Kanaan penalized

Tony Kanaan

Tony Kanaan, who is piloting the No. 82 Itaipava – KV Racing Technology – Lotus for his home race, originally qualified 15th with a lap of 83.684 seconds, but was penalized for an illegal wing change and assigned his fast time prior to the change, (84.2205 seconds.108.401 mph), dropping him to 21st on the grid. He will start on the inside of row 11.

“During our first outing the team noticed that according to our telemetry there was something wrong with the front wing of the car. I came in and the team swapped wings, but I ran out of time to get a good lap. After the qualifying was over we were informed that we got penalized because of the wing change. It will be a long day tomorrow, but this track is good for overtaking, so I’m confident that we’ll improve during the race."

Kanaan will be making his second start on the streets of S�o Paulo tomorrow. Last year, he qualified sixth and finished 10th. The talented Brazilian is third in the championship race with 87 points just 35 points behind series leader Dario Franchitti. He is one of four drivers to finish in the top-10 in each of the first three events of the 2011 season and has improved 25 positions (starting position to finishing position) in the three events. Kanaan will be making his 136th consecutive IndyCar start tomorrow putting him just two shy of the Series record.