Two years after he became the first Scot to win the Indianapolis 500 since the legendary Jim Clark in 1965, Bathgate’s Dario Franchitti today is back in action at the classic American circuit.
Franchitti, who splashed to victory in 2007 when the race finished in a torrential downpour, believes he has everything in place to repeat the victory in this year’s running of the 200-lap race on Sunday, May 24.
“Winning the Indy500 two years ago was, without question, the highlight of my career so far,” Franchitti, who returns to the 2.5-mile oval today to begin his practice for America’s Blue Riband event, said.
“I know the guys here at my Ganassi Racing team have been over the course before and won, so there’s no reason why they can’t give me the car to win the race again.
“I’ve won on the streets already this year in IndyCar, so now we have to translate that pace on to the Indy oval. I’m confident we can do that together and if we turn up on the 24th with a fast car, then I know we can win.”
First though, Franchitti will take part in three test sessions before bidding to capture pole position in the first qualifying session on Saturday.
In Tuesday’s first test session for Indy500 rookies, Canadian Paul Tracy topped the timesheets with a lap of a lap of 40.3426secs, an average of 223.089mph.
JM