05-31-07
FOCUSED ON FINISHING THIS WEEKEND
After an early exit from last weekend's Freedom 100 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, New Zealand racing driver Wade Cunningham reckons he'll be happy just finishing Saturday's Road Runner 100 round of the 2007 Indy Pro Series at the Milwaukee Mile.
'Really,' he said from Indianapolis this morning, 'My plan this year is just to get to the finish of the race. I have two DNFs already out of four races and so if I focus on getting to the end I am sure the result will take care of itself.'
And fair enough, because for the past two years Cunningham has been the dominant figure in the Indy Pro Series races at the famous 1.6 km oval set deep in the suburban heartland of the busy Midwest city.
In 2005 he qualified third and finished second and last year he qualified on pole but was pipped at the line after a last lap restart by Jaime Camara.
In both cases he led the race, in fact out of a possible 200 laps over the past two years he has led 154!
And despite a late start to this year's campaign Cunningham says that he and his new engineer, Dave Conti, are working well together and that they have a competitive package.
'I think our communication is now pretty good - we have rarely gone backwards with the car in terms of set up or speed. What we don't have yet is a catalogue of experiences from which to pull comparisons with changes when we make them at the track. We're getting there though, it just takes time.'
Briton Alex Lloyd has won all four races so far this season but so close is the Indy Pro Series this year that there are at least four - possibly even five - drivers with just as good a chance of claiming pole and going on to win the race.
Cunningham is one of those, last year's winner Jaime Camara another.
The Road-Runner 100 will be the first 'one-day' meeting for the Indy Pro Series this season with practice, qualifying and the race all taking place on Saturday.
The Indy Pro Series teams will then pack up and head back to Indianapolis to prepare for the sixth and seventh rounds of the 2007 series at the second double-header' meeting of the season at the US Formula 1 GP meeting on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course over the June 16/17 weekend, before heading to the Iowa Speedway the weekend after for the eight round of the 2007 series on Saturday June 23.
