(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
James Hinchcliffe (No. 27 Andretti Autosport GoDaddy.com Chevrolet) scored the first win of his IndyCar career in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Sunday. The 26-year-old Canadian overtook Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) in Turn 1 of a Lap 85 restart, stretched his fuel and held on for a 1.0982-second victory.
(Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Hitachi Chevrolet) finished second to Hinchcliffe after chasing the Canadian for the final 26 laps. "... I was just making sure that I could protect," Castroneves said later. "I knew Hinch really good. Especially in the Mickey Mouse section, as I call it. He was very strong there. As long as I was in front of him, it was going to be fine. Maybe I didn't warm up my tires enough (on the restart). Just a small mistake. I guess the old dogs still make mistakes. Still have a lot to learn. Great effort by the Hitachi guys, incredible car. And good job Hinch. Congrats!"
(Chris Owens/IndyCar)
Marco Andretti (No. 25 Andretti Autosport RC Cola Chevrolet finished third after passing Simona de Silvestro (No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet) in Turn 1 of the final lap - notching his best road/street course finish since Toronto in 2011. "Congratulations to James (Hinchcliffe) first and foremost," Andretti said. "For me, this feels like a win for the struggles I have been having and all I can say is that it feels great to have the hard work pay off, for sure."
(Shawn Gritzmacher/IndyCar)
Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet), who earned his 30th Indy car pole, led 26 laps before Castroneves made an inside move on a restart. Power's day went downhill from there. Under caution, JR Hildebrand (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet) ran over the right side of Power's car causing a flat rear tire and bent mirror. The team spent two pit stops to repair and check for damage. Then, while running 12th, Power caught the Turn 4 tire barrier with the rear of his car. He ended up 16th. Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 1 Andretti Autosport DHL Chevrolet) encountered issues on an early pit stop and finished out of contention.
(Chris Jones/IndyCar)
Entering her fourth IZOD IndyCar Series season, Simona de Silvestro (No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet) qualified for her first Firestone Fast Six and started on the inside of Row 2. It was a career best, her previous best being a seventh at Edmonton in 2010. Although she faded to sixth at the end, de Silvestro demonstrated that with Chevy power she can comfortably run up front. "It's been a good weekend for us," she said afterward. "Unfortunately we lost a few positions at the end there. We kind of ran out of tires at the end. I think we can be pretty happy with sixth. Now we know what we have to work on for the next race. It was really cool to be up front all day with Will, Hinch and everybody; it was awesome. I think we can learn a lot from this weekend to have a better result at the next race. I really want to thank Chevy and my Nuclear Clean Air Energy sponsors for all their support. I'm really excited to get to Barber and see what we can do there."
(Chris Jones/IndyCar)
James Hinchcliffe is the first Canadian to win an Indy car race since Paul Tracy in 2007 at Cleveland. It was also Michael Andretti's 44th IndyCar victory as a car owner (two more than he had as a driver). "First of all, thanks to everyone," Hinchcliffe commented. "Thanks to the fans. This race is so awesome. The people in this town are incredible. I'm glad we can open up our season here. Man, that was a tough race. Last year we qualified fourth, finished fourth. Qualified fourth again and I thought that was kind of our cursed number there for a bit and then the big thing that people were saying early on in the season is 'What is it going to take to win?' And the big thing was minimizing mistakes. We had a good car. Not sure if we had the fastest car over a lap but I'll tell you what, we nailed the pit stops. The guys were so good. The GoDaddy car was really good on those black tires. That last restart, man, Helio Castroneves there... he's a three-time winner at this race. He's on the reds. He makes a mistake. I get by, but I'm thinking, 'He has 30 laps to get this back.' And we were saving a bit of fuel, trying to save the tires and I just can't be happier. It is so awesome. Dan's (Wheldon) hometown. Dan's car. This one's for him." The next IZOD IndyCar Series race is the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 7 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. The race will be telecast live at 3 p.m. (ET) by NBC Sports Network. The IMS Radio Network will also carry the race live on Sirius and XM channels 211.
(John Cote/IndyCar)
On Saturday, March 23, Jack Hawksworth (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian Motorsports), who earned the 2012 Star Mazda Championship, won in his Firestone Indy Lights debut after Carlos Munoz and Gabby Chaves tangled while battling for the lead. Munoz (No. 26 Dialy-Ser-Andretti Autosport), the Sunoco Pole Award winner, was battling Chaves (No. 7 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian) entering Turn 1 of Lap 11 when they made contact. Hawksworth made his way around the scene to take the lead, which he held the remainder of the 45-lap race. Hawksworth led Peter Dempsey (No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing) across the finish line by 4.9 seconds for the fourth consecutive victory at St. Petersburg for a Schmidt Peterson car. The past three winners (J.K. Vernay, Josef Newgarden and Tristan Vautier) went on the win the series title. The next Firestone Indy Lights race is the Legacy Indy Lights 100 on April 7 at Barber Motorsports Park. It will be telecast by NBC Sports Network immediately preceding the IZOD IndyCar Series race.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: If you want to see the video highlights from last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at California Speedway go here. - PMD
Editor-in-Chief's Note: A simply powerful video from McLaren entitled "Mclaren 50 - Courage." Beautifully written, shot and directed, it's worth every minute. "On that beautiful summer day, on that race track, I did more than leave a name and a memory... hopefully, I became an inspiration." - PMD