Still the Scottish Racer - Aye, lad, ye did good
By Bram • Oct 12th, 2009 • Category: IRL, Notes, Racer, Your Series. Your Driver.
Edinburgh native Dario Franchitti pays homage to his home country of Scotland as he celebrates winning the 2009 IndyCar Series championship for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. (Jim Haines/IRL)
Franchitti claimed his second IndyCar Series championship by winning the Firestone Indy 300 on Oct. 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The talented Scot and his Target Chip Ganassi Racing used fuel strategy to beat second place Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske to the finish by 4.788 seconds. Franchitti’s teammate, Scott Dixon, finished third.
This is the second IndyCar Series championship for Franchitti. He also won the title in 2007, for Andretti Green Racing. He did not compete in the IndyCar Series in 2008, racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
When asked if he could believe his good fortune, the amiable Scotsman replied, “No, I can’t. I can’t. Like 2007, I just had to try to save some fuel and stay on strategy. And it just worked out. The Target car wasn’t great early that first stint. Chris (Simmons, crew chief) and the boys made some changes. From the second stint on, we were right there. But we had lost so much ground. We were saving fuel. We were sticking to our strategy. The car was really good at the end. A win is a win. On the cool-down lap, I was thinking of my buddy Greg (Moore). I was in a championship fight 10 years ago, but it didn’t matter because we lost him. This one is for him. It’s been a hell of a year for the Target boys. I’ve got to thank Chip (Ganassi) for gving me a job.”
Franchitti becomes the third driver to win multiple IndyCar Series championships. Sam Hornish Jr. leads with three (2001, 2002, 2006), and Scott Dixon has two (2003, 2008).
