Rule Britannia: The Brits at Indy

These are fine times for British drivers in American open wheel racing.

Two of the last three Indianapolis 500 races and IndyCar Series titles have been claimed by Britons, with Dan Wheldon leading the way in 2005 and Dario Franchitti following last season, 40 years after Jim Clark and Graham Hill's back to back Indy successes in the 1960s.

Franchitti may have headed for NASCAR, but with the merger bringing Justin Wilson into the fray, Darren Manning still achieving against-the-odds miracles for AJ Foyt's small team, and future star Alex Lloyd making his IndyCar debut in the 500 this weekend, there could be as many as four Britons in the Indianapolis top ten this year.

It might even have been five, had the struggling Roth squad not temporarily rested Jay Howard in favour of John Andretti's experience and budget.

Wheldon is by far the most likely victor amongst the quartet of Britons who have made the field. He ended his first Indy 500 upside down in 2003, but learnt from that and has been among the pace-setters at the Speedway ever since. With a little more luck, he could be a three-time Indy winner by now.

"It's my opinion, but there's no doubt the Indianapolis 500 is the biggest race in the world," he says.

"It's my passion. It's the race where you can be in the car for the whole month. It's incredibly competitive, and there's a lot of pressure on everybody within the team. I put a lot on myself to perform well.

"There's history and tradition that no other sporting event has. Having been a previous winner, I've felt what it's done for my career. I want that feeling again."

Dan Wheldon leading the 2007 Indianapolis 500 © LAT

Last year Wheldon arrived at Indianapolis having dominated the preceding oval races. He was the race and title favourite, yet a low-key performance ended in a tangle with Marco Andretti, and he would not win again until Kansas last month. That slump still hurts.

"Indianapolis can be a cruel place," he admits. "I felt how cruel it was last year. We went into the month of May with a lot of momentum. We were very, very strong the first three or four days of Indianapolis, and then it just kind of went downhill from there.

"I was so mad about the Indianapolis performance last year, we've already looked at that and we have a good idea as to why we weren't very good in the race."

Wilson and Wheldon arrived in top-level American racing just a year apart, but with Wilson washing up on the Champ Car side of the divide, the Indianapolis experience is all very new for him this year.

"This is a completely different place from when I ran in Formula One here," he said. "Someone told me it was like four quick corners on a road course, and that is what I have found.

"The car goes where you point it, whereas on some of the other ovals that is not the case. It's a really cool feeling when the car releases out of the corner and onto the straight.

"Looking at Turn 1 is pretty cool. You just head down there and all you can see is the wall, and just when you start to panic the corner opens up and you turn in and the car flows so well. It's a real pleasure; I'm having fun driving the car here."

Although Newman/Haas/Lanigan are better prepared than the other ex-Champ Car teams - not only boasting more resources but having contested IRL Indy 500s in 2004 and 2005 - Wilson is keeping his expectations for the race well under control.

Even the mighty N/H/L have had to tip-toe through the practice month without back-up cars, and his 16th place on the grid was a conservative effort.

"Not having a back-up car is definitely a factor in how we run," Wilson admits. "That's something in the back of your mind and you can't afford to risk damaging the car. We want to go out there and hang it on the line but we don't have the luxury of doing that.

"Both myself and (teammate) Graham (Rahal) are used to running at the front but we're here learning. We've come from a long way behind and if we can finish in the top 10 it would be like a victory for us considering where we started a few months ago.

Darren Manning, Foyt Racing © LAT

"I'm very pleased with the way we have made progress and everybody at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing has worked very hard over the last six months. We've had some very tough times and some long days but they keep working hard and putting out good cars."

He confessed that he was having a tough job keeping himself in check in qualifying, though.

"I was actually quite frustrated with a couple of my laps," he said. "It feels good to get in the show, but I wanted to go again. I think we could have done a much better job the second time around."

Wilson will start two places behind Manning and three ahead of Lloyd, and Wheldon - who won from 16th in 2005 - doesn't envy his compatriots.

"It's not nice. When I started 16th, I think after the first three laps I radioed in and said 'Listen, I hate it back here, let me get to the front fast,'" he recalls. "It's too difficult. The car becomes very unpredictable. It's much nicer to run up front."

But he has plenty of respect for the task Wilson faces this year after the 11th-hour amalgam of the warring series, and given the loss of crucial practice mileage to rain.

"It would be unfair to judge those guys' performance right now because certainly the weather has not helped them," Wheldon said. "You're talking about people that are incredibly talented. So judging them on their performance at this point is totally, totally unfair. Give them some more races, more importantly, give their teams a few races."

That's not to say the established IndyCar drivers are underestimating the Champ Car converts' chances at Indy, with Wheldon's pole-winning teammate Scott Dixon highlighting Wilson as one of those most likely to spring a surprise.

