Helio Castroneves
Helio Castroneves
Hélio Castro-Neves, better known as Hélio Castroneves, is a Brazilian auto racing driver competing in the IndyCar Series. In IndyCar competition, Castroneves has 23 wins and 38 poles, and placed second in the season standings four times, third two times and fourth four times. Prior to IndyCar, Castroneves competed in the CART championship, with a highest championship points finish of fourth; he recorded six wins and seven pole positions in the series...
NationalityBrazilian
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth10 May 1975
CitySao Paulo, Brazil
CountryBrazil
I wouldn't take anyone for granted. But hopefully we'll continue to do what we do.
Motor racing is going to miss a phenomenal race driver and I'm going to miss a good friend. I think I will learn a lot with Sam. He is an experienced driver even though he is young. He's been fast at a lot of tracks where we haven't done well so I hope to learn from him.
It's a track where everyone can go flat easy. It's a track where equipment sometimes takes over for the driving. But that's for speed. The draft is very important here and we have been learning what it takes, so hopefully we will be able to learn from that and win.
It was a tough run and we tried really hard. The track changed a little bit from the morning to the afternoon which was a little bit to our favour. We tried something in the beginning of the top-six qualifying and it didn't work, and we had to stop right away. We used the tyres up and the track was better. At the end of the day, I don't think we would have been able to catch Ryan. He did a good job. Now we look forward to the race tomorrow and hopefully will do well.
When everyone jokes about (taking chances), there's a little bit of truth to it, ... Hopefully people have learned from what happened (at Sonoma).
People might see an opportunity, but I hope people are more patient a little bit, ... This is the last road course, but there is nothing I can do. It's out of my control.
I hope my competitors did not learn anything,
Hopefully the 2 mph advantage we have on the speed chart continues the same way in the race.
I'm sure it's going to be faster. And hopefully we're right on top of it.
It was very weird. There were some wet spots. I put rain tires, dry tires, rain tires. I kept on going back and forth. It was very hard to find balance. Toward the end I felt comfortable.
The way I see it, we're pushing each other. Sharing information is good because it's going to make both cars better. I think our team and the way it works is the right chemistry and the right combination, and we're looking to keep doing the right thing.
The way boxers are ready to attack is the same way we must be ready to attack the steering wheel.
Everything is going the way we are planning but until the checkered flag, you can't count on it. Today, we are extremely happy. That's what we need to be thinking about and enjoy this moment.
Sam is a truly competitive driver. Yes, I want to beat him and he wants to beat me. But at the end of the day, we want both cars up there and we want to make the boss happy.