Andretti Autosport

The cast: Drivers – Marco Andretti, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, E.J. Viso. Chief engineers – Blair Perschbacher (Andretti), Craig Hampson (Hinchcliffe), Ray Gosselin (Hunter-Reay), Michael Cannon (Viso). Race strategists -- Michael Andretti (Hunter-Reay), Paul "Ziggy" Harcus (Viso), Kyle Moyer (Andretti), George Klotz (Hinchcliffe).

Twitter: @MarcoAndretti, @Hinchtown, @RyanHunterReay, @EJVISO, @FollowAndretti

The cars: No. 1 Chevrolet-powered DHL (Hunter-Reay), No. 5 Chevrolet-powered PDVSA (Viso), No. 25 Chevrolet-powered RC Cola (Andretti), No. 27 Chevrolet-powered GoDaddy.com (Hinchcliffe).

Snapshot: Hunter-Reay co-drove to second place in class in the 12 Hours of Sebring last weekend. … Hinchcliffe, of Toronto, joined the Toronto Blue Jays for batting practice and threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the spring training game against the Houston Astros on March 19 in Dunedin, Fla. … Andretti is winding up preparations for the busy race weekend by training in humid Miami this week. … Viso, who celebrated his 28th birthday on March 19, is conducting interviews with local Hispanic media as well as national outlets such as Telemundo and Yahoo Deportes in Miami this week.

The stats: Hunter-Reay recorded four victories, including three in a row midseason, and seven top-five finishes overall to earn his first series championship. It took a fourth-place finish in the season finale (after starting 22nd) to secure it by three points over Team Penske’s Will Power. He was the quickest qualifier at Edmonton and participated in the Firestone Fast Six in half of the road/street course events. … Andretti had a best finish of second at Iowa among three top 10s and earned the pole in the finale at Fontana. He led a field-high 59 laps at Indianapolis after starting fourth. … Hinchcliffe posted five top-five finishes, with a best of third at Milwaukee. He earned his first podium finish at Long Beach (third) after starting 16th. He qualified for the Firestone Fast Six in the first four races of season and five overall. He had best qualifying of second at Barber and Indianapolis. … Viso grabbed top-10 finishes in four races, highlighted by a fifth place at Milwaukee for KV Racing Technology. He had a best qualifying of fifth at Long Beach and Belle Isle.

The gist: Andretti Autosport returns to a four-car lineup for 2013 with the addition of Viso after he spent three seasons at KV Racing Technology. There was other movement within the team as Andretti and Hinchcliffe have new engineers following the departure of Tino Belli and Allen McDonald. But the drivers have previously worked with Perschbacher and Hampson. Viso worked with Cannon while at HVM Racing in his first IZOD IndyCar Series season. Hinchcliffe noted the camaraderie on and off the track of the three drivers in 2012. That continuity, he said, will be an asset this season.

 

They said it: “How do you follow up a year like last year? I really don't have the answer for that,” Hunter-Reay said. “We're going to have to be better than last year, that's for sure; come back and improve in our weak areas. We didn't have too many weak spots last year, but if anything you can point out the superspeedways. The big tracks we need to step it up a little bit. It's going to be a really tough season. I think this is going to be the tightest competition we've seen in IndyCar in a very, very long time."

Added Andretti: “There is no question that I need to up my game on the streets. I think I always knew I was over-driving the car and this tire, but I didn’t know how. I was really diagnosing it in the offseason. I went overseas with a driver coach and everything. You can never be too proud. You can always learn something. Basically, I’m just asking too much of the front tire in the middle of the corner. So the way I attack the corner I’m over the edge of the tire so I’m creating problems for myself is what he said.”

Said Hinchcliffe: “I think if you ask any driver continuity is a huge asset. For me, it’s coming back to the same team for the second year for the first time in my career. The kind of unfortunate thing is in January my race engineer left and that is sort the most important relationship on the team is the driver’s relationship with his engineer. The good news is the guy that we got was my engineer from the previous season and a very accomplished guy in that respect as well. I’m glad that we don’t have to go through the whole getting to know you, first day phase and we can sort of just get on with our jobs. There is still going to be a little bit of learning and it’s still not 100 percent ideal because we are going to have a little bit of a communication gap to begin with, but the relationship is there and I’ve got a lot of faith in Craig so hopefully we can have some success.”

Added Viso: “I think you can measure success when you as a driver, you as a person and you as an individual feel that you truly gave your best. Sometimes I’ve been feeling successful even if I finish not in a great position in the race, but you feel that you gave everything you have. Those were the resources I had at that point. I think this year I’m definitely going to be counting with a way stronger organization, partners and team. I think we are going to be able to be so much closer to the front. I’ve can already feel some podiums coming. I have pretty much won races in every single category I have been in the past except in IndyCar. I want to make that one happen.”