2011 IndyCar Rd.1--Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete

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2011 IndyCar Rd.1--Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete

Post by mlittle » Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:20 am

In the time that St. Pete has been on the IndyCar schedule, it has become one of the marquee events on the calendar; after ceding the season-opening slot to Sao Paulo last year, St. Pete returns to open up what promises to be a challenging, exciting 2011 IndyCar season.......... 8)


Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete Event Schedule
25 March 2011--Practice Session #1, 10:15-11:15am
25 March 2011--Practice Session #2, 3-4pm
26 March 2011--Final Practice, 10:10-11:10am
26 March 2011--Firestone Knockout Qualifying, 2:30-3:50pm
27 March 2011--WarmUp Session, 8:40-9:10am
27 March 2011--Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete, 12:30pm

Broadcast Information
--Domestic TV: ABC Sports
--Domestic Radio: IMS Radio Network
--Satellite Radio: XM Sirius Radio
--International TV, radio and shortwave simulcast courtesy of the United States Armed Forces Network & ESPN International
Last edited by mlittle on Sat Apr 02, 2011 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by mlittle » Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:25 am

Past Winners at St. Pete
2003 race held under ChampCar sanction; 2005-present under IndyCar sanction

2003: Paul Tracy
2005: Dan Wheldon
2006: Helio Castroneves
2007: Helio Castroneves
2008: Graham Rahal
2009: Ryan Briscoe
2010: Will Power
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Post by mlittle » Wed Mar 23, 2011 4:41 am

Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete Entry List


Helio Castroneves, #3 Guidepoint Systems
J.R. Hildebrand, #4 National Guard
Takuma Sato, #5 Lotus-KV Racing
Ryan Briscoe, #6 IZOD-Team Penske
Danica Patrick, #7 GoDaddy.com
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dario Franchitti, #10 Target
Will Power, #12 Verizon Wireless
Vitor Meira, #14 ABC Supply Co.
Raphael Matos, #17 Automatic Fire Sprinklers
James Jakes, #18 Acorn Stairlifts
Sebastian Bourdais, #19 Boy Scouts of America
Justin Wilson, #22 RollCoater-DRR
Ana Beatriz, #24 Ipiringa-DRR
Marco Andretti, #26 Venom Energy
Mike Conway, #27 GoDaddy.com
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28 DHL-Sun Drop
Sebastien Saavedra, #34 Conquest Racing
Graham Rahal, #8 Service Central
E.J. Viso, #59 PDVSA-KV Racing
Alex Tagliani, #77 Bowers & Wilkins
Simona de Silvestro, #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy
Tony Kanaan, #82 GEICO-KV Racing
Charlie Kimball, #83 Levemir-Novolog FlexPen
Oriol Servia, #02 Newman-Haas Racing

note......names in italics are 2011 IndyCar Series rookie entrants
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Post by mlittle » Sat Mar 26, 2011 2:39 pm

St. Pete Practice Session #1 Top-5
1} Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport.............1:04.143 sec
2} Will Power, Team Penske.................................1:04.182 sec
3} Mike Conway, Andretti Autosport....................1:04.222 sec
4} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing.................1:04.318 sec
5} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske.............................1:04.352 sec

St. Pete Practice Session #2 Top-5
1} Will Power, Team Penske.................................1:03.376 sec
2} Dario Franchitti, Target/Ganassi Racing............1:03.518 sec
3} Mike Conway, Andretti Autosport.....................1:03.666 sec
4} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske..............................1:03.721 sec
5} Scott Dixon, Target/Ganassi Racing..................1:03.873 sec
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High Hopes For Servia & NHR In 2011

Post by mlittle » Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:30 am

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After spending 2010 on the IndyCar sidelines, can the Catalonian return to the form he once had with Newman-Haas a few years back?

---Marshall Pruett | Posted March 26, 2011 St. Petersburg, Fla.
After spending a year in the open-wheel unemployment line, Spain’s Oriol Servia has gone through a wide range of emotions in the past few weeks.

Signed to drive the No. 02 Newman/Haas Racing entry for the year, Servia’s third stint with the team represents a homecoming of sorts, but the respected pilot isn’t just happy to be back in the series—he’s feeling rather bullish about their chances this season.

