Vitor Meira Quotes on Cars (6 Quotes)

Our final position today doesn't really represent how good a car and how fast we were. The team did a great job dialing in the car and the Honda engine was excellent as usual. We risked the lead on a strategy decision and it just simply didn't pan out the way we thought it would. Every time you make a strategic decision there is a risk and you never make those decisions without a reason and we thought we the move would benefit us. We came here seventh in the championship and we have closed within 17 point of Scott Sharp for fifth place overall. Fifth is the goal. Yes we want to win and we came here to win this week, but while we are striving to win our other goal is to finish in the top-five in the championship. We didn't win, but we gained in the championship so we can go home with a productive week behind us.

The team did a great job putting the car together to the new Chevy Gen IV engine and we were very fast. That's the way it goes sometimes. I was really trying hard mostly because the team and engine company deserves it. That's the way it goes I crashed. I got loose. We were trying to free up the car and that was my first qualifying simulation. Maybe the tires weren't ready and maybe I pushed too hard. The fact is I got loose and crashed.

We had to go out second and that is a little bit of a question mark since the weather changed so much. You never know what will happen with the cool temperatures and the wind, but I was flat on the throttle. It felt pretty good. We did some race setups this morning and the car seems to be very good for the race. Rahal Letterman Racing had enough data coming into qualifying that we were not too surprised by the conditions. I got some information from Buddy after the last practice when the wind was really strong. Overall we had a strong run. Of course, we would obviously like to be faster.

We are really still learning in the Indy cars on the road circuit, ... Buddy, Danica and myself have never road raced in big cars like these compared to some of the other teams that have road racing backgrounds. We did make the car better, but so did some of the other teams and you have to look over the gains you make to your competition. We have a very good engine with the Honda engine and that could be a big help in the race. Buddy's car is much improved and we'll see how that works for the race. I like my car for the race right now, but we can still make it better. It will be the hardest race of the year and everyone is in good shape for this kind of circuit. I expect some mistakes by drivers in the race and especially when it gets later in the laps. If you are tired physically, you will make mental mistakes too.

We had a vibration with the car after the second practice today. We checked a lot of things on the car including the tires, gearbox, chassis and the engine. Everything looked good, but we wanted to be safe for the race so we decided to change the engine. That way we are ready for warm-up and the race. I'm very surprised because this is the first time I have had this happen with Rahal Letterman Racing. We can work out some more things in warm-up and the car will be set to go. The car felt very good in traffic in the practice. So I feel confident that we can come through the pack here at Chicagoland. Some other tracks you couldn't do, that but here it is possible.

Wow, this place is physical. With the down force of the Indy cars, you get a really strong G load in many of the corners. It is almost as much as some of the high-banked ovals we race. But it is different since we turning left and right. But that is why we train so hard off the track. (Meira is a tri-athlete). You need to be in as good shape as possible. Overall, we learned a lot with the car today. We'll be stronger on Saturday and be prepared for the race. Eighty laps is going to be long at a track like this place.