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IZOD IndyCar Series - Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Preview
From The Sports Network
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| DATE: Sunday, March 25th |
| SITE: Streets of St. Petersburg (2005) -- St. Petersburg, Florida |
| TRACK: 1.806-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit |
| ANNUAL: 8th |
| TELEVISION: ABC |
| ANNOUNCERS: Marty Reid, Scott Goodyear, Eddie Cheever |
| RADIO: IMS Radio Network |
| START TIME: 12:30 p.m. (et) |
| DEFENDING CHAMPION: Dario Franchitti |
| RUNNER-UP: Will Power |
| POLE WINNER: Will Power (Finished 2nd) |
| LAPS: 100 |
| MILES: 180.60 |
| QUALIFYING RECORD: Will Power, 2010 (105.190 m.p.h.) |
| RACE RECORD: Helio Castroneves, 2006 (92.340 m.p.h.) |
| 2011 Finish |
| Finish | Driver | Start | Finish | Driver | Start |
| 1 | Dario Franchitti | 2 | 6 | Alex Tagliani | 10 |
| 2 | Will Power | 1 | 7 | Raphael Matos | 16 |
| 3 | Tony Kanaan | 8 | 8 | Vitor Meira | 13 |
| 4 | Simona de Silvestro | 17 | 9 | Oriol Servia | 15 |
| 5 | Takuma Sato | 11 | 10 | Justin Wilson | 6 |
| 2011 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Facts and Figures |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 89.260 m.p.h. |
| TIME OF RACE: 2 hours, 59.6886 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 7.1612 seconds |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 5 for 13 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 3 among 2 drivers |
| POLE WINNER: Will Power (104.579 m.p.h.) |
| FASTEST LAP: Helio Castroneves, 101.459 m.p.h., Lap 74 |
| Past Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Winners (Starting Position) Car -- Speed |
| 2011 -- Dario Franchitti (2nd) -- Dallara-Honda -- 89.260 m.p.h. |
| 2010 -- Will Power (1st) -- Dallara-Honda -- 84.975 m.p.h. |
| 2009 -- Ryan Briscoe (4th) -- Dallara-Honda -- 81.542 m.p.h. |
| 2008 -- Graham Rahal (9th) -- Dallara-Honda -- 74.251 m.p.h. |
| 2007 -- Helio Castroneves (1st) -- Dallara-Honda -- 89.166 m.p.h. |
| 2006 -- Helio Castroneves (5th) -- Dallara-Honda -- 92.340 m.p.h. (record) |
| 2005 -- Dan Wheldon (9th) -- Dallara-Honda -- 83.140 m.p.h. |
| Past Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Pole Winners (Finish) |
| 2011 -- Will Power -- 2nd |
| 2010 -- Will Power -- 1st |
| 2009 -- Graham Rahal -- 7th |
| 2008 -- Tony Kanaan -- 3rd |
| 2007 -- Helio Castroneves -- 1st |
| 2006 -- Dario Franchitti -- 19th |
| 2005 -- Bryan Herta -- 4th |
| Last Race Results |
| RACE: Kentucky Indy 300 (October 2nd) |
| SITE: Kentucky Speedway -- Sparta, Kentucky |
| MILES: 300 |
| LAPS: 200 |
| WINNER: Ed Carpenter |
| RUNNER-UP: Dario Franchitti |
| THIRD: Scott Dixon |
| FOURTH: James Hinchcliffe |
| FIFTH: Ryan Hunter-Reay |
| POLE WINNER: Will Power (Finished 19th) |
| TIME OF RACE: 1 hour, 42 minutes, 2.7825 seconds |
| MARGIN OF VICTORY: 0.0098 second |
| AVERAGE SPEED: 174.039 m.p.h. |
| CAUTION FLAGS: 3 for 32 laps |
| LEAD CHANGES: 7 among 4 drivers |
| LAP LEADERS: Will Power 1-48; J.R. Hildebrand 49; Dario Franchitti 50-187; Ed |
| Carpenter 188; Franchitti 189-190; Carpenter 191-192; Franchitti |
| 193-195; Carpenter 196-200. |
| Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Entry List |
| Car | Driver, Hometown | Car/Name |
| 2 | Ryan Briscoe (Sydney, Australia) | IZOD/Team Penske |
| 3 | Helio Castroneves (Sao Paulo, Brz) | Shell V-Power/Team Penske |
| 4 | J.R. Hildebrand (Sausalito, CA) | U.S. National Guard/Panther Racing |
| 5 | E.J. Viso (Caracas, Venezuela) | Citgo/KV Racing Technology |
| 6 | Katherine Legg (Guildford, England) | Lotus Cars/Truecar/Lotus-Dragon Rac. |
| 7 | Sebastien Bourdais (Le Mans,France) | Lotus Cars/Lotus-Dragon Racing |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello (Sao Paulo, Brz) | Brasil Maquinas/KV Racing Technology |
