1. INDYCAR Conference Call with Marco Andretti2. Course modifications may spice up Sao Paulo race:1. INDYCAR Conference Call with Marco Andretti: Earlier today, IZOD IndyCar Series driver Marco Andretti participated in an INDYCAR Conference Call to discuss the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season and preview the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle on May 5. Selected quotes from the call are below. Q. Marco, let's talk a little bit about the start of the season, starting with those three top-10 finishes. Your start has to give you a lot of confidence heading to Brazil.
MARCO ANDRETTI: Absolutely. This is what used to be the weakest part of the schedule for me, and I find myself just a few points out of the points lead. I'm super thrilled about my progress in the off-season. Working on these weak points I think definitely has helped, but it's definitely good to see results translate through.
Q. Sao Paulo is a pretty unique street course. There are some pretty long straightaways, including the longest straightaway we'll see all year, the Marginal that lead into passing zones. What is the greatest challenge of racing at Sao Paulo? MARCO ANDRETTI: Staying clean. Qualifying plays a big role because of the stack-ups in Turn 1, if you're able to be ahead of most of that, that will help. From there, it's just going to be about doing everything right. Obviously, it's easier said than done, but it's going to take just that in order to be victorious.
Q. They've made some modifications to the course in Turns 1 and 2, kind of widened it up a little bit and changed some curbing. Do you think that will help the racing that we'll see? MARCO ANDRETTI: Maybe. I think it was a decent passing zone, but you're exactly right, we didn't have enough room to get it done. We had to really be all the way through by the time you got to Turn 1 in order to make a clean pass. There's no way two cars are fitting through there. Now I think it will make the passing a bit better.
Q. Marco, you mentioned earlier this is one of the best starts to a season you've had. With that said, what do you feel you were missing or need to improve on to drive home wins and more consistent podium finishes?
MARCO ANDRETTI: I think if I keep driving the way we've been, I think the podiums and the wins will come. Like I said, I'm pleased with my performance so far. But obviously it's still early.
I've worked on my street courses in the off-season in a big way. Really I need to give my teammates credit, especially Ryan (Hunter-Reay). He adapted to the street courses a lot better than I did. I was really over-driving the car. In the off-season I really studied how I was over-driving the car. It ended up working against me, causing more problems for myself, leaving me on the outside looking in.
This year, qualifying, there's a couple hundredths of a second out of the top six, but it's a lot better than looking in on the top 12, which is where we were last year.
I think we've improved. But to get wins we just need to keep driving the way we are.
Q. You mentioned the over-driving of the car, anything else outside of the obvious, engineer and crew chief changes, that you did as a driver to improve yourself or something you found, so to speak, hit on?MARCO ANDRETTI: I always knew I was a decent driver, I just needed to put it all together basically. I'm yet to do that. Until I start clicking off poles and wins on street courses, then I'll sleep a lot better than I am at night.
However, I am sleeping better than I was last year. I think just that alone, those notches on the belt help. You know what I mean? You can't explain it. It all just starts coming together.
Obviously it's still way early in the season, but I feel a lot better on my outlook for the season. This is the first time I can actually say that I can see myself winning this championship.
2. Course modifications may spice up Sao Paulo race: Tony Cotman won't be surprised if the track record falls on the streets of Sao Paulo during qualifications for the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300.A modification to Turns 1 and 2 of the 2.536-mile street circuit was made with the goal of maximizing passing opportunities for the drivers. It will also give them a chance to post faster lap times."The biggest change is that we've moved the curbing in Turn 1 and 2, particularly in Turn 2, where they have been moved quite a bit to the driver's right," said circuit designer Tony Cotman, whose NZR Consulting is responsible for the track build.
"(Turn 2 is) about 10 feet wider now and the curbs that are there have been lowered, so the corner will be quicker, without question. The goal was to help improve things for double-file restarts and particularly in the rain. We've seen how difficult it can be over the years."The widening of the corner will allow cars to race side-by-side as they come off the concrete portion of the Sambadrome and into complex known as the "S" of Samba.
"The corner will still be painted, and there still will tires behind the apexes," Cotman said. "The difficulty for the drivers is they can't see the curbs or the corner, especially when you are right behind another car. We'll give them a reference point by painting the tires a contrasting color. Hopefully we've improved it."Cotman also said there has been some smoothening of bumps, particularly in Turn 10, as well as some addressing drainage issues that led to puddling. "We've addressed the key bumps, but just because a bump has been addressed in a certain corner, doesn't mean more bumps won't be found," Cotman said. "It's a street circuit, so there always will be bumps, but our goal is to improve them."***The 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues with the Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle on Sunday, May 5 on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The race will be televised live at 11 a.m. (ET) by the NBC Sports Network (Verizon FiOS 90/590, DirecTV 220, DISH 159 and AT&T UVerse 640) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network, including on Sirius and XM Channels 211 and www.indycar.com. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Firestone Freedom 100 on Friday, May 24 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be broadcast by NBC Sports Network live, during the network's coverage of Carb Day.
