Motorsport: Dixon looks for Brazilian blend

Scott Dixon can't wait to climb back into the cockpit and go racing. Photo / Dean Purcell

The inhabitants of Sao Paulo are about to get a rude awakening this weekend, when the sound of IndyCar V8 engines boom off the buildings surrounding the street circuit in Brazil's largest and richest city.

For the first time in the history of the series the opening round of the 17-race championship will start offshore.

It's been a long time between drinks for the drivers in the US-based series and two-time IRL champion and Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon can't wait to climb back into the cockpit and go racing. The New Zealander said: "It's been a bloody long off-season, with a lot of travelling and no testing. It's been kind of boring on the racing front," said Dixon, getting ready to leave for Brazil.

"It's nice to finally be in a week when I get to jump on a plane and go racing. I'm definitely looking forward to all that."

It's been almost six months since the last race of the 2009 series. After a bad start to the year, Dixon came from 17th after two rounds to challenge for the title. However, he was piped at the post by team-mate Dario Franchitti in the last race of the season, to finish second in the series for the second time.

Dixon re-signed for a further three years with Target Chip Ganassi Racing late last year and can go racing now secure in the knowledge his short-term future is sorted.

Some say his biggest challenge this season will again come from Franchitti. However, Penske Racing's Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe won 16 of last year's 17 races and look for a repeat in 2010.

"This year more than any will be very interesting. Penske's got three cars now and Will Power was very fast last season, so those guys are going to be really hard to beat.

"AGR's had a bit of a stir up with Hunter-Reay going over there, which should shake TK [Tony Kinnan] back into his game. KV's going to be really tough with Viso and Rossiter.

"A lot of the Champ Car teams that went through the transition have finally caught up with the rest of us. They've done the development work and now know and understand the cars a lot better."

There's been a number of small rule-changes including the fitting of a reverse gear, improved boost button power and the removal of fuel mixture switch.

"It's much he same for everyone," says Dixon. "People have lost and won races on fuel mixture. It just makes one less tool to use for strategy. The boost doesn't really produce more power, its just our baseline is less power.

"I don't like it, the cars are getting easier to drive. It's almost a glorified Indy Lights car now. Going back to the days when the cars developed 900-1000 horsepower and had tiny wings, they were bloody hard to drive."

Adding a bit of spice to proceedings this year and a bit of glamour to the grid are the five women who join the men for this season's series. Leading points contender will be Danica Patrick, with fellow American Sarah Fisher, Venezuelan Milka Duno, Brazilian Ana Beatriz and Swiss miss Simona de Silvestro.

"It's going to be interesting. Beatriz went well in Lights and Simona nearly won Formula Atlantic or Mazda, so she could be tough. Already at Barber she was faster than Danica - that's not too bad."

A big change for 2010 is the first four races are a mixture of street races and road courses. It's more difficult to pass on street and road tracks than ovals so there'll be added pressure on the drivers to qualify up the front.

The race is due to start on Monday at 5.30am (NZT).

SCOTT DIXON

* 20 IndyCar wins
* 114th IndyCar Series race and 153rd start in open wheelers
* Finished first or second in the last three seasons
* Since 2007 has won 15 races and had 33 podium finishes in 52 events
* Since 2001 has won 22 open-wheel races in three different series, two championships, and the Indy 500
* Won the Grand-Am Rolex 24 At Daytona
* Has lead for 2996 laps in career