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Kanaan: Wheldon will be champ

IndyCar series runner-up and this year's autosport.com Rookie of the Year Dan Wheldon will be champion in the near future, according to the 2004 series champion Tony Kanaan

Wheldon remains in Brazil after this past weekend's Granja Viana charity kart race as a guest of Andretti Green Racing team-mate Kanaan. The duo together attended the Golden Helmet awards party, the biggest recognition in Brazilian motorsports - a rather unique experience for the Briton, who is ineligible for the prizes given his nationality.

This year's top Golden Helmet award was won, to no one's surprise, by Kanaan himself. But Tony consoled his team-mate by predicting he will be an IndyCar champion "soon".

"There's no doubt he will be a champion," predicted Kanaan. "I'd better get my act together and win as much as I can right now before he starts to win everything."

Kanaan and Wheldon both won three races this year, but Kanaan's consistency paid off in the quest for the IndyCar crown. Kanaan completed every lap of all 16 races this year, whereas Wheldon's two DNFs (in the first Texas race and in Milwaukee) hampered his challenge for the championship.

Given the fact that both of Wheldon's retirements were due to mechanical reasons, Kanaan knows next year's battle promises to be just as fierce: "Dan is an extremely talented driver," he added.

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