2006 Grand Prix

Turn 10

The boomerang bend at the end of a straightaway on the St. Petersburg course leaves little room for error, but offers a huge gain.

By BRANT JAMES
Published March 31, 2006

ST. PETERSBURG - Ryan Briscoe thought the moment was his.

In just the third race of his Indy Racing League career, the then-23-year-old Australian led the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with just nine laps left. After a restart, he led veteran Tony Kanaan into Turn 10, the bend in the boomerang-shaped portion of the course that stretches from the so-called "kink" to the end of the snake turns that lead to the runway at Albert Whitted Airport.

Hold your line, he told himself, just like you have the entire race.

Kanaan wasn't about to let him do that.

Down-shift, brake, turn, accelerate.

Pouncing as Briscoe made his comfortable arc through the corner, Kanaan charged into the turn, braked hard and slid into the inside position. He had him. Briscoe tried to grapple back by tucking in front of Kanaan, but as the Brazilian accelerated, he resisted the move with a shove, putting Briscoe into a tire barrier before he cleared the turn.

From the lead to 14th place in seconds.

"It was the first lap after the safety car, so the tires were cold," recalled Briscoe, who was released by Ganassi Racing after the season. "I checked my mirrors before the braking zone and Tony was a fair way back, and so I wasn't expecting him to make the move in that corner. We made contact, and on the cold tires it really just slid the car straight into the tires and I had no grip at all to hang on to it. It was disappointing, but it's racing. Tony's an aggressive guy."

Kanaan won the battle, but the contact cost him the bigger prize.

Dan Wheldon, lurking in third, slipped into the lead and held on to win the IRL's inaugural street race. Kanaan was second.

"They touched, and they both kind of went wide and I was able to go down inside. And the tough thing was I had to hold Tony off for the next 10 laps," Wheldon said. "He was determined."

More like miffed.

"It was a mistake and I think he realized that later," Kanaan recalled of Briscoe's tactic. "He's a rookie leading the race. I don't blame him. I think it was stupid because he ended up losing everything. He could have finished second and he went for the win or nothing. It cost me a win as well, but that's racing."

As was the case in the 2003 CART race on the same course, Turn 10 had a major effect on the outcome. An exercise in the second-by-second, check-listing that street courses demand of drivers, Turn 10 leaves little room for error, but offers huge gain.

"It's your last legitimate opportunity to get around someone that lap," Team Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr. said. "So, especially coming down to the end of the race, that's where you're going to see a lot of things happening there.

"Get on their inside. Long straight, brake hard, pass. If they can't turn into the corner, you can get them. One of you has to give and if you get down there in a situation like Kanaan and Briscoe, neither one of them gave and Kanaan won out over Briscoe."

The key is to find a braking zone that is comfortable, negotiating the bumpy section near the barrier wall, accelerating under control and gaining spots on those who didn't manage as smartly.

"Basically, it's very bumpy in there," Wheldon said, "and if your car kind of gets skatey as the tires get old, you just have to brake that little bit earlier and that's where Tony was good, but that's also where he got with Briscoe and went wide and I went through. My car in that particular area was good. It wasn't better than anybody else's but it was no worse, so I don't think Tony could get by me there."

Briscoe said he regards Turn 10 as a poor passing opportunity because of the risk, which might have led him to underestimate Kanaan's aggressiveness at such a crucial point in the race.

"It is a corner that is very narrow, but it looks very open and at the end of the straightaway, which invites you to, tempts you to try to make a pass," Kanaan said. "That's probably one of the few places to pass. I think maybe because of the nature of the corner, it's so wide, they made it so wide that you can see everything, you have a tendency to risk a little more because you know what you can do and what you cannot."

Drivers will learn in practice today just how much the elimination of traction control will affect what was already a tricky corner. It was hard enough even with the computer-controlled device that eliminated tire overspin and helped to grip road surfaces.

Because the St. Petersburg course is cobbled from different types of areas - streets, parking lots, runways - drivers will be challenged more than usual. The nerve to attempt a move in Turn 10 Sunday likely will be gleaned from lessons learned in practices.

"It's a cool technical part of the race," Briscoe said. "It doesn't give the guy on the outside much of a chance, but it certainly makes it exciting."

If it works out for you.

[Last modified March 31, 2006, 01:09:18]