by Chris Hayes
AGR driver Tony Kanaan, the man being tipped to repeat his championship glory of 2004 in this year's inaugural 'unified' IndyCar series, remains upbeat about his chances despite an unlucky exit from the Miami-Homstead season-opener in Florida.
The 33-year-old was leading the race with only ten laps to go when HVM driver Ernesto Viso spun off in front of him. The Brazilian took evasive action swerving to the left then the right but eventually made contact with the ailing Venezuelan damaging his own suspension and slowing to finish eighth.
The collision gifted Scott Dixon with the victory for arch rivals Ganassi, but Kanaan has kept a brave face about the incident.
"I've been around a long time and the race is not finished until the chequered flag," mulled the IndyCar veteran drawing on his twelve years of American open-wheel racing experience.
"This was a misfortune - yes. But, how many times have I won races because some other guy was unlucky? With 10 laps to go I was looking around and I was thinking, 'This looks too easy.'"
The 2003 Homestead winner added that there was little he could do to avoid the troubled HVM driver: "When somebody spins and he's doing 230 miles an hour, you're like, 'Where should I go?' I slowed down, he was on the bottom, so I went to the top. Then, all of a sudden he started to go to the top and I was trying to go to the bottom, so there was nothing I could do about it.
"The way I look at it, this is right where I finished here in 2004 in the Team 7-Eleven car and we know the way that year turned out (by winning the IndyCar Series championship)."
Meanwhile Marco Andretti rounded off a better day for AGR, leading the race for 85 laps before finishing second to Dixon.
"We started out pretty well in the NYSE car. We really focused on the balance of the car starting in the off-season during testing," the 21-year old explained.