“I don’t know, maybe I'm not being realistic, but I think we find ourselves in a very unique position. We happened to have the experience, we happen to have the knowledge in this type of car and championship. I hate the word veteran, so I wouldn't use that, but I would definitely say we have many years behind us learning what we need to do in these kind of races to be competitive. It is open-wheel, it is IndyCar, it is what I’ve done, the tracks I've known. My goal is that I think we can win a race. I need to win a race. We need to be the one team – like Tony Kanaan on the oval last year – we need to be the one team that wins a race that is not a Penske or Ganassi car and I think we can do it. I really think we can do it.”

Servia’s confidence is clearly aided by the team he now finds himself leading. “What can you say? Newman/Haas team that has won 1000 times in these type of races and we both come off a year where A, I didn't race, B, they had a pretty bad season. So we're hungrier than usually we would be. So I think if we put together the experience and the knowledge we have with the hunger that we have to do really well, I really think that we can be out there. It may be too much to think we can mix with the Penske’s and Ganassi’s, just because of the means and the budgets they have, but I truly – especially after the test in Barber – a track I didn’t know, after a year of not driving. I felt we had a great car, we've made great progress, we understood each other very well.”

While a strong run in the championship would make everyone at Newman/Haas happy, Servia says he won’t be satisfied with an average season that delivers points but no podiums or wins.

“At this point in my career, it's not like I'm going after a points. It's not like I just want to be top-five in the championship; of course, you always want to do as well as possible and it’s the way I've always raced. I've always raced in a way that I want to have the most amount of points at the end, just because it’s stupid to throw points away. When a car and team and driver is competing in the top-five, top-five points, it shows huge consistency.

“So I like that, but it's not my objective this year; this year I want to win a race. And I think we can. Being conservative won’t help me or the team, so we set our sights on victory. I know how difficult that is, especially, with the people who we are going to be fighting with this year, where there’s going to be 20 cars within a second in every qualifying. So I know how difficult it will be. But I really have high hopes for us this year.”

Newman/Haas announced a new marketing sponsorship with Telemundo Saturday morning, which will add to the team’s bottom line and expand IndyCar’s presence in Latin America.

“We have been working really hard to put a program together with Telemundo and have had a genuine connection with them since the beginning,” said Servia. “The U.S. Hispanic population is not only an important segment overall, but it is also an important fan base for our sport.”

With Telemuno’s support and a prime opportunity in place with his favorite team, the only hurdle left for Servia is to build a fast and effective relationship with his new engineer, Bruno Couprie.

Servia, who ran the 13th-fastest time on Friday, says he’s feeling positive about the direction he and Couprie are headed.

“I only did the test at Barber with Bruno--that was the first time I worked with him before St. Petersburg. But we connected right away. He’s been at Newman/Haas for four or five years and he's learned how they work there and I’ve been to Newman/Haas enough times to know how they work. So more than the connection, which is important, is the way they work that one has to get used to at Newman Haas. And I think that's why we clicked right away in Barber. And I expect us to get the best out of each other very fast. So I'm not too concerned. We’ll find a rhythm very quickly.”
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Post by mlittle » Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:38 am

St. Pete Practice Session #3 Top-5
1} Will Power, Team Penske.........................1:02.716 sec
2} Mike Conway, Andretti Autosport.............1:03.060 sec
3} Helio Castroneves, Team Penske.............1:03.166 sec
4} Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske.....................1:03.189 sec
5} Oriol Servia, Newman-Haas Racing..........1:03.299 sec
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Power On Point at St. Pete

Post by mlittle » Sun Mar 27, 2011 7:40 am

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In a Sebastien Vettel-like performance, Team Penske's Will Power dominated Saturday's knockout qualifying at St. Pete to take the pole for tomorrow's Honda Grand Prix of St. Pete

---Marshall Pruett | Posted March 26, 2011 St. Petersburg, FL
The seemingly inevitable happened today in St. Petersburg as Team Penske's Will Power grabbed pole position after setting the only lap in qualifying below the 1:02 barrier. Power's 1:01.965 led his main rival, Dario Franchitti, who posted a 1:02.293 in his Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry, .333 behind IndyCar's reigning road course champion.

With the new qualifying rule calling for drivers to nominate and use one set and style of tires, Power said managing the life of his Firestone Reds during the first two rounds of qualifying left him with enough grip to grab pole in the Firestone Fast Six session.

The Aussie's star performance in qualifying also left him feeling confident about his chances in the race. "I think we have a good opportunity [to win tomorrow]," said Power after climbing out of his Verizon Wireless car. "We want to win this championship this time. We don't want to miss out."

Behind Franchitti, his teammate Scott Dixon followed just over one-tenth behind, recording a best lap of 1:02.397. Mike Conway fell out of the top 3 for the first time this weekend, settling for fourth in his Andretti Autosport car with a lap of 1:02.530.

Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe took fifth with a 1:02.574, and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's Justin Wilson capped the Fast Six with a lap of 1:02.772. In an interesting sub-plot for the race, former teammates March Andretti and Tony Kanaan will start alongside each other on Row 8. Andretti, who diminished Kanaan's setup contribution to the Andretti Autosport team in a recent blog post, bettered Kanaan's time by .150.

JR Hildebrand brushed the wall, as did Vitor Meira, limiting their results, but the biggest damage done in qualifying happened amongst the two SeaBass' in the field. Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian Saavedra had a coming together in Turn 2 while Bourdais was exiting the pits, with the Frenchman suffering a bent right front suspension, while the Colombian rookie, at full speed, clipped Bourdais and hit hard, going nose-first into the cement barrier before spinning down the track and backing into the tire barriers. Both drivers were uninjured, but Saavedra's Conquest Racing entry suffered possibly terminal chassis damage.
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Post by mlittle » Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:10 am

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Starting Grid
1} Will Power, #12 Verizon Wireless, 1:01.963 sec(104.579 mph)
2} Dario Franchitti, #10 Target, 1:02.295 sec(104.021 mph)

3} Scott Dixon, #9 Target, 1:02.398 sec(103.850 mph)
4} Mike Conway, #27 GoDaddy.com, 1:02.531 sec(103.629 mph)

5} Ryan Briscoe, #6 IZOD-Team Penske, 1:02.574 sec(103.557 mph)
6} Justin Wilson, #22 RollCoater-DRR, 1:02.773 sec(103.229 mph)

7} Marco Andretti, #26 Venom Energy, 1:02.631 sec(103.463 mph)
8} Tony Kanaan, #82 GEICO-KV Racing, 1:02.782 sec(103.215 mph)

9} Helio Castroneves, #3 Guidepoint Systems, 1:02.820 sec(103.151 mph)
10} Alex Tagliani, #77 Bowers & Wilkins, 1:02.823 sec(103.148 mph)

11} Takuma Sato, #5 Lotus-KV Racing, 1:02.931 sec(102.970 mph)
12} Graham Rahal, #38 Service Central, 1:03.064 sec(102.753 mph)

13} Vitor Meira, #14 ABC Supply Co., 1:03.132 sec(102.643 mph)
14} Ryan Hunter-Reay, #28 DHL-Sun Drop, 1:03.178 sec(102.568 mph)

15} Oriol Servia, #02 Telemundo, 1:03.243 sec(102.461 mph)
16} Raphael Matos, #17 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, 1:03.259 sec(102.435 mph)

17} Simona de Silvestro, #78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy, 1:03.272 sec(102.414 mph)
18} Sebastien Bourdais, #22 Boy Scouts of America, 1:03.319 sec(102.339 mph)

19} Danica Patrick, #7 GoDaddy.com, 1:03.376 sec(102.246 mph)
20}(R)Ana Beatriz, #24 Ipiringa-DRR, 1:03.804 sec(101.562 mph)

21} E.J. Viso, #59 PDVSA-KV Racing, 1:03.406 sec(102.198 mph)
22}(R)James Jakes, #24 Acorn Stairlifts, 1:03.885 sec(101.432 mph)

23}(R)Charlie Kimball, #83 Levemir-Novolog FlexPen, 1:03.516 sec(102.021 mph)
24}(R)Sebastien Saavedra, #34 Conquest Racing, 1:03.970 sec(101.298 mph)

25}(R)J.R. Hildebrand, #4 National Guard, 1:03.826 sec(101.527 mph)


note..........positions set during qualifying as follows:
---Spots from 13 on back set after first round of qualifying(Group 1a in the odd-numbered positions, Group 1b in the even-numbered positions)
---Spots 6 to 12 set in second-round qualifying
---Positions 1-6 set in the Firestone Fast Six
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Franchitti Wins Season Opener in St. Pete

Post by mlittle » Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:39 am

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There are multiple advantages to starting on the front row on IZOD IndyCar Series road/street courses. In the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, one was avoiding the seven-car blockade in Turn 1 of the first lap.

Dario Franchitti and pole sitter Will Power were among those who kept their cars' noses clean at the start and subsequent side-by-side restarts through 100 laps on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit by the bay, and that's they way they completed the season opener.

