Medeiros ready to keep following Kanaan's lead.

Though separated by almost twelve years, Tony Kanaan and Thiago Medeiros both achieved their goals at California Speedway last weekend, taking the Indy Racing League and Infiniti Pro Series titles respectively.

The two Brazilians, each driving the #11 car in their series, claimed their first IRL championships at Fontana, although neither won their race. Kanaan took a second-place finish behind Adrian Fernandez in the Toyota Indy 400, while Medeiros endured a more traumatic path to the title, after making contact with Jeff Simmons and flipping out of the MIPS event.

The model of consistency, Kanaan recorded 14 consecutive top-five finishes on his way to the IRL crown, while Medeiros dominated the early part of his series, before taking the title on the back of five wins and seven poles in eleven races. The similarities don't end there either, as Medeiros has also followed a similar career path as Kanaan.

Both drivers hail from northern Brazil and started racing in karts in Sao Paolo an early age. Both honed their skills and trained extensively at Interlagos, the same track that prepared other Brazilian drivers - such as Emerson and Christian Fittipaldi, Rubens Barrichello, Cristiano da Matta and Helio Castroneves - for the big time.

"I pretty much followed in Tony's steps," admitted Medeiros who, like Kanaan, raced in the Formula Chevrolet Series in Brazil after his successful karting career, "We came from the same country, although not necessarily the same cities, and drove in the same series when we were learning about racing."

While Medeiros stayed in South America to race in Formula Three before joining the IRL's development series, Kanaan went to Europe before joining Indy Lights in 1996. Roger Bailey, executive director for the Menards Infiniti Pro Series, oversaw the Brazilian's Lights career.

"I don't think you can make comparisons between any of the guys, because the two series were so different," Bailey said, "But I do think guys who win on this level go on to win at bigger levels. I think it's important for drivers to win at the Pro Series level before you move on up."

Both drivers, though successful in the United States, have struggled for recognition in their home country.

"I hope I get a little bit more famous there now," Kanaan said, "[Winning the IndyCar title] is something that has never been done by a Brazilian. Hopefully, it will be good. It's amazing the response I'm already getting from people back home, especially good friends of mine. Rubens [Barrichello] called me and left me a message last night.

"I hope we can get some support from my country because, right now, we have none. It's pretty sad. The TV package is not the way I want it - not just me, but all of us. What can I say? They ask us to win to make the product better - so I did it. Let's see what they're going to do about that right now. "

The title also means a lot to the career of Medeiros, who said the only drivers recognised in Brazil are Formula One stars such as Barrichello and the late Ayrton Senna.

"Hopefully, it will give us a better shot at lining up some sponsors in Brazil, which can help me get to the IndyCar Series," Medeiros said of his title win, "I've been exposed in the press in Brazil this year, so we'll see how it goes from there."

Another link between the two drivers is Fernando Avallone, who currently serves as Medeiros' agent.

"I learned a lot from TK," revealed Avallone, who worked with Kanaan when he was represented by ReUnion, "He taught me a lot of what I know about racing in the USA - to be honest, I was really more learning than teaching at the time."

Avallone also introduced both drivers to Fabio Rosa and Marcos Paulo Reis of MPR in Brazil, which gives physical training guidance to both drivers in their cycling programmes.