Global Courant 2023-05-26 12:00:11
The first time that the name of Agustín Canapino appeared in the Clarín newspaper was on April 23, 2006 and, between parentheses, it read “son of the chastista Alberto”. He had made his debut a year earlier in the Copa Mégane and still had three to go before starting in Turismo Carretera -with a historic third place- where he would later stop being “the son of” and become the four-time champion. Seventeen years later, the teenager who learned to race with computer simulators became the 33-year-old man who will contest the mythical Indianapolis 500.
“Not even in the little games did I reach 390 km/h,” he laughs in the motorhome located at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is there despite the fact that his house is 20 minutes away -since the interview with Clarín takes place during a day without activity-, because he is obsessed with work, because he sleeps seven hours a day, because he wakes up looking at data on the computer and goes to bed watching partials on the phone. He is in the place that Alberto Canapino, who would have turned 60 on May 23, would have chosen if he physically accompanied him in Indianapolis. He is there before the most important race of his life, of a dream that he did not dream.
“It seems incredible that this week coincides with his birthday. Besides, my old man would be 60, a more than special number for any man. And he represents one of the great motivations that I also have. My dream is to be able to finish Sunday, get out of the car later to see the checkered flag, in whatever position it is, and to feel that I gave everything I had, that I did the race of my life and dedicate it to my dad. I dream of that on Sunday”, he shares.
While last Saturday, during qualifying in which he finished 27th (Stefan Wilson’s subsequent accident moved him to 26th), his partner Josefina Di Palma was there, this Sunday he will be very close to his brother Matías. “My brother’s thing is very special, on top of that my old man’s birthday arrived, it seems on purpose too,” he confesses. what I have to do and so difficult that I have to stay focused. You have to transform those energies into motivation”.
The first mention of Agustín Canapino in the Clarín newspaper, in 2006 as Alberto’s son.
The revelation. The third place of Agustín Canapino in his debut in the TC, in 2009.
-In addition to your family and your manager Héctor Martínez Sosa, who has been with you since your father died, there will be many Argentines. How do you live it?
-It’s very strong, everything I’m experiencing is very strong but… Two things. First, I am grateful, because coming here is not easy, we are far from the truth, it is a very long journey. I thank each one of you who comes from my heart and I hope to be with all the Argentines who are here. On the other hand, I try not to think about it because it’s going to make me very nervous or it’s going to drain me of energy. So on the one hand try to enjoy everyone who comes and try to be with everyone, but on the other take as much time as I can and focus on what I have to do because what I have to do is very, very difficult. and it’s the first time I’ve done it.
-Are you surprised by the support and affection on social networks every time there is a race?
-Argentines never cease to amaze. This is more than special, because the IndyCar championship is one thing and the 500 Miles is something else, it is above all else, it is the most important and oldest race in the world. Only three Argentines ran it (NdR: Martín de Álzaga Unzué, Raúl Riganti and Juan Antonio Gaudino), I will be the fourth and only one could finish it in 112 years of history. It’s a lot. Imagine if it will be special, in fact they told me that Fangio tried to run her but I don’t know what happened, he didn’t want to…
-He did not have a competitive car and he was already the five-time F1 champion, he decided not to race.
-And I take off my hat, how well he did. With all these condiments, for me it is a great honor, on top of that with the National Team’s car, with the colors of the world champions it is a privilege. For all that it is a motivation and I want to put everything into it, I want to see the checkered flag in the best place we can.
-What goes through your head hours after running them?
-I thought I was going to come here one day to see them, I never thought I was going to run them. If it wasn’t for Ricardo (Juncos, the Argentinian owner of the Juncos Hollinger Racing team), I never would have had this opportunity and I will be grateful to him for life. They would never have called me from an IndyCar team if they don’t even know where Argentina is, practically, what am I going to expect to run the 500 Miles. This is so much that I didn’t even dream of it. And I thank those who allowed me to be here. Here we go, for the 500 Miles, to see the checkered flag and if possible with a good result, much better.
The touch to the wall in the classification: “My heart stopped”
-What is the balance of the classification?
I’m just a little calmer now. On Saturday I was angry because we were up for more and I am so competitive that I forget to enjoy myself and realize where we are. We not only qualified: we qualified on the first day, firm, we were never at risk of being left out or going to Sunday, when the four behind defined a place. Looking at that, looking at the fact that I touched the wall and the car and the body are whole, it can be said that it is a more than positive balance because the dream came true and it is incredible. But on the other hand, that bittersweet taste because we had a car for a better starting position.
-What do you remember about the “kiss” to the wall?
