Tomas Scheckter and Scott Dixon aim to continue the winning streak of Chip Ganassi’s Target Toyota team at the Purex Dial Indy 200 at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend.
Tomas Scheckter and Scott Dixon aim to continue the winning streak of Chip Ganassi’s Target Toyota team at the Purex Dial Indy 200 at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend.
Team Target is in pursuit of their third straight victory in Phoenix. In November last year, Kenny Brack ended the IRL season with a victory in Mexico City. At the opening race of the year in Homestead, Scott Dixon took the chequered flag. It was the team’s first back-to-back victories since the 2000 season.
In Phoenix at the annual Test in the West in February, New Zealander Dixon was second fastest overall and his team-mate, 22-year-old Capetonian Tomas Scheckter ended up seventh overall.
Last year, Scheckter suffered the disappointment of an engine failure while he was running in a strong third position in the Bombardier ATV Copper World Indy 200 at the Phoenix circuit. But the South African is confident his luck will be better this time around.
“Before the race in Homestead (the season-opening event held earlier this month), I was just hoping to come out of there with some points and have a good finish. We pretty much accomplished that when we finished eighth,” Scheckter said.
“Phoenix is a very challenging track for a driver and it’s a lot of fun to race on. We had a pretty good test down there a few weeks ago, so I think it’s going to be good. As always there, qualifying is going to be important. I think that both Scott (Dixon) and I will have a good chance of winning,” he added.
Championship log leader Dixon, also known as “Thunder from Down Under”, said: “The Homestead win was a great way for us to start the season; in fact, it couldn’t have been any better! Now we have to keep the momentum rolling at Phoenix.
“The win has given everyone here at Team Target lot of confidence. We set some goals at the beginning of the season and one of them was to win the championship. At the Test in the West a few weeks ago in Phoenix, we ended up second overall, so I think that we’ll be competitive there,” he added.