Franchitti made a strong start in his bid for a third consecutive series championship (only two others in Indy car history have accomplished it) by running away from Power and the remnants of the 24-car field to win for the first time at St. Pete. He collected two bonus points to the 50 for the victory by leading the most laps (94).

"You see how close the field is, so every point matters," said Franchitti, who tied three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Johnny Rutherford for 10th all time on the Indy car list with 27 victories. "I had better watch out for the pace car because J.R. might be taking me out not wanting me to get 28."

Power, the 2010 championship runner-up and Mario Andretti Road Course Championship Award winner, was 7.1612 seconds back. Tony Kanaan, who had only four practice sessions in the No. 82 GEICO KV Racing Technology-Lotus car since joining the team midweek, finished third and Simona de Silvestro finished a career-best fourth by advancing 13 positions in the No. 78 Nuclear Clean Air Energy/HVM Racing car. "She did a great job and made me run for my money," said Kanaan, who finished 0.4571 of a second ahead. "It's a great start for me and my new team."

Takuma Sato also recorded an IZOD IndyCar Series-best fifth-place finish in the No. 5 KV Racing Technology-Lotus car. Alex Tagliani, driving the No. 77 Bowers & Wilkins car for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, wound up sixth. Raphael Matos, the '09 series Rookie of the Year, produced a seventh place for AFS Racing in its initial IZOD IndyCar Series start, advancing nine spots.

“I have to thank (team owner) Gary Peterson and everyone that believed in me," said Matos, who re-joined the team with which he won the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights Championship. "It was a very difficult race, but I was able to keep my nose clean … sort of. I pushed very hard that last stint on the (Firestone Firehawk alternate) tires, trying to get that sixth position. We had a goal of finishing in the top 10, so I’m really happy for the whole team.”

Speaking of starts, that's where the real news of the race was made. As Power led the field into Turn 1, the cars on Rows 2-5 bunched together as they converged on the tight right-hander with predictable results.
No. 3 Guidepoint Systems Team Penske car of two-time St. Pete race winner Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti's No. 26 Venon Energy Drink car made contact, which resulted in Andretti landing upside down for the second consecutive year in the season-opening race. Also involved were the Nos. 9 (Scott Dixon), 6 (Ryan Briscoe, who was quickest in the morning warm-up), 02 (Oriol Servia) and 27 (Mike Conway). Conway, who started fourth in his first race since suffering injuries in the Indianapolis 500 last May, and Andretti (Andretti Autosportr teammates) were eliminated right off the bat.

After repairs, Dixon, Servia, Castroneves and Briscoe, his Team Penske teammate, re-entered the race, with Servia (ninth in the Telemundo Newman/Haas Racing car) the highest finisher. Castroneves recorded the fastest race lap (1 minute, 3.8683 seconds) on Lap 74.

“I took the green and had a good run going on the inside of (Ryan) Briscoe and then Helio (Castroneves) misjudged his breaking point and ran up into the back of me," said Andretti, who started seventh. "It was all a chain of events from there. I think having the cars start so close together is great for the fans but it was no good for me today.”

Added Castroneves: "As far as the incident, I'll have to look and see what happened, but it seems like I locked up the rear on the car. It's very disappointing, but we never gave up and we know we'll have better results next race."

Contributed Servia: “The two-wide restarts were not a problem for me. It's just that the two-wide restarts at this track are tricky because the inside line here is so dirty because this is an airport, there is paint, there is oil and that is why we had so many problems. If you look at the replay, it wasn’t just the restarts, it was the start itself too and we always start two-wide. It’s was just that the inside line here is one of the dirtiest of the season. It won’t be the case at Barber (April 10).”

Vitor Meira rose from 13th on the grid to eighth in the No. 14 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing, while Justin Wilson (No. 22 TransSystems/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing) also was in the top 10. Rookie JR Hildebrand, driving the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car was one place ahead of Danica Patrick's No. 7 Team GoDaddy entry for Andretti Autosport in 12th.

Top-10 from the crash-fest at St. Pete..............
1st} #9 Dario Franchitti, 100 laps
2nd} #12 Will Power, -7.161 sec
3rd} #82 Tony Kanaan, -16.105 sec
4th} #78 Simona de Silvestro, -16.562 sec
5th} #5 Takuma Sato, -29.945 sec
6th} #77 Alex Tagliani, -30.466 sec
7th} #17 Raphael Matos, -31.523 sec
8th} #14 Vitor Meira, -35.729 sec
9th} #02 Oriol Servia, -49.132 sec
10th} #22 Justin Wilson, -56.805 sec
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