-I’m honest, on top of the car I felt that I had touched the wall, but I didn’t think that anything had been broken. And yes, the right rear suspension had broken. Actually, only one element was bent, not broken. But when I continued and tried to threaten to enter turn 2, everything turned sideways at 370 kilometers per hour. It wasn’t a nice feeling at all. Luckily, I was able to get it out and controlled it throughout the entire turn. I’m not going to lie to you, my heart stopped at that moment, we got it cheap. It is a lesson that Indianapolis taught me. The reality is that I wasn’t the only one who touched the wall: Castroneves touched it and I don’t know how many years he’s been running and won the 500 Miles four times, those things happen. Because one comes to the full limit and the wall is waiting for you with open arms.
Agustín Canapino, in practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports
-In fact, on Monday there was a clash that caused chills between Stefan Wilson and Katherine Legge.
-Fijate how is this; nothing happens until suddenly everything happens. And the closer you get to the race, the more the risk of something happening increases, because we all start to push a little more. What happened was a reality check, because there is a driver (Wilson) who broke a vertebra and will not be able to run the race. It’s a reality check on how risky the Indianapolis 500 is. We all know it but when you are in the maelstrom you start to forget about it, until these things happen and they remind you that we are in the most extreme race in the world.
-Above that speed. What does it feel like to run at 390 km/h?
-It feels, the truth that feels. No matter how much you want to forget about it and concentrate on doing your job, which is to drive the car as perfectly as you can to go very fast, it’s a lot and you feel it on top of the car, it gives you a constant respect that I’ve never felt anything like it. . You are all the time knowing that you cannot make a mistake because it is a blow. It’s the first time I’ve been in a car knowing that everything is not under control. In the 500 or the Texas oval in an Indy Car, you get in the car and go out on the track and you know you’re in a real risky place. I’m not going to be a hypocrite, nor give it to me at all, it feels. You’re not doing something you’ve done your whole life and you’re not doing something that’s normal. You are doing the most extreme thing that can exist on four wheels. It is difficult to explain to you what it feels like, but what it feels like, it feels.
-Although you had never done it, you adapted to ovals and you like them, right?
I like them, and do you know why I like them? It is such an extreme level, it is so risky, it is so difficult that I end up liking it. Perhaps it is that madness that one has that he likes speed and adrenaline. And because I know I’m doing something super risky and super difficult, I end up liking it at the end of the day. You don’t have a good time in the car, because you come with the feeling that you’re doing something crazy, but at the end of the day I end up enjoying it. Also, I am passionate about the fine work part on the oval. At 380 or 390 km/h everything is super sensitive and going down a hundredth on the oval or gaining a mile is really difficult. So, that extreme risk added to the perfection that you have to have to work and how you have to adapt to changes in wind, air, tire temperature… In other words, everything is very sensitive in the oval and that too I am passionate about track work.
-In February you said that the objective was to qualify, now that you have qualified, how do you live the previous one?
-On the one hand I’m like I got an elephant off my back, I’m not going to lie to you, because there was only one place to stay outside. And on top of that when we started with Callum (Ilott, his teammate) we were 33 and 34, we were last, and it seemed that everything was going to be very uphill. But we were working and, on the contrary, we found ourselves in 20th place, I even reached 10th place. So thinking about qualifying was very possible, even if you had to do it later. And now I am a bit calmer but very busy trying to improve the car as much as possible to have a good race, because I want to see the checkered flag but feel that I had a good race, not just finishing it.
Ricardo Juncos and Agustin Canapino at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Press Photo Juncos Hollinger Racing
-Be competitive…
-I want to compete and go forward. I am aware of where we are, and that is important, because we are competing against monsters and teams of decades, with five times more budget and personnel. In IndyCar, of the 33 that start, half can win and the other half can fight. We can’t pretend to win by any means, but we can have a good level, be competitive and blend in with that other half.
-And you who live there, what do you see in the city?
-The entire city dresses up for the 500 Miles: from the airport, hotels and supermarkets to the track and the streets. For a while, everything has been dressed in the 500 Miles. And the week before, when everyone begins to arrive, it is older. An anecdote that I have is that after qualifying, when we were finally classified, all the Americans who were there, the mechanics, the engineers, the public and some journalists, told me: “Welcome to the show, welcome to the show”. They all said the same thing to me, “welcome to the show, welcome to the show.” It’s like that’s even more important to you that we’re in the United States and here everything is put on as a show and everything is to the maximum. In other words, nothing is standard, here everything that can be done to take the human being to the maximum and make it a show will be done. That’s the 500 Miles.
