Excellent debut in IndyCar for Agustín Canapino: he finished the first free practice sessions less than a second behind the leader

After so many hopes and expectations, Agustín Canapino has finally completed his official IndyCar debut during his first Friday of track practice. Preview of St. Petersburg Grand Prixthe Titán de Arrecifes completed 34 laps on the road track and set a record time among rookie drivers: he was in 19th position, just seven thousandths behind the leader Scott Dixon in what was his first foray into the circuit. On Saturday, the new Juncos Hollinger Racing driver will try to improve his qualifying score.

Five months ago, the four-time Road Tourism champion got into an IndyCar for the first time, after being invited by the Argentine Ricardo Juncos to test the car at Sebring. Today, The driver from Arrecife made history with a very positive first day test at the Florida track. Neither the nervousness of the debut nor a small oversight managed to distract Canapino, who in his first experience as a single-seater driver he managed to score an important 19th place place, with a final time of 1m02s3629only 0.74 seconds slower than Dixon, the six times champion of the category (2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2020).

His performance on his first day of testing was more than good. The 33-year-old driver finished in 17th place, but a minor oversight with seven minutes left in the half could have complicated that. After entering the pits, Canapino returned to the track to set his fastest time on the last of his 34 laps. The top national motorsport champion, which is the sixth Argentine to be said to be present in the Yankee categoryHe had a great performance. He was only one place below Brazilian Helio Castroneves, the American motorsport legend who became a four-time Indianapolis 500 champion. Teammate of Canapino in the Juncos Hollinger Racing team, Briton Callum Ilottended in 12th position0.421 seconds off the leader.

As for newbies, the Titan was only surpassed by New Zealander Marcus Armstrong (9th with 1m01s944), who despite making his debut at the age of 22, has extensive experience in single-seaters: he was a member of the Ferrari Academy for four years, He was Formula 4 champion and competed in F3 and F2. Not counting the New Zealand expert, Canapino recorded better times than the other rookies: American Benjamin Pedersen was last (27th) 1.938 seconds behind Dixon and his compatriot Sting Ray Robb finished in 24th place.

Saturday qualifying schedule

After the great performance of the day, the activity in Street circuit of St. Petersburg will continue this Saturday with two appointments, both broadcast by Star+. from 12 will be launched second round of free practice. Then, from 16.15, the qualifying session will begin with the following format: all the drivers (27) will go out to run on the track and the 12 fastest will advance to the next instance. The cars will be divided into two groups of six, with the top three in each division competing for pole position. Now with the grid defined, the final will be played on Sunday from 2.30pm on ESPN2.

“IndyCar is the most physically demanding category in the world. I don’t think I’ll arrive as I would like. But it went much better than it was”, commented Canapino in the preview of the first race weekend. Furthermore, regarding the debut, the Titano added: “My goal is to do 100 laps in St. Petersburg, the position, the weather or anything else doesn’t matter. For me, finishing the race is winning and it will be difficult. Then you will have a complete idea to see how far I am.”