(Reuters) – Brazil’s Tony Kanaan announced on Wednesday that he will make his final Indianapolis 500 start in May before retiring from IndyCar racing.
The 48-year-old Kanaan is one of IndyCar’s most popular figures and won the Indianapolis 500 in 2013 and the IndyCar Series championship in 2004.
“It’s been a wonderful journey, but it’s not done yet,” Kanaan said in a video posted to his Twitter account in which he stood on the brick start/finish line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I will still have the pleasure to drive through the bricks one more time. Thank you all, and I’ll see you on Race Day.”
Prior to his Indianapolis 500 triumph, Kanaan had known nothing but bad luck at the sprawling 2.5-mile oval speedway, coming close but never able to reach Victory Lane.
That all changed in 2013. On his 12th attempt, Kanaan ran at or near the front most of the afternoon and was sitting behind Ryan Hunter-Reay with six laps left when a caution flag came out after Graham Rahal slammed into the wall.
On the restart, Kanaan blew past Hunter-Reay when his luck took a dramatic change as Dario Franchitti’s crash further back in the field brought out the yellow, allowing the Brazilian to coast unchallenged to the checkered flag.
The Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for May 28.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
