The 2024
IndyCar
season began with
Agustín Canapino
seeking to establish himself in the category and confirm all the good things he showed last year, aboard the
Ricardo Juncos Racing
car .
In a race that left ambiguous feelings for his team, the Argentine completed 100 laps of the
Saint Petersburg GP
and finished in 18th place, while his teammate, former F1 driver,
Romain Grosjean
, had to abandon after starting in the fifth place on the grid.
The Titan started his year in
the United States
in good shape, leaving a better image on Sunday than the one he could show in the classification, when he finished 20th. The Argentine champion likes to show his pace in the race, fight and look for positions, even in this complicated street circuit, partly set up on the
runway
of Albert Whitted Airport.
Canapa's vertigo allowed him to stay in the race when he had already spent three quarters of the race and the one from Arrecifes was trying to get into the top ten.
The on-board camera on the Argentine's 78 car clearly shows why this category is considered one of the most difficult in motorsports.
👀 Privileged view of @AgustinCanapino's start in St. Petersburg, from Rahal's car.
📽️ @IndyCar #IndyCar #Canapino pic.twitter.com/hrkDZuA4BQ
— Carburando (@CarburandoTV) March 10, 2024
IndyCar is so complicated that everything can change in a matter of seconds: when he was at his best, Canapino accelerated too much at the end of a straight and went too far to lose valuable seconds and finish 20th.
A camera shows the Argentine pilot's failed maneuver, where he seemed to lose grip in the braking zone, due to the marks on the asphalt.
In front of him was none other than
Callum Iliott
, his former teammate in 2023.
💥 Passed by @AgustinCanapino when he was fighting for 13th position with Callum Ilott, his former teammate from last year.
He was able to continue without mechanical problems and is in 19th position # Indycar pic.twitter.com/FKLQma9MNx
— Carburando (@CarburandoTV) March 10, 2024
The sequence occurred just at the moment when Grosjean stopped his vehicle in the pits to end his race.
The Frenchman paid dearly for a penalty that forced him to complete a "stop and go", losing his chances of fighting at the top, and he ended up fading at the end of the race.
Canapino, for his part, did not let himself get carried away by the frustration of running from behind and fought until the checkered flag to finish 18th.
The race had a winner, of course.
It was the American
Josef Newgarden
, who had started on pole and was the leader in 92 of the 100 laps, closing a crushing victory by taking more than 8 seconds over Pato O'Ward, his escort.
The next IndyCar event will be on March 24, in the event called
The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge
, a race that does not distribute points but does award a juicy prize of one million dollars.