Motor Sports Sponsor
Race Report
2007/09/02
Kanaan Captures Fifth Win in 2007 in Team 7-Eleven Car at Belle Isle
Detroit Indy Grand Prix
Finish： 1 st Points(Position)： 548(3)
DETROIT, Mich. (Sept. 2, 2007)
Tony Kanaan, driver of the #11 Team 7-Eleven car, drove to his fifth victory of the season at Sunday’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone. The victory moved Kanaan – currently in third place – to within 39 points of the IndyCar Series championship with one race remaining.
Kanaan was able to drive conservatively and save fuel over the final 30 laps to capitalize on a brilliant pit strategy to capture his 12th career IndyCar Series victory. Kanaan pitted under yellow-flag conditions on lap 57 when he was sitting in fourth place, but first place on his pit sequence. Kanaan’s race strategist, George Klotz, made the call for Kanaan to come in for a fuel-only pit stop that sent the driver back to the track in seventh place. Kanaan wasted little time working back into the top five. As other drivers in front of him made their final pit stops, Kanaan was able to move into the lead on lap 69. Kanaan was able to extend his fuel mileage while staying in the lead as the race ended one lap premature, on lap 89, due to a television window.
Kanaan’s AGR teammate Danica Patrick finished second and Dan Wheldon finished third.
The final race of the 2007 IndyCar Series season is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 9, at Chicagoland Speedway.
Tony Kanaan
“I’m going to enjoy this win and celebrate tonight with the Team 7-Eleven crew. They did a great job today. George (Klotz) and Brian (Page) made a real tough call and it worked. This was a real team effort and I’m happy for the guys. I was never out of the championship and now I’m right in the hunt with Dario (Franchitti) and Scott (Dixon). It’s obviously going to be very difficult but I want to win this thing."
George Klotz, Race Strategist
"It looked like we might have made a gutsy call. I figured we were leading (our pit sequence) and I didn’t want to take away laps from Dario (Franchitti). I didn’t want to take away those points for leading the most laps, so that kind of drove me in the decision process. I knew we needed yellow laps and we were lucky enough to get them. You know, sometimes it works. I guess today was one of those days. The Team 7-Eleven guys did a great job in the pits today and this was a real team effort."
