Indy Racing League Media Conference

Topics:  Indy Racing League

Mario Moraes
August 26, 2009

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to today's Indy Racing League Q&A. We have two guests with us today: Mario Moraes of KV Racing Technology and Robert Dornbos of HVM Racing. First up is Mario Moraes.
Mario, how is it going today?
MARIO MORAES: Pretty good. Right now in Miami it's raining a little bit, but everything is good.
THE MODERATOR: He's in his second season in Indy Car Series competition and his first for KV Racing Technology. He recorded his first top 5 finishes in his career with his fourth place finish at Infineon Raceway last week.
Mario, how good did that race feel to you after being out of the car for a week?
MARIO MORAES: Well, it was great to be back in the car. The last two weeks has been really busy for me, really hard to go through. But, well, unfortunately we had a problem going to the qualifiers, we make a wrong change. Then we come back for the warm-up in the morning on Sunday morning, and the car was really fast, so we are really confident for the race.
And, well, I was just looking forward to the race, because I need to be really calm and just do what the car could do. And, well, I think everybody thought the car was really fast.

Q. How much confidence does a good finish give you going into another race weekend?
MARIO MORAES: Well, you know, I think the thing was waiting for this good finish for the whole season, you know. Unfortunately, we had some bad luck during the season. But, well, this has given me, made me much more confident, because, well, we go to the ovals and our car in the ovals is pretty good.

Q. As you said, you've been very quick on ovals this year. But sometimes the results don't show how fast and how well you've run.
Do you, after racing on ovals, do you think you'll be one of the cars to beat?
MARIO MORAES: Well, like I said, our car in the ovals for qualifying has been really fast. For Indy we qualified 7th, and I think all the ovals qualified that we had qualified, we qualified in the top 10. So we could show the car is pretty fast on the ovals.
But our setup for the race has not been very good. We need to work a little bit more so we can have a better finish.

Q. You're looking for better finishes on the ovals. What are your goals for the final three races? Do you think you can finish on the podium and maybe even win a race?
MARIO MORAES: I don't know win a race. Everything can happen in an oval. But for sure I think in the podium we can finish the last three races. We just need to have some luck and go forward.

Q. What are your thoughts on Chicago and the race this weekend? I know you finished 10th last year.
MARIO MORAES: Last year we finished 10th, didn't have a very fast car, but for the race we had an okay car. And this year I think it's going to be really good. I think we have a chance to qualify in the top 6. And if everything runs good, we can finish on the podium.

Q. What do you think about the aero changes that have been made for the ovals? Do you think that's going to help the racing?
MARIO MORAES: Definitely going to help the race, and push to pass has been helping all the cars. I think for the crowd and everybody, and make it more excited, and for sure going to be a good race.

Q. And after Chicago we go to Motegi; you didn't go there last year because you were at Long Beach. Have you heard anything about the track from any of the drivers?
MARIO MORAES: Yeah. I spoke with Tony. He said it's a hard track. It's not flat all the way around. It's different shape of -- all corners are different.
It's not like Homestead that you have the same type of corners. And he said it's really different because when you go to Japan, you're the different guy. It's not like here, you see a Japanese; he's the different.
There you're going to be the different one.

Q. And finally the season ends in your adopted home of Miami. You must looking forward to racing in front of your adopted hometown?
MARIO MORAES: Definitely I'm looking forward to the race in Miami. I think a lot of people from my family is coming. A lot of friends. And, well, the environment in Miami is great. So I think if we have a good finish in Miami it's going to be great for me.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, Mario. That's all the time I have today for you. Appreciate you taking the time to call in and be our guest today.