| 9 | Scott Dixon (Auckland, New Zealand) | Target/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 * | Dario Franchitti (Scotland) | Target/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 11 | Tony Kanaan (Salvador, Brazil) | GEICO/KV Racing Technology |
| 12 | Will Power (Toowoomba, Australia) | Verizon Wireless/Team Penske |
| 14 | Mike Conway (Bromley, England) | ABC Supply Co./AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 15 | Takuma Sato (Tokyo, Japan) | Interush/Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Rac |
| 18 | Justin Wilson (Sheffield, England) | Sonny's Bar B-Q/Dale Coyne Racing |
| 19 | Jamie Jakes (Leeds, England) | Acorn Stairlifts/Dale Coyne Racing |
| 20 | Ed Carpenter (Indianapolis, IN) | Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 22 | Oriol Servia (Pals, Spain) | Lotus Cars/Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold |
| 26 | Marco Andretti (Nazareth, PA) | Royal Crown Cola/Andretti Autosport |
| 27 | James Hinchcliffe (Toronto, Canada) | GoDaddy.com/Andretti Autosport |
| 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Boca Raton, FL) | DHL/Sun Drop/Andretti Autosport |
| 38 | Graham Rahal (New Albany, OH) | TBC Retail Group/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 67 | Josef Newgarden (Nashville, TN) | Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing |
| 77 | Simon Pagenaud (Poitiers, France) | Hewlett-Packard/Schmidt Hamilton |
| 78 | Simona de Silvestro (Switzerland) | Entergy/Lotus Cars/Lotus-HVM Racing |
| 83 | Charlie Kimball (Camarillo, CA) | Novo Nordisk/Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 98 | Alex Tagliani (Lachenaie, Canada) | Lotus Cars/Team Barracuda-BHA |
| Leading Contenders (Finish the last seven years) |
| Driver | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | | |
| Dario Franchitti | 3rd | 19th | 5th | --- | 4th | 5th | Won | | |
| Will Power | --- | --- | --- | 8th | 6th | Won | 2nd | | |
| Tony Kanaan | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 5th | 10th | 3rd | | |
| Simona de Silvestro | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 16th | 4th | | |
| Takuma Sato | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 22nd | 5th | | |
| Alex Tagliani | --- | --- | --- | --- | 10th | 6th | 6th | | |
| Oriol Servia | --- | --- | --- | 7th | --- | --- | 9th | | |
| J.R. Hildebrand | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | 11th | | |
| Scott Dixon | 6th | 2nd | 2nd | 22nd | 16th | 18th | 16th | | |
| Graham Rahal | --- | --- | --- | Won | 7th | 9th | 17th | | |
| Ryan Briscoe | 14th | --- | --- | 23rd | Won | 3rd | 18th | | |
| Helio Castroneves | 20th | Won | Won | 2nd | --- | 4th | 20th | | |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | --- | --- | 17th | --- | 2nd | 11th | 21st | | |
| Marco Andretti | --- | 15th | 4th | 25th | 13th | 12th | 24th | | |
| James Hinchcliffe | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | |
| Rubens Barrichello | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | |
| Sports Network Selections |
| Pick to Win - Will Power |
| Darkhorse - Oriol Servia |
| Last Week's Pick to Win (October 2 - Scott Dixon) - Finished 3rd |
| Last Week's Darkhorse (October 2 - Danica Patrick) - Finished 10th |
| NOTES: |
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Dario Franchitti begins his title defense this week in Florida, as
the 2012 IndyCar season starts in St. Petersburg.
Last season, Franchitti captured this race, one of four 2011 titles to garner
his third straight IndyCar title and fourth overall, as he outdistanced Will
Power by 18 points. Franchitti ranks second on the all-time wins list with 20,
just six shy of Scott Dixon.