"Justin Wilson seems very, very good," Dixon said. "It's the 500, anything can pop out."

In some ways the merger made life harder for drivers like Manning, for his Foyt team faced being pushed down the grid as the transition teams improved. But he's more than holding his own so far - qualifying a very strong 14th. And the bullish Yorkshireman believes that is only the tip of the iceberg.

"We've got a pretty damn good car," Manning said after last weekend's practice sessions. "If we had had this car on Pole Day, really trimmed out, we'd have been well in the top 11. It was that good.

Justin Wilson © LAT

"It's been a tough month. We were behind the eight-ball and I was going to be happy with 12th to 18th. Now I think I'm going to be faster than the guys around me, and it's a long race."

For Manning to get amongst the top eight in the race would be an incredible achievement given Foyt's resources, and a richly deserved vindication. Manning's dream chance with Ganassi turned sour when he arrived just as their Toyota engines fell off the pace, then found himself sacked mid-season in 2005 despite being ahead of teammates Dixon and Ryan Briscoe in the points.

Returning with Foyt's back-of-the-grid operation in 2007 seemed a bizarre gamble, but so far it's paying off. He can't work miracles on the flat-out mile-and-a-half ovals, but where improvisation and bravery counts, Manning has managed some eye-opening results, and seems set to do so again at Indy.

All four British Indy 500 drivers turned to America when their European racing careers stalled. Wilson found himself spat out by F1 after an inconclusive Jaguar stint, Manning never made it beyond the twilight zone of testing duties, and Wheldon got as far as Formula Ford in the UK, decided Formula 3 wasn't viable, and made a bold early decision to cross the Atlantic to try the US ladder instead.

It's Wheldon's career path that Lloyd now hopes to follow. Even with a BRDC McLaren/Autosport Award win behind him, F3 proved a step too far, and after dabbling with national Formula 3000 series and the World Series by Renault, he opted for the Indy Pro Series (now Indy Lights) and proceeded to dominate the 2007 championship.

Just as Wheldon then chose test and reserve deals and the promise of one-off outings with top teams Panther Racing and Andretti-Green rather than joining the back of the Indy grid, so Lloyd turned down a potential Roth deal to sign a long-term contract with Ganassi.

But with Dixon and Wheldon firmly ensconced in Ganassi's IndyCar line-up and sponsor Target currently keen to focus on two cars, Lloyd has to play a waiting game for now. He will make his IRL debut at Indy in a Rahal Letterman car run with Ganassi assistance, but might not get another chance this year.

"It's a lot of pressure not only running your first Indy 500 but your first IndyCar race here, but it has been a great experience for me," said Lloyd, who recovered from a practice crash that briefly left him in hospital to qualify 19th.

"We were pretty conservative, really. We figured that the main importance was getting the car in the show, and we didn't need to go for outright speed. It's all about the race. We're looking forward to that."

Several of the newcomers totally lost momentum after practice accidents this year, but Lloyd had little difficulty putting his meeting with the wall behind him.

Alex Lloyd, Rahal-Letterman © LAT

"When it comes to getting in the car, you can't allow yourself to even think about those things," he said.

"You just have to keep going with what you know and have confidence in yourself, and keep and driving the car to the limit.

"When I was lying in the hospital bed thinking: 'I wonder what happened? I don't know,' that was the worst thing. Then I had my engineer come around, and he gave a few reasons why it went wrong and what caused the accident, and that made me feel better.

"He said: 'This is what happened, this is what caused you to spin, don't worry about it. Let's get back in the car and have another go.'"

Lloyd and Wilson clearly have bright futures in the IndyCar Series, while even if Manning doesn't get another chance in a top team, he has made a niche for himself as a highly effective giant-killer who is certainly capable of pulling off podiums in the right circumstances.

All three could achieve superb against-the-odds results in the 92nd Indy 500. But if a British driver is to win the Indy 500 for the third time in four years this weekend, then the chances are it will be Wheldon.

Fresh from that crucial win in Kansas, and driving for the team who have utterly dominated the month so far, Wheldon knows he will have the fastest package on the track and every chance of becoming a double Indy winner. But he is taking absolutely nothing for granted.

"I don't want to sound old, but I've been to this place enough now where I've seen the quickest car year after year not win the race. It's very, very rare that the quickest car wins the race here," he explains.

"I thought (Tony) Kanaan had a very dominant month last year. He didn't win the race. You look at us in 2006, we were quick on Pole Day, in the race we had a dominant racecar, we didn't win the race. It just doesn't work like this.

"Qualifying and racing around this place are two totally different things. I've had great racecars where I thought I would dominate, like in 2006. I think we led over three-quarters of the race. It doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win. You need just to have a mistake-free day.

"You need to have a car that's fast out front, but also very good in traffic. We're working towards all those things. But it's just very difficult to accomplish at Indianapolis ..."