scheduling of the races is a little different from years past, including a few races being spread out and the season extending past Labor Day ending on September 18. The break between some of the races was much needed, given the toll it was taking on teams last year. There are no big surprises that came from the announcement, but thatRead More

There have been few bigger proponents of young racing talent anywhere in the sport than Championship race Team Owner Chip Ganassi. For over 25 years he has identified, hired and developed some of the best young racing talent from all around the world.  Subsequently, Chip Ganassi and his Chip Ganassi Racing Teams (CGRT) announced today the creation of the Generation Ganassi (Gen G) racing talent identification program, a mentorship that will look to identify and assist North America’s young and talented race car drivers. The program identifies 13-18 year oldRead More

By Josh Farmer, Journalist Tony Kanaan will return to Chip Ganassi Racing for a third season with NTT Data once again sponsoring the #10 Chevrolet/Dallara. Kanaan, who leads all active drivers with number of consecutive starts (249), joined CGR in 2014 and has scored one win (Auto Club Speedway, 2014) and nine podiums and finished as high as seventh in the standings in 2014. He was also part of the winning team in the 2014 Rolex 24 at Daytona driving with IndyCar teammate Scott Dixon and NASCAR drivers Kyle Larson andRead More

The Ganassi Pair of Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon led both extremely hot Friday practice sessions for Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 300. The 2010 race winner lapped the 7/8 mile oval in 17.7544, just a tick faster than Dixon during the evening practice session. The speed way only around 3 mph slower than Dixon’s record lap set last year. “I think we have a pretty good set-up,” Kanaan said. “The track suits my style. The short ovals are definitely one of my strengths. So far, we’re pretty happy with theRead More