Catchfence

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL March 14, 2010 – “A.J., I want to thank you for waiting for me,” Vitor Meira radioed in to his team owner A.J. Foyt after finishing third in the inaugural São Paulo Indy 300 Sunday afternoon. He also congratulated the crew, thanking them and sponsor ABC Supply during his cool down lap.

Brazil’s first IZOD IndyCar Series race weekend could be described as controlled chaos as officials battled difficult track conditions on Saturday which resulted in a Saturday night modification to a straightaway, a huge crash on the opening lap of the race and then a torrential downpour along with a loss of power midway through the race. In each instance, they rebounded quickly and gave Brazilians and the VERSUS TV audience a memorable season opener.

Particularly troublesome was a stretch of concrete straightaway leading up to the start/finish line, the one-third-mile Anhembi Sambodromo frontstretch, which drivers described as driving on ice. Numerous drivers lost control and hit the wall in practice (although Meira was not among them). To correct the problem, the promoters brought in machines Saturday night to grind the concrete surface and create more grip. League officials changed the schedule and postponed qualifying until Sunday morning.

Meira’s first race since his spectacular accident in the Indianapolis 500 in which he sustained two broken vertebrae proved the Brazilian had not lost confidence nor his skill. He showed the patience he needed in the streets to capitalize on other drivers’ mistakes.

The first mistake was a big one entering the first corner on the first lap! A multi-car crash ensued as 24 cars running two abreast tried to funnel into one lane. As Takumo Sato punted cars in the front of the pack including Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and his teammates Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, the chain reaction that followed saw Mario Moraes drill and then catapult on top of Marco Andretti’s car. No one was injured. Meira, who started 16th wended his way through the carnage and emerged in the eighth position when the dust cleared.

Meira moved into seventh and was maintaining his position before the first pit stop on lap 22, but a problem with the outside rear wheel proved costly as he lost five positions, due in part to some teams short-fueling to gain track position. Meira never lost his cool and when the skies opened up on lap 30, he was one of the first to duck into the pits to put on rain tires. He was able to avoid cars that were still on slicks that were spinning around the course. He was eighth when the race was red-flagged after 35 laps as officials waited out the storm.

When the race restarted, Meira was one of the few drivers to pit to change from the grooved rain tires to slicks, a strategy that paid off, despite dropping back to 14th. Five laps later, cars were spinning, but Meira drove past them into fifth. He dropped to sixth trying to lap Danica Patrick but gained it back the next straightaway when he powered past Dan Wheldon.

Solidly in fourth due to Ryan Briscoe’s miscue with six laps to go, Meira pressured Raphael Matos. Following the final restart, he got a run on Matos and outbraked him going into the hairpin to move into third with five laps remaining. It was his best finish since placing second at Indy in 2008.

“I know I wasn’t the fastest car in normal dry conditions but when the conditions became adverse, our car became alive and we started to gain positions,” he said in the post race press conference. “I’m glad it was mixed up the way it was.”

Will Power won the race and Ryan Hunter –Reay, who subbed for Meira last year, drove a strong race to finish second. Wheldon finished fourth and Scott Dixon was fifth followed by defending champion and race pole winner Dario Franchitti.

With the Brazilian flag draped over his uniform, Meira accepted his beautiful red trophy much to the delight of the partisan crowd.

Summing up his feelings, he told pit reporter Jack Arute in the post-race interview, “They waited 10 months and they believed in me after four races, so I just have to thank A.J. and the whole ABC Supply crew. Having experienced it, it’s very hard to have this happen to a driver. After having a big accident and having a team waiting on you, and then come back in a big way at home, it doesn’t get much better than that. I’m very pleased with everybody.”

He’s not the only one as Foyt said, “We had a good race and Vitor drove a helluva race. I’m really happy for him to be the top finishing Brazilian driver in his home country. It was a good way to start the season.”

Indeed!

The ABC Supply team, now third in the point standings, returns to action in two weeks when they compete in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. That race will be televised on ABC-TV starting at 3:30 pm ET.

- A.J. Foyt Racing Press Release