Q. The next stop is Texas. You’ve done well there personally with a pole in the past and seven top-10 finishes, four top-fives in eight starts there. Panther has five wins at that track. Seems like a pretty good combination to put together. What will it take, do you think, to get to Victory Lane on Saturday night?
VITOR MEIRA: Texas is always kind of a complicated race a little bit. It’s a track that is very fast and everybody runs really close. What it’s going to take is, first, good pit stops. First, actually a fast car. Second, good pit stops. And, third, putting yourself in the best position possible until the end of the race.
It’s a race that sometimes you’ll get caught up in somebody else’s mistakes just because everybody runs so close and so fast. But, those three items are the ones that are going to be vital to win the race in Texas.
Q. What is it like to actually fly in an IndyCar? Was it at all fun? Dario (Franchitti) did it last year.
VITOR MEIRA: The flying part was actually pretty cool. The landing part was hard. It was actually funny. When we were flying here to Texas, we were joined by Gen. Umbarger from the Indianapolis National Guard. He gave me a set of the pins that he gives the pilots, the wings that the military uses. He gave me one that says I’m approved, now I can fly.
Q:You mentioned a lack of experience on ovals. What has the learning process been like for you so far?
ANA BEATRIZ: It’s hard. After Homestead, I was thinking to myself, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good. I think I learned a lot of things.’ Then you go to an oval that is totally different so you have to learn a lot of things again.
I think that’s it: the lack of experience. Every oval is a different oval. Then I think I just have to put it together. Right now I kind of know a lot of things, but I think I still have a lot of things to learn.
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