Agustín Canapino
successfully raffled his first test in the IndyCar.
At 33, at the age when many of his colleagues begin to think about his retirement, the Argentine had an auspicious debut in this enormous challenge of running Formula 1 motorsports in the United States.
He was one of the twelve participants who yesterday did the 101 laps to finish a very eventful competition in the street circuit of Saint Petersburg, near Tampa Bay, in the state of Florida.
The balance is more than positive.
Especially since it was the first time he got into a single-seater, since his career began in simulators and then continued, with enormous success, in touring cars.
Hence, everything is new for the reef.
All different.
“It's like driving a tricycle or driving a truck and the truth is that it is like that.
An abysmal difference with what I did.
It's costing me a lot, but I'm much better than I imagined, than everyone expected.
I am pleasantly surprised by that,” she maintained.
"I'm not here to do any miracle, it's going to cost me a lot.
I am also in a developing team”.
Augustine Canapino
The arreciefeño knows that you cannot rest on your laurels.
He knows it because that's how he built his highly successful career in Argentine motorsports.
But he knows it most because he still has a lot to learn.
It is that the IndyCar combines these tight street circuits like those of last Sunday with the traditional ovals.
And Canapino never in his life ran on a track like that.
That is why he considers it key that there is a little less than a month for the second date of the season, which will be held between Saturday April 1 and Sunday April 2, at the Texas Motor Speedway oval circuit.
“I have never driven an oval in my life, except with IndyCar.
(The Spanish driver) Álex Palou gave me a couple of pieces of advice that were not very encouraging: that you have a very bad time on the first test.
But they all say the same thing, that it is very difficult and takes time to get used to.
I will take it easy, progressing slowly, ”he explained.
However, despite the difficulties that lie ahead, Canapino is going for more.
"Hopefully I can show that I can do well so they give me a second year.
Because that's where I'm really going to be able to think about going for a top 10 or a top 5 in some race.
Thinking about it this year is very utopian.
I'm not far from the top 20, if I can do one in a race for me it's like winning.
My biggest challenge now is finishing it.
An IndyCar race is very hard, physically it is tremendous, very demanding and it lasts two hours.
First I have to try to finish races and then think of some decent result”, explained the man who came to the United States with his compatriot Ricardo Juncos and who will seek to make his way by riding in the Dallara-Chevrolet of Juncos Hollinger Racing.
look too
Agustín Canapino and a promising IndyCar debut: he finished 12th in a race full of accidents
Agustín Canapino, hours after his debut in the super demanding Indycar of the United States: "I feel an adrenaline rush that I had lost"