Franchitti showed he was the man to beat for the start after leading 94 of 100
laps on the 1.8-mile street circuit on St. Petersburg. It was his first win in
six attempts here, but his fifth top-5.
He passed Power, the pole sitter, just after the first restart on the fifth lap
and took command from there. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver only relinquished
the top position during a late-race round of pit stops. He finished 7.2 seconds
ahead of Power from Team Penske.
In 2010, Power started first and ended first, as he captured the checkered flag
for the first time in St. Pete. Power, who had won the 2010 season-opener two
weeks prior in Brazil, put on a dominating performance in the second-half of
the 100-lap event on the St. Petersburg street circuit. The Team Penske driver
took the lead for the final time when he passed E.J. Viso after Viso suffered a
gear box issue with 23 laps remaining.
With the win, Power became the first driver to win the first two IndyCar races
of the season since Sam Hornish Jr. accomplished the feat in 2001. Hornish won
his first of three series titles that year.
Ryan Briscoe passed Justin Wilson with 13 laps remaining and never looked
back en route to capturing the inaugural race of the 2009 IndyCar Series on
the streets of St. Petersburg. The No. 6 Team Penske driver crossed the finish
line 0.4619 of a second ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay for his third career IndyCar
title.
2009 marked the first time in the history of the series that the opening race
had been held on a street course. It was also the first time that the
inaugural race of the season was on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Not only did Graham Rahal become the youngest driver to win an IndyCar event,
he also captured the 2008 race in his first start in the Series. At the age
of 19, Rahal crossed the finish line 3.5192 seconds ahead of two-time
defending champion Helio Castroneves. The key to winning the race was the
decision by his pit crew to stay out on lap 56 when everyone else pitted for
fuel. Rahal got around Ryan Hunter Reay (the only other car to stay out) on
lap 65 and had enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag. With the win, he
also is the first driver since Scott Dixon, to go to victory lane in his very
first IRL start.
In 2007, Helio Castroneves captured this race for the second consecutive year,
as he edged Scott Dixon by less than a second for his 12th career IndyCar
title. Dixon, who finished runner-up for the second straight season, lost by
0.6007 of a second. The win by Castroneves was his only victory in 2007. His
win total now stands at 19.
Castroneves crossed the finish line ahead of Dixon while under caution for his
then eighth career IndyCar title in 2006 and first of that season. Pole sitter
Dario Franchitti failed to finish the race due to wheel bearing issues and
finished last after leading the first 14 laps. Castroneves battled Dixon down
the stretch, recapturing the lead on lap 96 of the 100-lap race. Just one lap
later, Tomas Scheckter and Buddy Rice collided and the caution came out,
however the crash was too much to clean up in time and Castroneves took the
checkered flag.
The streets of St. Petersburg have hosted open-wheel racing since 2003 and has
made a seamless transition from Champ Car to IndyCar Series event, beginning
in 2005. Much like temporary courses in Cleveland and Edmonton, St. Petersburg
uses portions of an airport for its race surface, as the runways at Albert
Whitted Airport provide high-speed entries into tight passing opportunities in
the Firestone Curve at Turn 1. Unlike Cleveland and Edmonton, St. Pete
actually uses public street courses for the track as well as the 1.806-mile
course meanders along the Bayfront and near Progress Energy Park, the home of
the North American Soccer League's FC Tampa Bay.
Starting in the ninth position in 2005, the late Dan Wheldon trailed throughout
the race and briefly held the lead for lap 62 of the 100-lap event. Pole sitter
Bryan Herta, led for 39 laps, including the opening 16 and Ryan Briscoe, who
led a race-high 43 laps, held the top spot on laps 80-91. Wheldon took control
on lap 92 and held on the rest of the way, as he edged Tony Kanaan by less
than two seconds to capture the inaugural race. Herta finished fourth while
Briscoe placed 14th after suffering an accident on lap 91. Twelve of the 21
cars were still running at the end of the race with eight on the lead lap.
"Dancing with the Stars" contestants Jack Wagner and Anna Trebunskaya will
serve as grand marshals, while Clay Aiken and Aubrey O'Day will sing the
national anthem.
The 2012 IZOD IndyCar Series season continues with the April 1 Honda Indy
Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. Will Power won last year's
race there.
03/20 14:08:02 ET
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As of March 20, 2012, at 02:08 PM ET
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